Date 5 April 09- Day - Sunday Start - Cosgrove 10 am End -Stoke Hammond 1730
Yesterday Diana decided that now the weather was warmer she would turn the stove out, the night was clear and the morning cool. The stove went on again about 4 pm to cook dinner. We saw lots of Wyvern Shipping boats about today, all the ones on a long weekend break have to be back at base by 9 am tomorrow. Passing through Milton Keynes we spotted "Fe Fair" moored against the towing path so we pulled over and spent an hour with them before heading off south. As we approached Fenny Stratford Lock a boat was about to enter so we shared the lock with them. They already had the swing bridge open and were able to remove their key leaving the bridge open for the following boat. I don't know if this bridge should be left open or closed, prior to the lock being fitted it was always left open, so maybe it should be locked open when not in use. We left the lock first as the other boat was dropping friends off who had been visiting for the day. Next stop was Stoke Hammond Lock, this was set against us with the top gates open, we expected the other boat to catch up by the time the lock was ready, but there was no sigh of them so we started going up alone, we had about a foot of water in the lock when a Wyvern Hire boat appeared below the lock, so we emptied the lock and opened one of the bottom gates to let them in beside us. We moored for the night just above the Lock moorings at about 5-30 pm. You will find our latest position at http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route -- Brian
