Today was not so bright but not quite so cold with no ice on the roof. We set off at ten past nine heading for the Watford flight. I stuck the nose into the bottom lock while Diana went to find the lock keeper, there wasn't one, but there were three boats coming down, one in the staircase, one just entering the second from bottom lock and one behind them. I filled the bottom lock and opened the top gates ready for the single hander at the next lock and then backed Harnser out of the way. Diana waved to the next boat that we were coming up and once the single hander had left the bottom lock we started to ascend, We had to wait above the second lock for the last boat to clear the staircase before we could go any further. If BW are not going to have a lock keep on duty why do they insist on having opening hours?
Once clear of the locks we found the going on the summit pound quite slow due to the bottom being to close to the top, and we are not as deep as several of the boats we met today. It seemed they had organised a Christmas get together at the end of the Welford Arm with 40 boats attending and now some of them are heading towards Stoke Bruerne for New Years eve. Lucky for us they were well spaced out. We had heard that there was a new marina being build at Yelvertoft but we didn't see any sign of it. The day seemed to get cooler as the afternoon progressed and we finally stopped for the night about a mile and a half before Welford Junction at three o'clock.
For our latest location http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route
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