Napton

 We set off around 10am, as soon as I got the bows out a boat came the other way, so I started to pull back in, but for some reason the other boat decided to drive through a willow tree and were lucky not to lose their cratch board. This "work of art" made from empty plastic drinks bottles caught my eye as we passed the offside residential moorings.We hadn't gone much further when on the bend just before Boundary Lift Bridge there was a boat hard aground, he had tried to get free using his plank as a leaver but was getting nowhere fast. We ran a line bow to bow and a bit of power in reverse soon had her sliding off. Round the corner you can see where someone has hung a couple of 25lt drums on the bridge to hold it down when closed.We found the canal much quieter today seeing a lot less boat. Someone much cleverer than me has done this to an old lump of tree trunk.It seems that the HS2 people don't work on a Friday afternoon and all the plant was parked with no one left about.For some reason the top gate of the Marston Doles top lock was wide open so we were straight in. Looking to the offside the car collection looks to have grown a bit since we were moored in the area.For 10 years we moored just above Napton top lock by the engine arm. This boat was moored here then but under different ownership as Peter sadly passed away. There are  a few other boats that were here when we were but this is the only one we saw with a lodger with their own apartment.

The Napton flight was all against us until the bottom lock, we caught up with the boat ahead as they left the last but one lock where they moored up and the Volockie had the bottom lock set ready for us. A quick chat with Stephen the area CRT supervisor, that may be the wrong title, but he is the boss on the ground. we then went just round the corner to moor for the night.

Today's Journey 14 miles, 9 Locks in 6½ hours