We have travelled over 14 miles today and done 6 locks - this took us a bit over 6 hours travelling - this is pretty good going considering the wind being against us the whole way and we are going against the current. We couldn't do it on the canals but the river is wider and we can go a bit faster, also we had help on 2 of the locks as there were workmen and on one lock they did the whole thing and on the other they let us sail out and closed it all up for us. Rivers are different to canals in that on a canal water is precious and so you have to close both gates when you leave unless another boat is coming in to the lock you are leaving. However on rivers you have to leave the downstream gate open and the upstream one shut - this means that a lot of water goes through each time but then on a river there is plenty coming from the source. It means however that although we are able to sail into each lock as we are going upstream, once we are through John has to close the upgates, open the downgates and empty the lock again. This obviously takes time. We have been lucky up to now because the downgates which are guillotine have been mechanical but the last 2 have been hand driven which means that he has had to turn an enormous wheel around over 100 times to get the gate down and then reverse the process - I have a feeling that this is not his idea of fun!!!
We passed Fotheringhay today - we were planning to moor there as our map showed moorings but when we got there, it was just fields, with no landings or mooring posts just a slippery bank AND the farmer wanted £4 a night. So being intrepid sailors we continued on and are now moored totally illegally at a lock. In our defense we haven't seen a boat in either direction and it was far too late to expect anyone through. We will be off in the morning so no harm done.
The landscape is becoming far more interesting - there are HILLS - well rises in the ground level in places at least and it is amazing how much better we feel for seeing them. The fens were like a recurring nightmare!
Fotheringhay was a total let-down since as well as no moorings there was only a small mound where the castle had stood that Mary Queen of Scots had lived and been executed in. I was bitterly disappointed! However we have seen some stunning architecture and some really innovative designs on some waterside developments.
We are now about 1/3 of the way from Peterborough to Northampton so hopefully we will be there by the weekend, but there are still a LOT of locks to get through and the weather is very changeable - the sun didn't really come out today and there was no real rain but we had some very strong winds that don't help much as they have all been either in our face or on our side - neither of which is good for the boat! Aerodynamics and narrowboats are not words that are usually in the same sentance!
Our current location is Ashton Lock just south of somewhere called Oundle that apparently has a school - as the crow flies we have hardly travelled at all but the river meanders continuously.
Talking about birds flying we have seen several red kites today - I've never seen one before but they are really beautiful - the first one we saw was hovering directly overhead of us for ages and then gave us a real aeriel display - quite stunning! Unfortunately I didn't have the camera handy and as I was meant to be looking out for moorings I couldn't get it easily - I shall try harder in future.....
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