On our way

We've spent the last week in the marina attending to the boat, vanishing the new top bunk (see below) and getting the cratch cover repaired and finally today we got underway.

We had a great evening out yesterday with another couple from the marina Nick and Nicki (or as Sarah prefers to call them the pair of nickers!). Nick used to have his boat next to us but then moved to the other side of the marina (he assured us it wasn't something we had done) and it was super to catch up with them over a few beers and a great meal at the Red Lion in Crick.

So today we were away from the marina at about 9am, a beautiful morning to be on the cut and after filling up with diesel coal and gas, albeit not at our marina as they had run out of gas, we had a quiet run down to the flight of locks at Watford and for once there was no queue and we were virtually straight into the locks and Sarah even had help with the gates from some young gongoozlers that were on holiday.

Having had a swift run through Watford we decided to press on for Braunston as we had a provisional arrangement to meet some friends there on Friday. We were not so lucky with the Braunston set of locks though. They were virtually all set against us and with no one to share the locks with it was a slow journey. The boats we did pass coming up the locks all said that Braunston was very busy and given that there was reportedly a line of boats in front of us going down we decided not to try to find mooring in Braunston itself but have moored up for the night just down from the Admiral Nelson pub so I suppose we will just have to pop over there later for a drink.

Oh I nearly forgot to mention the new top bunk. At the end of last years cruising we thought it would be good to try and get the dogs out from under our feet so decided to make them a bed which would sit over the hatch from where they could survey the passing world. I made it during the winter and surprisingly found that it fitted when we brought it to the boat so I've given it a few coats of varnish and after a protest that the bed we put in it was too cold and shiny we covered it with a towel and now have trouble getting them out of it!

Our first lock of the year - Top lock at Watford

T n T In their new top bunk