Sunday, 22nd May
The mooring here at Thrapston seems to be new, and it will be vey nice when it's finished. Unfortunately, at the moment it's just bare earth and this has rapidly turned into a mud bath in the rain. Our shoes are covered in it, to the point where they weigh about four times as much as usual! There is a water point here too, and the water comes out so slowly that it took one and a half hours to fill our tank! Luckily we weren't going any where, and there was no one else waiting to use it. Two Environmental Agency (In future referred to as EA--I can't keep writing Environmental Agency, it's too long) men were at Thrapston, putting up a new notice board, and Trev gave them each a cup of tea. They seemed to be really enjoying their work, and it was good to meet them.

Gail's mum and her husband came to pick Gail up at 11.00, and they couldn't come to see the boat, it was too filthy for them to reach it! We said a fond farewell to Gail, and set off. I'd been dreading this bit, as we had to back out of the cul-de-sac and back in to the main river, against the current. We would be running parallel to the bridge arches and, if the current pushed us along, we would drift broadside on to the arches. I stood at the front like Boadicea with a boat hook to fend us off--well I don't suppose Boadicea ever had a boat hook, but you get my drift--excuse the pun! But, as usual and of course, I should never have worried! My knight in shining armour was at the helm, and he turned us round with great skill, dexterity and aplomb! We backed upstream, got the right angle for the bridge arch and sailed through without a hitch.

We carried on downstream to Islip lock. The water was rushing over the top of the lock and the force of it was such that we had to tie up the boat before we started to open the bottom gate, or we would have been washed under the guillotine before it was fully opened and have become wedged. This river certainly has a mind of its own. And it hadn't finished with us yet. Just around the corner, there was a VERY LOW BRIDGE. We had to slow right down and take the chimney and the hose pipe off the roof to get under it. But the next bridge was even lower, and I just scraped the top of the bag of compost bag on it. In fact, of course, although the bridges are low, the reason there is less headroom than usual is because the water level is high due to all the rain.

We arrived at Titchmarsh Lock and there were our two EA friends again, called out because of the high water level. We shared the lock with a boat which had had to give up on trying to get under the low bridge where we'd had the argument with the compost bag, they couldn't get under it. So they had turned round and were coming back down the river. The EA men had dropped the water level by eight inches and now the boat was going to turn round and try the bridge again. We were lucky to have arrived at the bridge when we did, after the water level had been dropped, or we would never have got under it. We eventually moored up below Wadenhoe church, out in the country, in a very pretty spot.

Monday, 23rd, Tuesday, 24th, Wednesday, 25th May
Much better weather today. Although it's still windy, the sun was out for part of the day and there was only a sprinkling of rain. The countryside is much prettier now, though the locks are no easier! We came through a very attractive lock at Barnwell Mill. Here we met our two EA friends again!

There were some slightly longer stretches between locks on this stretch and this gave us time to enjoy the scenery. We moored up at Oundle, though not with ease. The guide showed mooring between the two bridges, and we naively thought there was going to be some mooring rings or posts--we canallers are used to this sort of luxury. However there was nothing and so we thought it must be through the next bridge. There was nothing there either, so we turned round--there was a nice wide bit of river--and went back through the bridge. I scrambled up the bank and we moored alongside the river bank. That was all there was--just a high bank. However, it's a very nice spot, and close to the town.

We walked in to town and were impressed with Oundle. Most of the houses are built of stone and it really is a delightful place. It is the home of Oundle School, a public school, and the pupils walk around town looking most studious! It feels a safe place and several people smiled as we went along. Of course, they might have been feeling sorry for us, but I choose to believe they were being friendly! The Talbot Hotel in the centre of town is four hundred years old and is said to be built with stone from nearby Fotheringhay Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was executed. Moreover, it is said that the staircase now in the Talbot is the very one she walked down to be executed. So there! We ate at The Talbot, but found the meal indifferent.

Our intention had been to move on on Tuesday, but Trev received news that a colleague from his teaching days had died and he wants to go to the funeral. So he has arranged to hire a car to go to Nuneaton for a day and so we will stay here for a few days.

Last week I had some really nice emails from readers I've never met, including one from Australia. I'm delighted so many people visit the site and get pleasure from it. It's particularly pleasing that I can offer help to new boaters, especially from the viewpoint of a complete novice when I started boating. All we'd ever had was a week's holiday before we ordered our boat to be built!

Another thing which I hadn't realised until I was in Oundle library, surfing the net, was that my site was mentioned in "Waterways World" magazine in March 2004! Im' really sorry that I missed the reference, especially since I take the magazine every month!