Cosgrove to No 21 Brockhall Road Bridge

Travelled 16.7 miles, worked 7 locks in a time of 8 hours 10 minutes.

I wish I could say it was warmer today, but unfortunately it was not, it was freezing, with snow falling. We left our mooring at 8.15 am, at the time I was well wrapped up against the cold North Easterly wind, which was beginning to get up.

It as goodbye to Cosgrove until later in the year.
At Yardley Gobian we saw our first House Martin. Whilst they do begin to appear in the UK in April, I bet this one was wishing it had stayed in Africa for a bit longer. I just hope it manages to survive on what must be meagre picking for food at the moment.

At 10.30 am we arrived at the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne Flight, topped up with water and emptied the toilet cassette, as we did so ex Challenger boat Benbow pulled in behind us and filled up with water. I asked if they would like to share the locks, which they were over joyed to do.

The first lock was set for us by the volunteer lock keeper Alex. Coming down the next lock was a widebeam and the following three locks were in our favour with three boats singling down. The first of the three boats was NB Tilley with Pat and Tracy on board, they had a Winter mooring at Market Harborough. By 12 noon we were at the top of the flight and to greet us was Mac from NB Mona Lisa, it was great to see him and to have a quick chat. We then said “Cheerio” and headed towards the tunnel.

Mike was out on the trip boat Charlie, Mike now has his ex historic working boat Jubilee back from having a cabin fitted to her. Next job is to have her painted.
Onward through Blisworth Tunnel, whilst Keith steered us through, I put some Chicken and Mushroom slices in the oven to warm through for lunch and the kettle went on. Once out of the tunnel I made the fires up, Keith reckoned his feet did not start to thaw out until we reached Bugbrooke. I was getting colder and colder, which is very unlike me. I had three fleeces on, I then put on my winter bags, which are like duvets for legs, these went over my trousers and they managed to stop the wind freezing my bones. I also ended up wearing two pairs of gloves. The North Easterly wind was so biting, it would have frozen the drips off my nose if I had had any.
During our days cruising, I received a text from Geraldine on The Cheese Boat, to see if we were going to do the Buckby Flight, I said it would be tomorrow, so we agreed to share the work, lets hope it is warmer.

As we approached Brockhall Road Bridge we saw The Cheese Boat, so pulled up in front of them and moored up for the day at 4.25pm. It had felt like we have been on the move much longer but that is due to the cold wind. I have never felt so cold and I can usually cope with most weathers. Whilst I shut the boat up against the wind and cold, Keith nipped over to Bedazzled to buy a new light bulb for our lamp. I then had a quick chat with Geraldine and Michael to sort out our start time for the morning. I am hoping the wind drops and it is a tad warmer tomorrow.