Yardley Gobion

We set off this morning as usual at about 7:00 am.  There was a lovely blue sky to welcome us, but the forecast is not good.  After last evening's fun & games, the pounds in the flight were fully recovered, so 30 minutes later we were exiting the bottom lock and on the way to the last but one descending lock, Stoke Hammond.   On from there we passed the Willoughbridge boat yard and were soon approaching Fenny Stratford Lock.  To our relief the swing bridge was already open and a kind opposite direction boater, seeing us, opened the top gate for us, so in the blinking of an eye we were on our way through to the long drag that is Milton Keynes.   There was not a lot of traffic about and certainly nothing to hold us up.   Pat wanted a stop at Wolverton to get a few last supplies before the supermarket desert - nothing now until Warwick (well alright, Leamington Spa, but that's small beer).   We are getting ahead of our schedule now, so we discussed the plan.   I have to be home on Tuesday, but we have to be in Birmingham on Friday evening, so Hatton looks like a convenient shuffle stop giving us ample time on Thursday and Friday to get to our crew pickup point.   That being so our targets are now Yardley today, bottom of Whilton Locks tomorrow, Blue Lias Friday, bottom of Hatton on Saturday leaving Sunday morning for the climb.  Monday is for boat cleaning.    So we have the chairs out on the bank at Yardley Wharf supping a beer in the sunshine.  Where are the thunderstorms?  Excellent DTV here from Sandy transmitter, but internet is GPRS only.