Hungerford

Early start today as we wanted to reach Hungerford.  We were off at 0715 with Emma still in bed!!  Geoff had positioned her car down at Great Bedwyn to collect en route.
Crofton Visitor Centre with the nice coffee shop is set to open again today after their water problem.

There was quite a thick mist, if you enlarge the photo and look closely the chimney at Crofton is just visible.

Looking ahead I was not able to see the progress of the lock filling as normal.   Most of these locks have to be left empty whichever way you are going so we were prepared to have to fill each one today.
By the time we reached the 2nd lock Emma was up and helping.

It was a very chilly morning in the mist so she had to borrow warm clothes and boots from me!!
At Great Bedwyn the watering point was full with one of the Bruce Trust boats so we had to wait a while.
Eventually all was completed and after a visit to the local store and Emma had herself ready to depart (make-up takes forever!) and we were on our way again by 0945.
At the first lock we met another boat which was very handy as he said he was going all the way to Newbury. he was single handing but very agile getting on and off his boat so it was a big help.   At the second lock we came up behind a single boat so we thought we had lost our companion but for some reason he elected to stay as a pair with us.....great.....
By now the sun was in full spate and warm clothes stripped off and it was a pleasant run to Hungerford where we found the moorings just after the swing bridge were completely empty.   We had our pick of places so were able to position ourselves for a satellite signal for the TV.........
6.42 miles, 13 locks, 6hrs 37min