Stoke Hammond

Here I am Rune

Distance 7.8miles

Total 1790 Locks 88 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2593.7 miles

Travelled slightly further today than anticipated and have now reached the outskirts of Stoke Hammond. For the first half of the trip the weather was brilliant but then rain started to move in during the afternoon so I pulled over and stopped. Funnily enough, no sooner had I stopped than the weather improved and the sun came back out, but by then I couldn’t be bothered to set off again!

The first lock we passed through must be one of the smallest rises on the system (my map says 0.28metres or 11 inches!) so hardly seemed worth the effort. 

We did come across a hire crew who hadn’t quite got how locks work however. They came out of the lock as I was approaching but then their crew shut the gates preventing me from getting into the lock. As I passed the helm he said that there was another boat waiting to come down so I’d need to wait. I started to explain that since the lock was already in my favour it would make more sense for me to go in whilst they filled the lock to let the following boat come down, but then gave up, smiled sweetly and re-opened the gates. Hopefully they’ll get the idea by the end of their trip!