Late start, due to Pete recovering and Elizabeth a little tired, but spirits lifted with a Elizabeth/Blossom day and a Pete/Bella day. That means Elizabeth lockwinding and Pete driving. It felt good just to focus on something easy. And though we did, what 7 locks? and 4 miles? It all feels easy just now. However, there were notable moments. Flooding. Elizabeth had to walk Blossom through a flooded towpath under a bridge, then deal with a flooding lock. Pete had to deal with a throttle lead disengagement, meaning that he left one lock with little forward power and no reverse. But between them, Bella tucked up quietly on the towpath, and between the time of Elizabeth calling River Canal Rescue (the water equivalent of AA or RAC), and them calling back, Pete had FIXED it.
What a feeling of power today!!! One of our 'clicks' was a swing bridge. This usually means pushing a small bridge to the side of the towpath to give Bella room to move ahead. Today, it meant using our British Waterways key to operate an electronic road bridge. Just like a railroad level crossing, when Elizabeth turned the key, warning sounds were raised, gates were lowered over the road, the road bridge itself turned sideways and all traffic stopped - for BELLA. How cool is that??? By the time we moved the bridge back, there was a queue (!) so Elizabeth and Blossom had to wait to cross the road.
We moored up just by the bridge to Hemel Hempsted station, so that Elizabeth can make her way to Edinburgh over the weekend (work, not hols!). And joy of joys, we are in FAT BAND!!
