What a day and what a journey. We set off from home at 10am. I always use Tom-tom if I am doing a journey of any distance as it alerts me to any holdups. Today it worked overtime. We hadn’t reached the end of our lane when I was told to turn right and not go straight ahead as normal. It then took us through Mutford as the road was closed in Hulver which I didn’t know about. At this point the weather wasn’t too bad, very slight drizzle and the wind had died away. Move on to the A14 at Newmarket and it took off onto the A421 as there are 2 of the 3 lanes closed in Cambridgeshire. Even that wasn’t straightforward as that is being ripped apart and at one roundabout you are instructed not to follow satnav, so we followed the lorry ahead which brought us back onto the A421 about a mile further on. At the next roundabout said 3 exit, no chance, barriers said ahead only so on we went, next roundabout do a 360 and go back to the last roundabout, no point, we couldn’t go anywhere from there, so on we went, navigated the Black Cat roadworks. By now it was chucking it down an limiting visibility. So we joined the M1, that must have been closed because there was no traffic at all coming along when we joined. We finally arrived at the boat in the rain just before 2PM. Thankfully no frost damage but the boat was damper than I have ever known it, even the front doors had swollen and difficult to open.
Heating on, engine run, car unloaded, still in the rain, a bit of dinner and a change of plan. It was going to be the S Oxford but with the three stoppages, a damaged bridge and the Cherwell running fast we are heading north instead. 3pm we slipped from our slot backwards, the wind wasn’t too bad but it did pin me to the bank as I turned out onto the canal. We went as far as the top of the Hillmorton Locks and moored for the night, needless to say, just after mooring the rains stopped.
Today’s Journey 2 miles with no locks in¾hour.
