Tuesday 27th March 2007
Foxton Stepbridge - Kicklewell Spinney Bridge (4 miles, 10 locks)
We set off early after breakfast for the short trip to Foxton Locks where we were second in the queue. However there were many boats coming down and the lock-keeper gave them priority. It was almost lunchtime by the time we set off up the flight, by which time there were eight boats waiting at the bottom.
Today was also filled with guilt. When we booked this week on Hawksmoor, we got confused over the dates, and the diary that lives in the kitchen at home was convinced that we had booked the week before, so as not to miss Rosemary's 15th birthday. When we realised our mistake, being the dreadful parents that we are, we still abandoned Robert and Rosemary. We rang her this morning to wish her Happy Birthday before going to school. Robert had already left for college and, through circumstances, wouldn't see Rosemary until after 10pm that evening - poor Rosemary.
She had arranged a sleep-over with some of her friends for Thursday after they had broken up for the Easter holidays, so she decided to celebrate her birthday then instead. We had tried to compensate for our guilt by leaving her a nice expensive present....
If anyone thinks we are mad leaving our teenage children to trash the house with all night parties every night, I have to say that we are extremely fortunate. We have always allowed them a high degree of freedom and trust, and we know they won't let us down.
We moored at the top and walked back down for beer, pasties and pickled onions at the Bridge 61 pub, before a leisurely trip back to Kicklewell Spinney Bridge, although this time I moored next to a narrow gap in the trees to allow satellite reception.
I managed to polish three of the five brass mushroom vents, although this was pretty hard work due to the weather over the past few weeks and the fact that Hawksmoor hadn't been out for a while, so the brass was very tarnished.
Meanwhile, Jen updated her 10 year diary that she now keeps on her laptop. The sun was too bright and she had trouble reading the screen, but the solution was at hand. I think we need to patent the idea before Bill Gates tries to copy it.
We went for our customary walk over the bridge and up the hill before the sun went down.
