We have had a more normal day today, thank goodness! We had arranged to do the first 5 of our sheduled 10 locks with Roger and Liz but when we were ready to leave at 8-30 am they were still in their dressing gowns! We left them to it and set off alone. To our delight we found every lock either in our favour or with someone coming down, making life easier.
We did the 5 mile, 10 lock trip in 3.5 hours and moored at Long Itchington, before Bridge 26. As Ken was sorting out the tv aerial along came Bev from Cheeky Minkie, who we spent another of our ‘lost afternoons’ with at The Blacksmith’s Arms in Branston last year, walking her 2 dogs. She stopped for a long chat and said they were moored through the next bridge, near The Two Boats. Her husband is called Ken and she said he would be pleased to see us but when we went past their boat on our way to The Blue Lias he wasn’t in evidence.
They like to go to the pub later in the afternoon than us but much as we like them we were hoping they wouldn’t be outside The Two Boats when we came back because we could do without another marathon session today! Fortunately they weren’t, so we returned to our boat at a decent time and had dinner at a more sensible hour tonight.
Tomorrow we are tackling Stockton Locks and will probably just moor at the top when we finish them.
