Only one week to go until our next holiday but with the weather nice and settled, we boarded Phoenix III and set a course for another weekend out on the cut. Straight away we encountered a Black Prince hire boat which for some reason was on the service point in the marina. It caused us no trouble as it shot out on to the Grand Union but the boat travelling from the locks towards the junction had to perform an emergency stop. We watched in disbelief as the episode unfolded and then after waving the shocked boat crew on, followed both vessels as they made their way in a northerly direction. At Braunston turn we lost the boat ahead whose crew saw fit to perform some sort of turning manouevre and that left us with the hire boat which now seemed to want to travel at tickover speed. We didn’t travel far, just an hour from Braunston and we tied up between bridges 99 and 100. Sue prepared a lovely meal which we enjoyed ‘al fresco’ on the deck where we remained until the sun sank a few hours later.