As I mentioned last time we spent Saturday at Crick Boat Show and did a stint of a couple of hours on the RBOA stand, we had quite a few conversations with wannabe liveaboards and enjoyed sharing our experiences over the past four years with people who are contemplating starting on that journey.
We had a great time dodging the showers and one torrential downpour with thunder and hailstones while managing to check out the stalls and meeting Ruth & Barry from Heyford who are contemplating buying a narrowboat for holidays.
Our new friends John & Judith took us back to Hillmorton where they are waiting for a new engine too be fitted to their boat.
When we got back on the boat I found my laptop wouldn’t work and I’m writing this on Joy’s iPad so goodness knows how it will come out, no photos for a start.
Today we dropped down the 3 Hillmorton locks and arrived at Rugby Visitor Moorings just after 10 and made a quick visit to Tesco. Then it was a lock-free cruise all the way to Hawkesbury Junction known to generations of boatmen as Sutton Stop after the toll clerk who once presided over this important junction. When we arrived at the stoplock we discovered that the hire boat we had been following had a crew of Scouts so we had to excuse their erratic steering, especially as a Scout from another crew locked us through.
We negotiated the U Turn in front of the Greyhound Pub without making fools of ourselves, then reversed up to a vacant mooring just past the bridge with metal sculpture on it, just wish we could share a photo with you!
.. and now here it is!