Yelvertoft to Norton Junction

Wednesday 30th May

John took the car to the bridge beyond the Crick tunnel and walked back with Dex. We set off around midday.

 It was great to see this family of ducklings swimming past us

 This chap was keen to make sure Dex was leaving!

 We went past the Yelvertoft marina. 

 The flag irises are now in full bloom and looking fabulous

 We passed all sorts of craft including this canoeist. 

 This is an old Ice breaking boat dated 1860. No doubt it had been on display at the Crick boat show.

 Lots of boats had flower displays, again from the boat show. 

 There was even a Christian boat! https://www.canalministries.org.uk/

 We passed through Crick where the boat show had taken place. 

 It was incredibly busy. 

 Soon we could see Crick tunnel ahead. There were 2 boats following me. 

 In the tunnel another boat was coming towards us. There is hardly room to pass so I ended up scraping the tunnel wall trying to avoid it. Oops! Luckily didn't lose a fender and no real damage. I was so glad to get out of there!

 Today's heron!

 At Watford flight there was a queue to go down. You had to book in with the lockkeeper to see when you could proceed.

 Whilst we were waiting I went to their book sharing hut and chose some new books to read.

 After about 15 mins it was our turn to go down the flight of 7 locks. I was steering.

 As we were going down I had to keep an eye on the cill to make sure we didn't get caught on that.

 John had a good chat with the lady volunteer lockkeeper. 

 

 At the last but one lock there is a sharp bend to enter the next narrow lock. I was so pleased with myself as I did it perfectly!

 This mooring looked so peaceful however they are right opposite Watford gap services!

 A rare shot of the 3 of us with Dex actually looking into the camera! 

 This is such a beautiful old narrow barge.

 We had seen this very swanky boat earlier, it also had been to the Crick boat show.

We found a spot at the very end of the Leicester canal just before the water point. This would be our mooring for the next few days. Only 4.5 miles til Braunston. 

 It had been a very long day! 😀