Day 120 - bats in the tunnel.

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0 locks, 455 in total.







A dry day with a little sun so Dunlin has dried out after yesterday's rain – a damp boat is so cold. We walked into Crick for some supplies; they have a Co-op, such a relief after Spar and Londis, not to mention Bargain Booze! Crick is friendly and pleasant, especially now there's a small bypass – nothing special architecturally but it appears to be thriving and comfortable. There are two marinas, the larger one hosting the annual Crick Show which Jenny and I once visited to drool over brand new narrowboats with better kitchens and furnishings than we have at home. There's also a canalside pub but we didn't want to hang around until lunchtime and then perhaps be motoring in the rain again. In the end we had an almost sunny afternoon which brought out the Daddy-Long-Legs in droves.









So we motored off towards the winding hole about a mile further on, wondering quite how the boat was going to perform – our replacement gearbox has become increasingly petulant as the weather has become colder and will not click into reverse until we've been going for about 20 minutes, and not just idling. It can take more than 30 seconds for reverse to engage and this time gradually diminishes to almost instantaneous after about half an hour, so we have become quite adept at not relying on reverse. Different matter though if we want to perform a 3- or 5-point turn – can't imagine other boaters happily waiting whist we straddle the canal, looking at our watches! So John was on hand with the boat pole to punt the bows around and I kept lookout for anyone coming. And it all went smoothly – no reverse, no other boats, no wind, but a textbook turn with the aid of the pole – well done John.







My turn for Crick Tunnel on the way back. It's a double width tunnel (just); John met one boat in there yesterday, I met two today; and some bats!







We're moored in the middle of nowhere, probably our last opportunity this trip, and the scene is distinctly bucolic with all the sheep opposite us. There are virtually no boats on the move today, perhaps they all got fed-up waiting for the staircase locks yesterday. We hope that it is similarly quiet tomorrow.

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Photos

The Wharf, Crick -
where we didn't have lunch!