... as we wait for Castle Mills Lock ...
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...where the 'slackers' are in the middle, rather than at either end ...
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... and are called 'penstocks'.
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Cardington Lock, where we had to wait for two large cruisers that used bow thrusters to steer as they came out of the lock.
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Low Bridge! At Bedford Town Lock we had less than a couple of inches to spare under the tail bridge ...
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... but plenty of room under the guillotine.
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The railway bridges are even lower ...
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... with millimetres to spare.
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Approaching Kempston Mill as the daylight faded we went hard aground, just where a chap on the towpath told us another boat had got stuck the week before.
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This is where we got stuck (seen next morning). The ripples in the water show that this section is shallow.
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And this is where we had hoped to get to, just a couple of hundred yards further on. The water here looks deep enough, but is shallow again a short distance further up.
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After much pushing on poles, and carrying of ballast from the stern to the bow, we eventuallly got off. By now it was quite dark. We backed slowly dowstream and winded at the second attempt at a slightly wider point just below an island, before finding a suitable place to tie up for the night ...
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... where we had breakfast next morning.
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Coming back downstream there were no headroom problems at Queens Bridge ...
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... but overnight the river had risen a bit, so despite the extra ballast at the front we still only just cleared the railway bridges.
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Bedford Town Bridge.
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Back in Bedford we met a number of narrowboats and the Wilderness Boat Owners Club. Like us, they were in Bedford to publicise the proposals for the new Bedford to Milton Keynes Link. After spending Saturday night moored on the main Bedford River frontage, we awoke on Sunday morning to find 237 swimmers coming past first upstream, then back down, as part of a triathlon competition. After the triathletes had moved on to their 40km cycle ride and 10km run, the other boats left to make a group attempt on the head of navigation. None got any further than Fulbourne had, not even the shallow drafted Wilderness boats. The next leg of Fulbourne's journey to Milton Keynes was by road. There are some photos on the Fulbourne Home Page.
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