The Whirling Windlass returns

After spending yesterday battling through interminable weed we were anticipating a slow paced Sunday, pottering through just a half a dozen locks to Northampton.
And then the call came through - the man with the Whirling Windlass was nearby and anxious to give his arm a twirl. He'd spotted that we were near the 17 lock Northampton flight and his arm was twitching. How could we refuse.
And so we cruised straight on through Northampton and onto the canal. There waiting for us were Nick the WW and Lucy, carrying a large bag of lunch and baby Ellen. A couple of hours later and the lunch was gone and so were the locks - all 17 of them.
Quite a day! After saying goodbye we turned north onto the main Grand Union and pottered on through the late evening sunshine, finally mooring up at nine p.m., twelve busy but fun hours after we set off.