(No, we haven’t sunk, I’m just slow in updating this)

Today, we had plans. We set of early(ish) to meet up with Tom and Phil at Stoke Bruerne so they could help us with the lock staircase. A relatively short staircase of 7 locks going straight down. Quick and easy with four of us, and a pub lunch (sitting outside with table service) at the bottom.

After that, We did the Blisworth tunnel. 1.7 miles of narrow pitch darkness. Luckily none of us seemed to be claustrophobic.

We left Phil and Tom to walk back to where they had left their cars while we sallied forth a little more.

After that excitement (and the pub lunch) I decided I needed a rest, but Jenny wanted to push on. So I had an afternoon nap while Jenny piloted the boat solo.

When I woke up I discovered that Jenny had managed the Rothersthorpe locks (a flight of 17 narrow locks) all by herself. These locks were very narrow, just wide enough to fit one narrow boat in. We had now entered a part of the canal system that larger double width boats couldn’t reach.

We finally stopped when it got dark, and moored for the night under the M1. Not quite the rural idyll that we’d gotten used to, but we were too tired to care.