BASKETTCASE

We made it to Norbury Junction last evening, a very long day.  There were some tricky locks and one set of five took us about two hours. The problem was too many people going through in one direction so that we came out of a lock into very shallow mooring for the next one.  It was a situation where ideally you would wait in the lock until the next one was ready, avoiding mooring up in the shallows, but not everyone understood that, and some people get so impatient you would think they were late for work!  To be fair, all the hired boats are working to a deadline, and we have found already that however well you plan there is nothing you can do about the flow of traffic.  We also had a delay when our back fender got well and truly stuck under the lock we had just come through.  A lovely family waiting behind us came and stood on the back end and weighed it down enough to free the fender and its bolts and chains, but it was an embarrassing moment.

I have accidentally deleted most of my still pictures, getting in a muddle transferring them to my portabale hard drive, and deleting them from the camera before checking they were saved.  I have discovered that I have no picture of our lovely boat to send the boys, so we need to remedy that when we can get out of the boat.  As I write, Dave has tapped on the window, and I see him and Kate trudging up the towpath to our first lock of the day.  They are going to try to dispose of yesterdays rubbish and take a photo while they are out, but once we get into the lock I will lose coverage so its time to stop before I lose everything.