Hunton Bridge to Harefield

We woke to a cloudless sky with shafts of light from the early morning sun illuminating the boat through the willow trees. As I took the dogs for their morning constitutional the mist was rising from the canal in the still cold air. And at 7:15 we were off with Hunton Bridge Locks not far away. Fortunately, when I have a crew, I could not want for better. On this occasion Pat (the Mrs), Gemma (daughter) and Grannie (beverages) all have the interest for the most efficient working. The two labradors, of course, have a supervisory role but double up when necessary as security. So going down a sequence of locks is pretty effortless and if the next lock is within easy distance I would expect to find the gate open ready on arrival. If appropriate I will work a lock single handed in return for the open gate at the next, normal practice on a flight when there are only two of us. We had one opposite direction below IronBridge Lock, but until Coppermill Lock pretty well no other moving traffic, strange for such a beautiful day. We stopped again at Widewater for lunch at 13:15. By now the boat will have been prepared for a quick get-away, fridge emptied, washing bagged, rubbish cleared etc, so by 14:30, after the one lock down to the marina, we were in the car in good time to beat the bank holiday traffic on the way home.