Wormleighton Hill to Napton Bottom lock

23 August - HA HA someone was definitely on my side

Off at 9 on a cool but fine morning, locks descending and the crew and skipper back in the original positions. The crew did 9 locks before lunch, all down, all set in her favour, boats galore going the other way, all with helpful crews, a very pleasant day for all concerned.

 Happier skipper

Cutting crop quickly before the rain comes in this afternoon.

At the 1st lock this morning we were looking for a place to wait our turn behind Praity Flower, there was a boat on the water point , Graham on the left, Anne and Vicki at the lock and a boat coming out of the lock so I went to the right hand side, this caused a stream of abuse from  the oncoming boat who thought he needed more room,
Those of you who know me well can imagine how well that worked.
Those boating folk are however in a tiny minority on the waterways and not encountered very often.

First lock of the day we were in a queue but never again as boats were all coming up and Praity Flower managed to get well ahead of us.

By the time we got to Napton Locks we were going to have an ice cream but lock was open for us to move on down, didn't have time to stop, you can't refuse an open lock.

We arrived at the Napton Bottom Lock and loaded water in a sudden heavy shower of rain,and moved around the corner to a overnight mooring spot. A boat called Clara arrived at the same time from the other direction, we had seen Clara before on the Grand Union on our way down to London. Talking to Clara's crew we found that the unusual nose is in fact a hanger for a motor bike, complete with lift and ramp.

At the lock is a pub called The Folly, it comes highly recommended by several people so we went for a Sunday lunch, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, Vicki gave it 8/10 a large serving so no need to eat again today. We shared a table with a couple from Melbourne who are on a 3 day dip your toes in boat hire and then spent some time with Graham and Anne from Nb Praity Flower [it's a Yorkshire boat] who have been in front or behind us for the last few days.

View for night, rain has stopped but it is colder

TOTAL 7 miles, 9 locks and 1 water fill