We sat in bed listening to the rain and when we looked at the weather it was going to stop at 10.00am. So we released the chains and set off into Swindon, Staffs and soon got to our first lock of the day..
We soon got through this, as it was in our favour, and passed through the now housing estate which used to be a 19th Century ironworks, shame some of it couldn't be used. This takes you to Marsh Lock.
We then got to the Botterham Staircase locks (Two locks in succession), where you have to fill the top lock first before you go into an empty lower chamber.
As we pulled in there was a massive leak over flowing the bow on Derwent6.
Also, when you go up, to stop the lock from flooding, there is an overflow which is a bit daunting when its full as it feels like the boat might get washed away.
These locks give you a rise of over 20 feet and take you into Wombourne which used to be a village, but is now a growing town..
The first thing you notice is all the power lines, and this growing town showed at Bridge 43 as it had a new Sainsburys supermarket (not shown in our book) a handy stop in the future.
The weather was still being kind to us as we took the exit to Wombourne and reached Bumblehouse lock, which had a boat coming down, very handy!
This then takes you on to Bratch Three Locks.
These three locks are staircase locks and are maned by C&RT until the end of October, and they did all the work for us.
The water does rush in here as well.
It was then onto Awbridge Lock with it pretty designed bridge.
Next up is Ebstree Lock. This has a tricky currant flow going up the lock which needs a bit of power to stop you hitting the wall. This wall has been hit so many times it could now damage the side panels if struck..
It makes this sound like its all locks, but there is still some nice cruising in between.
This takes you to Dimmingsdale Lock which has a low entrance, so mind your chimney.
We decided to push on to Wightwick.
The trees are just starting to change and holding their leaves, so the next few weeks are going to be an amazing ray of colour.
We spotted a good mooring on our way down here and lucky enough it was free this time, so we moored up and sorted ourselves out..
Someone else had also enjoyed this mooring..
Tooty included! rubbing his scent all over the fenders getting ready for tonight's adventures...
No comments:
Post a Comment