Back in home terrritory

It was a bright morning and Al was left in bed while Del went on the hunt for wood... after finding some he cut it up and stored it in the front lockers for one of those cold summer evenings. He then did the brasses before Al saw the light of day. We set off at around 11.00am and made our way through Fosse locks. It was a bonus that all the locks appeared to be in our favour, but we had to do them on our own. We seem to have mastered how not to bash Derwent6 around in a double lock now, it has only taken 18 months. We soon got to Bascote locks with its double linked lock. Single boats can pass in this lock, but we never met anything. We then went through another two locks and then pulled up outside The Blue Lias pub and filled with water. We got out a blanket and sat on the grass with a lager and a packet of crisps while we waited. We were hoping we would have another boat pass us, so we would get some help up the Stockton flight of eight, but still after a hour nothing... so we did them on our own. We did wait till a boat came down though, so again the locks were in our favour.
We made our way onto Calcutt locks and arrived just in time to get diesel at the marina. The prices had changed a bit and we had to pay 75p, but with self declaration. We could see the weather changing (remember Del had done the brasses) and we had a short sharp shower as we took Wigrams turn. The weather then got very calm and the sun came out and the canal looked like we were cruising on a sheet of glass....tranquil... We moored up with the sun still shining and got out the beers, chips and salsa... Another long day (for us), we had done 23 locks and nine miles...