Back to Gayton and we are back home!

 So to make it possible to get Chris online at home by 1.00pm we needed to leave Gayton about 11.00am and so set off from our overnight mooring just after 9.00am.  I did some packing up whilst Chris drove the boat - no locks so that was all very straightforward, and then we swapped over.  This meant I got to do the potentially tricky bits of a sharp left turn onto the Northampton Arm of the canal at Gayton, and into the marina and our mooring.  The first manoeuvre was very much assisted by a favourable wind, and that together with gentle steering took the boat round very easily.  It's very satisfying when that happens as I've said before. 

The turn into the marina also went well which was good as there were people watching! To get onto the mooring you have to turn away from the jetty and back into it.  This also went very well which was pleasing too.  I very much feel that I should be able to get the boat in and out of the berth, but I am aware that this is not always the case for joint owners!! We have a new next-door neighbour and he asked if I would like him to take the stern rope which I happily did.  So we got to Gayton about 10.40am and managed to leave the boatyard having emptied all that we needed to into the car, and therefore left in enough time to get home in time for Chris' call. 

It's been a very enjoyable trip, even though it was not the journey we planned, and we shall be able to use the boat to entertain friends in June which had not otherwise been likely to happen.  We shall explore possibilities of doing our original route during the summer, perhaps with friends borrowing the boat to do some of the route we've now explored more than we'd planned.  When we have a plan I'll share it as before!  Thank you for reading, and I hope enjoying this too.


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