The Internet canal planner wanted us to be at Stoke Bruerne bottom lock today as part of the strategy to get us to the Grove Lock Pub on Saturday to meet our daughter where she aims to pick up George. The problem is that this morning we were two hours away from the starting point of a 12 hour day. So we set off and experienced our first incident. Entering the Hillmorton Bottom Lock, as Pat closed the gate, it caught the tiller handle and snapped it off. So we had a tiller shorter by 6 inches which was surprisingly uncomfortable. Reaching Braunston we had a quick ascent of the lock flight. At the top, the remedial work for the landslip is almost completed and the length to the tunnel looks very tidy. We had three opposite direction boats to pass in the tunnel, but nothing in front ahead or behind. Buckby top lock was empty and while waiting to fill it a club boat turned up to join us. A good partnership of ex. university friends on holiday for a week, however, marred after the fourth lock by an extremely disorganised pair two locks ahead, so finally we joined the single that was ahead of us. All went well on the long pound to Gayton Junction until we came up behind a very slow boat that kept us on tickover. It took until Blisworth before they took the hint and let us pass. So we sped through the tunnel, only to find Stoke Bruerne top lock empty and while filling it, the slow boat caught up with us. They only wanted to join us for two locks before mooring up, but then we caught up with the Norwegians. They didn't seem to understand that it would have been helpful to wait for us to join them. However, an opposite direction boat forced the issue and we were with them for the last two locks. It was now 7:10pm. They needed a pub for food and had been told that Cosgrove was an hour from the bottom lock. More nearer two hours in my estimation, so we suggested the Navigation would be a better bet for them. We moored up and took a big gulp of the Stoke Bruerne waters from a fast tap and I set about searching for a suitable ash sapling or branch to fashion a replacement handle for the tiller. The result looks very smart, the wet wood almost resembling ivory. Pat likes it better than the original.
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