WOW! WHAT A DAY! Day 265
Friday 12th April Day 265
It’s 6.30am now on Saturday 13th April in the real world. I’ve made myself a lovely cappuchino without even looking at the batteries as we are hooked up mains power. The sun is rising and casting beautiful morning light into the boat and I’m feeling achy from the locks but very happy and relaxed as I can hear the road start to get busier with the Saturday morning traffic and I’m glad to be sitting here under my duvet without the need to move!
Back to yesterday and the BIG day!
We get everything ready and set off at about 9am and see the solo boater from yesterday just ahead of us. These are double lock all the way to London I believe, so it’s much better to share a lock with another boat as it stops our boat getting bashed about and means Chris can have a chinwag. Luckily there are the angels in the form of lockies again to help. These people who volunteer their time are just wonderful and I love the banter as we do the locks. One of the lockies cycles ahead to set them and then we are as we were for Knowle flight yesterday until two more angels turn up at lock 3 and I get told to get aboard ((They knew it was safer to have you on the boat and away from the locks!)) and enjoy I think about 10 locks on the boat. I was trying to keep up with how many locks we’d done for the vlog but in between concentrating on getting in the locks, closing the gates, chatting, it’s difficult to remember ((I bet the vlog will be interesting!))
Some of these are huge locks and have a different mechanism on them which I will have to look up at some point to explain. Basically, they don’t have the lock mechanisms on the actual gates they are to the side of the gates like ground paddles.
It takes around two and half hours before we are finally through the flight and job done with the absolutely amazing help from the lockies. Hatton flight is wonderful and I wish we could have explored it more. We might try and go and have a look as we end up cruising only a short distance and moor up at the Saltisford Arm which was re-opened and run by volunteers. There is going to some much historical content to research to go in the part of the canal book!
It’s tricky mooring up ((That’s coz as usual you’re not prepared!)) normally we use the Armco or ring to tie up to but this has neither so we have to get the pins out which I don’t think we have used since we were on the River Trent a long time ago – probably last summer! Eventually we find them and then pop to the office to pay our mooring fees which is £10 a night and get some electric so we can hook up to the mains. It’s about 2pm before I finally get to the dinette to catch up on some freelance work before heading into Warwick which is a five minute walk and a treat of a fizz and a beer before stopping off at Sainsbury’s for some pizza and another day well and truly done!
Cruising : 2 miles ((2 miles! Lazy!)) / 21 locks! ((let you off!))
London bound totals: Cruising: 70/198 Locks: 74/174 tunnels : 4 (not sure how many to london!)
