Willington

Yesterday evening Christine spent some time making phone calls to discover what time the service would be at Findern or Willington churches. She established that it was 10 o'clock at both and, with Findern being nearer to our overnight mooring, we planned to go there. The aim was to set off just after eight which would give us plenty of time to go through Stenson lock, moor at Buckford Bridge and walk gently up to the church.


This plan was fine but we completely overlooked the fact that the clocks went forward overnight. Christine woke saying that it was 7:20, expecting a gentle rise before setting off. However, Mike looked at the radio controlled weather clock and discovered that it was actually an hour later!

Our initial reaction was that we were too late but Mike quickly set off (without his usual ritual of taking readings etc). Arriving at the lock - which is over 12 feet rise, figures on the bridge beckoned us on and a huge gate opened to allow the boat in. As it happened we arrived just as a boat coming down checked whether to fill the lock or not. It was still a lengthy process with so much water to fill the lock, but we arrived at Buckford Bridge by 9:40 and the bank was piled, making it an easy mooring.

We locked up and did a power walk up to the village, arriving only five minutes late for the service!

After church, we picked up a paper and some more milk from the village shop. The village green was saved from a threat of being tarmaced over some years ago and is surrounded by a number of pretty, old buildings.

Back to the boat and we completed the run to Willington, passing Mercia Marina where we are booked to leave the boat for the next two and a bit weeks whilst we go back to Cornwall. At
Willington we winded and used the service station before mooring up for the rest of the day on the opposite bank. This was just a short walk from the bus stop where Mike planned to begin his journey back to Lower Heyford, by bus and train, to collect the car.