Ladder Bridge

After bacon banjo's for breakfast I slapped a coat of primer on the well deck, not long after it started to rain. We had decided to move on today so we got togged up, untied from the bank and made our way down to the first of the Napton  flight of locks.

The first and second locks were manned by C&RT staff to manage boats through the Heath-Robinson construction keeping the lock walls in place. The rain was persistent all the way up the flight, boats coming down made things a lot easier. We were headed for one of our favourite mooring places from last year just above Ladder Bridge 129 another 4.5 miles away, lock duties done Sue retired to the dry cabin, the rain became torrential at times, the rear door was cracked open and hot coffee and a plastic bagged sandwich was handed to me before the door was shut again.

I don't mind cruising in rain as long as there is no wind, unfortunately for me the wind assisted rain came at an angle that could creep past my defences and seep down my neck, I passed plenty of good mooring spots but I had made up my mind before we left and I was determined the weather would not get the better of us. I would feel a lot dryer if we had stopped earlier but a failure of some sort, being on a boat out in the weather isn't that bad, you know hot showers dry cloths central heating are only a few steps away after mooring.
It took about an hour and a half to cruise the 4.5 miles, we were alone, not even hardy hire boat crews were moving, when we reached our destination Sue donned her waterproofs and helped tie FL to the bank. I took those few steps and in the dry of the cabin had a welcomed cup of tea.

Liver for dinner then I was coerced back out into the elements to align the dish to the spot in the sky where we could get a picture on the box to watch the football and the TT races on  CH4.

No pictures today, it was to wet to get the camera out.