Saturday; We were up at 06.00 this morning ready for a 7 o’clock start to head up the Northampton Arm and its 17 locks and back onto the canal system.

Looking back at Beckets Park Marina

Yes today is time to say goodbye to the rivers of East Anglia and the Environment Agency and to say a final thanks to Roy Smith and Andy Hobble the river inspectors. It has been good to be on the rivers which are very scenic and interesting even though we spent a total of six weeks marooned because of floods. If there is any drawback on the rivers it is that of the lack of facilities for boaters but that to one side we had a great time.

Now at 07.00 we set off up the Arm, most of the locks were for us so we made good time on the climb of 96 feet up to the top. The first section to the M1 and the flight was to say the least very weedy, shallow and narrow in places, so we had to proceed slowly so as not to pick up too much weed. On the climb Sally was in charge of the boat (and did a great job) while I prepared and closed the locks behind her and by the time we got up I was spent as some of the gates and slackers were very hard. We reached the top of the climb at 11.15 which made for a total time of 4 hours and 15 minutes on the 17 locks, which we were both very pleased with.

 You just cant get better than this

 It was cold, I wasnt bored

 Another African Queen moment

We pulled over at Gayton Marina for fuel and had a celebratory cup of tea while we waited for another boat to finish. On to the pump and with 155 litres put in we had a full tank for the rest of our journey back to Willington. After filling the tank we made the decision to continue on to Bugbrooke and moor up there for the rest of the weekend to ease my aching muscles, arriving at 13.36.

We have spoken to Jo and John of NB Acen who are on their way back to Market Harborough from Fazeley Junction and we look forward to meeting up with them, and of course Graham and Carolann of NB Autumn Years somewhere on the way. However, not before we meet up with Karl who has promised us the biggest Gammon dinner around these parts.