Buckby

A much more promising day weatherwise.   We set off towards Hillmorton and Pat dropped me off with the bike at bridge 69.  As yesterday she was nervous about handling the boat in the locks herself, but needn't have worried.  The locks were in our favour and with two opposite directions as well.  She managed the 80 degree turn before the middle lock perfectly, but I had forgotten that the bow needs to be on the top gate going up at Hillmorton.  There was a bit of a runaway as the lock filled which Pat couldn't hold on the engine.   Proceeding on, all the hire boats that had poured past the previous evening and scattered themselves along the canal were waking up and soon we were in a small queue going towards Braunston.  As always there was a lot of traffic in the Braunston Locks.   We teamed up with Mona Lisa with a skipper much after my own heart using similar techniques, so Pat really enjoyed herself and gained enormously in confidence.   The boat ahead had moored up for lunch at the top, but by the time we got to the end of the tunnel we had caught up with the boat in front of them.   No moorings at the top of Buckby, but below the lock a boater kindly moved his boat back for us to make room.    Good DTV from "Sandy".   GPRS.   Today the weather had improved steadily, the wind had dropped and the afternoon was spend polishing the brass and sitting out on the grass.  One of Pat's great curries completed the day - oh and a pint or two at the canalside pub.