The weather was sunny and warm. Certainly a change from recent days.
We went down the Stoke Flight with an ex (?) Canal Time boat who didn't appear to have much experience and a crew that consisted mostly of young children. They stopped after the second lock down and then tried unsuccessfully to wind. I think they didn't realise that canals are actually shallow near their banks. They had intended to go down and up the Stoke flight and then down the arm to Northampton. Steve didn't want to cool their enthusiasm but he did remind them of how many locks there were in the Rothersthorpe flight. We continued down the flight as a single and didn't see them again. I wonder what they managed to do?
We had hoped to drop-off the bottles we had saved since Oxford at the BW facility at the bottom of the Stoke Flight. We then discovered (remembered) that the only recycling facility around the canal is at Cosgrove. It does appear surprising that giving the amount of liquids that boaters consume there are not more recycling facilities near the canal particularly for glass.
Edward steered all the way to Yardley Gobion. Anne and Edward Winter were picked up at Kingfisher Marina and returned home. Steve & Maggie then packed up and gave Albert a spring clean.
Edward Winter steering Albert at Stoke bottom lock
The next jobs will be to repair the broken bathroom light switch and repair the inevitable scratches to the gunnels - after all "boating is a contact sport".
Steve will soon sort out our photos for the trip and be editing his posts. He expects there have been some errors given the blogs were posted using a mobile with predictive text.
