Date - 2 April 09 Day - Thursday Start - 10 am Leicester Branch End -1345 Stowe Hill Well there was a change in the weather today and it was quite cool when we went out. The first job was to reverse back along the arm, passed all the moored boats, through the bridge and turn at the junction back on the Grand Union main line and head towards London. As we turned I noticed a boat coming from Braunston and luck was with us as he was going our way, some one to help in these large locks is very handy. The third pound from the bottom was about 2 foot down on level and just as we locked down into it a BW chap arrived to top it up. We met the first boat coming up in this lock, all the rest had been empty when we arrived but this chap had just started filling it. By the time we were down there was another boat below waiting to come up, I am amazed the first chap didn't realise there was a boat following in the pound behind and waited for him. By now I had put a jacket on top of my fleece is was so cool. The boat we were sharing with, Oakapple said that the other side of Braunston tunnel had been fine. As we only want to get to Stoke Bruerne tomorrow we moored up just before 2 pm just south of Stowe Hill Wharf opposite the camping/caravan site a short way before bridge 28. Once moored the sun came out and things warmed up pleasantly. We spent the afternoon fitting new door liners to the left hand side doors. I originally lined these with plywood, but they always get wet at the bottom and the wood had seen much better days. Now I have glued two strips of 9 mm wood down inside the doors and then glued a sheet of 9 mm white plastic onto them to make the face, so the wet shouldn't cause any more problems in the future. We will have to wait and see how they last.
You will find our latest position at http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route -- Brian
