Day Twenty-Three - Norton Junction to Blisworth

We woke to a wonderfully crisp sunny morning. There was not a cloud in the sky. We got underway at eight thirty and quickly passed through the well-presented Norton Junction and started the first of seven locks called Buckby Lock Flight. They were quite close together so I walked on the tow path rather than Henk picking me up and dropping me off between the locks. This saves time. It took us two hours to get through the seven locks as they were all double locks and most needed to be filled before we emptied them. Thankfully we were joined by another boat so we helped each other. Some of the lock gates were so stiff I couldn’t budge them and I was helped out by the man from the other boat. I would still be there trying to close the gates if he hadn’t helped me! At the last lock I came across a group of eccentric, middle-aged bikies and when I commented on their novel bikes they invited me to hop on one and have a photo taken. They were very amusing.
We moored just outside Weedon Bec about noon. We didn’t have any more locks for the day and decided to have a couple of hours break. We walked into the village to stock up on a few more groceries and have a look around. We came across a plaque which was celebrating nine hundred years since the village was listed in the Domesday Book in 1086. We visited St Peter’s Church which was a lovely honey colour and tried to find Alice Old’s grave but we couldn’t find it. Alice apparently lived old enough to be ruled over by seven sovereigns.
Whilst having lunch on the boat we were passed by a canal boat of pirates. They were eight young guys having a great time together. We later passed them at a pub garden still dressed in their outfits.
A dark storm threatened in the middle of afternoon but we escaped it and once again we had a pleasant time motoring along in the late afternoon sun. We arrived at the small village of Blisworth at five o’clock. We had dinner on the boat and a relaxing night reading the Sunday papers.
Photos: Norton Junction; Being a Bikie at the Buckby Lock Flight; Pirates having fun!; St Peter’s Church, Weedon Bec; A storm going overhead.