Another day pressing on. The day started overcast, dry but feeling dank.
There was a long lock-free rural stretch, past Weedon, Bugbrooke, Gayton Junction, where the Northampton arm goes off, and other hamlets, to be tackled before Blisworth Tunnel (3057yds, the third longest in the system). Now it was lunchtime so we moored up shortly afterwards, in the brief space before Stoke Bruene locks.
Off down the seven locks, delayed at first by a boat that emptied the lock in front of us - well the water level was slightly down, but just because the paddle operator got to the bottom paddles first, doesn't mean that they shouldn't check carefully if a boat is coming in the other direction!
The boat proved to be a widebeam, completely black, fabricated to look more like a tank that a canal boat. Its steerer wore camouflage gear! We hoped it had made special arrangements about going through the tunnel given its width - no narrowboat would like to meet that mid-tunnel!
Andrew operated the locks spread over a mile and a half, while Christine steered. At the bottom, Andrew opted to walk on to Cosgrove, five miles further on. He soon disappeared out of view in front, but at least had Cosgrove Lock opened when Christine got there.
We were still aiming to get to Wolverton for some immediate shopping - including a newspaper. Time was getting on but we decided to go on to moor the other side of Wolverton near the Grafton Aqueduct, a place we've found good before.
After mooring, and putting up the TV dish, and the chimney for Christine to light the fire, Andrew set off to walk the half mile back to Wolverton and its supermarkets close to the canal. It was well dark by the time he arrived back!
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