Day 101 and we are trying to get some distance done so set off at 0730 (again). Another lovely morning, clear sunny and still. Rewarded with an early sighting of a kingfisher. Not much other traffic but a few coming the other way. Saw a second kingfisher later. The locks going back up are nothing like as quick to work going uphill as downhill. They are quite vicious as they only have gate paddles and in most locks these are above the water line (on a canal you would only open these once the water level had reached half full). Back to the locks operated by a big wheel again, really hard work.  Not so many trees in the river today. A late lunch finish at Oundle marina, in the same slot as we had on the way down (this is where we stopped for a new battery). Missing our travelling friends from our trip down river. Made a short trip into Oundle town for a little shopping (lots of nice small shops) and coffee and cake.

Day 102 and another long day, J getting quite used to late lunch, it always seems to be her turn to be steering at lunch time ad we’ve been having lunch whilst cruising as moorings are so few and far between. Decided on an ambitious trip today to try and make trip into Northampton a shorter day. Ended up cruising for 7.5 hours. Have picked up some tips on dealing with these locks from “local” boaters. Travelled through a few locks with a local boat who didn’t seem very keen on travelling with us; J perfectly happy with this as he was a bit miserable and they were cruising much more slowly than us. Most of the locks were quite shallow which is all to the good, four were of the big wheel type, most of which were when it was J turn to do the locks so D helped a bit. Last lock was really deep; another boat was just coming out of it as we approached effectively blocking the landing stage so we decided to go into the lock and climb out. J had done this a few times today and all was OK, but she didn’t really notice how deep it really was when she said she would climb up. It was about 10ft deep and the ladder really slippery. J not very good with ladders at best of times, as she stepped off boat windlass got caught on the cratch and D still moving boat forwards so dragging J with it. Managed to untangle J but she got really covered in slimy green weed (typically clean trousers today). Got greeted by a wet dog whose owner was concerned that J would get wet, she pointed out that wet dog was preferable to climbing out slimy lock. J never climbing out such a deep lock again!!!

Saw a grass snake swimming across the river