Bourne End to Apsley.

Last night Keith and I were invited to dinner by Jacqueline and Les on NB Valerie, so at 6.30 pm we locked the boat up, took a bottle of wine with us and joined Les and Jac on their boat for a fabulous evening of wonderful food, excellent chatter and a glass or two of wine. Time flew as we nattered about anything and everything and before we new it, it was 12.30am. None of had realised how quickly the time had sped by, but that is what happens when your entertained by good friends. We left Les and Jac and headed back to our boat, where two bleary eye animals were waiting for us to come in. Marmite kept meowing as if moaning about us being out so late, Paddy just crept back to his bed once we had climbed down into the back cabin and shut the doors.

I can honestly say I slept like a baby and woke completely refreshed. We had no need to leave to early as we were not going far, so at 9.10 am we untied the boat and slipped away, doing our best not to wake Jac and Les.

Travelled 2.2 miles, worked 8 locks in a time of 3 hours and 15 minutes.

I walked to the first lock of the day Winkwell Locks and set it.

After the pair of locks it was then Winkwell Swing Bridge. You insert your C&RT key and follow the instructions on the box. The barriers come down and the bridge swings open, holding up the traffic whilst the boat passes through, you then press the close button and everything happens in reverse.

Onward pass the boat yard, which seems to have more and more boats out on the bank each time we pass.

This boat moored below the lock 61 after the Winkwell Swing Bridge is looking as though it is going to sink, especially when the paddles are raised on the lock.

 

Onward to Fisheries Lock, where another boat was moored at the bottom ready to come up after we exited the lock. The Fishery Inn was being done up the last time we came through, I am not sure about the colour scheme, it somehow does nothing to make you want to go in there.

We had hoped to moor at Two Waters, but there was no room and the empty bits were way to shallow for us to get into, so we carried onto to just above Apsley top lock, where we were able to get close to the towpath. Having moored up on pins, I made us some lunch, Keith then suggested he walk down to the middle lock at Apsley to see if there were any empty moorings near Sainsbury, as we were not happy about being moored there on mooring pins. He came back with a smile on his face which meant there were moorings empty on the rings, so we moved down through the 2 locks which we shared with another boat.

We will be around for a few days, and I am looking forward to a good look around.