Really, This should be entitled "No room at the Inn", but more of that later. Leaving at the usual time, i.e. before most boaters have got out of bed, we had the first few Fosse Locks on our own. Now we were climbing again. Pat still needed to rest her ankle, so she was at the helm. Mike on the bike. At each lock I took a centre rope off to a rear bollard and only opened the ipsilateral paddle. The boat is very stable in this configuration but open the opposite paddle and it can go anywhere violently. Riding ahead I caught the tail end of one of the Kate hire boats that passed us yesterday, just leaving the lock. It was to be several locks later before we caught them up because of opposite direction traffic holding us up. We have a pair of CB radios which are very useful so that I can advise Pat to slow down so that she does not have to bother with mooring up to wait. Further on we came in sight of the Bascote staircase pair. The hire boat we had seen was attempting a passage but obviously had no idea of how to work because the bottom lock was flooding. The gates were over-topping like Niagara Falls. Eventually, someone must have read the instructions. We finally caught up with them at the next lock as they were waiting for an opposite direction boat, so we joined them in the lock. A charming boat of Danish holidaymakers who in their generosity let us go first. Unfortunately we could not return the favour, because at the next lock another boat was waiting to pair up. Bojangles proved an excellent partner. Pat was encouraged to attempt parallel running into locks which she had been reluctant to do, but which she turned out to be perfectly adept at. Two boats going into the lock side by side save a lot of "messing around" as each holds the other in position, but both helmsmen must be skilled. Together she shot up the Stockton flight in double quick time. After a brief stop for lunch near the top we carried on with the aim of dining in the evening at the Bridge Inn, near Napton. Sadly, there was no room on the moorings. The Folly Inn at Napton had to do, but it s not got the same reputation.
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