The Great Escape
After about six weeks in and around London we have now made  it to Ricky in time for the festival. We left Paddington Basin on Tuesday with Tony and Nolene on Mary Russell.  (I think she was the aviator/artist Duchess of Bedford) We first encountered Mary Russell in October 2009 when we climbed the Wigan  flight with them on our way to Reedley Marina. Tony is RYA approved boating instructor so when travelling with him I always feel my boating skills are being assessed with lots of black marks appearing on my card.  A week previously we travelled up from Brentford to Bulls Bridge with them too. On this occasion there had been a few boats on the move and we were all held up by a BW inspection team which checked every lock before passing through it. Consequently the journey took an hour longer with two crews than it had done on our own.