Sunday 6th November 2005
Napton - Lower Shuckburgh, via Stockton Top (9 miles, 7 locks)
The wind grew stronger overnight and there were showers of rain as we ate our breakfast.
The rain stopped briefly as Jeannine and Tony worked the lock at the bottom of the Napton flight. The horizontal rain soon started again, but I had put on my full wet-weather gear, designed to cope with conditions on the fells in the Lake District. Thank you to the inventers of Goretex. Fortunately, I had the wind behind me.
Jen worked the Calcutt locks on her own as Jeannine and Tony had discovered that an umbrella does not count as wet-weather gear. We arrived back at the marina and winded to face back towards Calcutt, while Tony fetched his car. After loading their belongings into the car, they drove us down to "The Blue Lias" where we had a very pleasant lunch.
Returning to the boat, the weather had improved and Jen and I set off back to Calcutt and through the locks, again....
We had had trouble getting the coal stove to light and keep going, so Jen spent some time clearing everything out and chipping away at the crusty bits that were blocking the grate. We have a wood-burning stove at home, so realise the importance of unobstructed airflow. Once the fire was going, Jen poked it every morning to shake the ash down into the ashpan and add more Taybrite, keeping the fire going for the rest of the week. With the vent almost closed, the small stove heated the whole boat and we had no need for the gas central heating.
We moored that night near Lower Shuckborough just before sunset.
