Passing through Springwell lock, a chap in a broken down boat asked if we could give him a tow to the next lock at Batchworth as he had blown a head gasket. Well, maybe I might need one one day, so we said yes. We tied the boats together side by side and set off down the canal.
Actually, it was surprisingly easy and I even managed to steer him neatly to the side at the finish.Later, Peter did his first serious bit of boat driving and quickly appeared adept, he even got us neatly into locks with a bit of coaching. Here he is taking Herbie into our favourite Black Jack's lock with Kath instructing.
Although it's now getting Autumnal, this section of canal is looking lovely, with blackberries, sloes and wild hops in abundance.
The evening wasn't so good though, as the General Elliot no longer has a quiz, and the nearby moorings looked very dodgy. One small fibreglass boat had been sunk by vandals. So we pressed on to Cowley where we had egg and chips and a game of Scrabble to finish the day.
Next day, Kath had to go home for the weekend, so we detoured down the Slough Arm to drop her near the car, then Peter and I set off back towards Paddington, with Peter by now doing most of the driving. Once again we overnighted at the Black Horse, this time mooring a few feet from the pub door. Noticing it was quiz night we duly entered and did reasonably well, ending up mid field.
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