Sunday 12th October.
The second day of summer heralded a complete change of plans and we found
ourselves back aboard and still heading South, this time we had Matt as crew
as well. The run from Stoke Hammond to Slapton lock was shared with the same
boat so we got into a system through all the locks. The only problem was the
speed at which we could travel was limited because we were following nb
Fulbourne and butty Angel who were heading back from the Stoke Bruerne event
last weekend. At every lock I arrived to assist them working through and
then closed the top gates before having to turn the lock for our pair. This
meant that our target of Marsworth had to be moved to another location that
we could reach in time to get home for Soddit. The fishing persons just
below Slapton lock were once again using the lock landing as place of
preference and then getting very grumpy when these nuisance boats wanted to
drop off crew to set the lock.
The highlight of the day came when I returned to Stoke Hammond to fetch the
car. Chatting to a fisherman there, who was loading his paraphernalia into
his vehicle, I found out that he had just sent the water bailiff on a long
walk towards Soulbury as neither of them recognised my car and they thought
it belonged to a non-club member who might be fishing in their waters. I
hastily loaded the Di Blasi into the car and set off before the bailiff
returned.
Graham
www.jannock.org.uk
