Lockdown preparation and locking up

We had planed to move on Monday, with all this lockdown madness going on, but the winds were reaching 35 mph, so as it was warm Al did another washing load. The washing dried in two hours.. Del was collecting and cutting fallen wood and polished a side and tried the solar panels up in strong winds and they were fine..

 

The following morning we set off after some early morning rain and then made our way to the water point at the bottom of Atherstone locks..

We did a quick pumpout, water, and got rid of out rubbish and then headed up to the bottom lock where we met n.b Nufield and its butty coming out of the gates..

 

This made things a bit easier for us as all the locks were now in out favour, but we didn't make up much time as these locks are all very slow fillers..

It had also turned very cold and we had to wrap up during the flight ahead. We moored up at Lock five and Al got out her little biddy and set off to the Supermarkets here.

It turned out to be a bad idea as the Aldi she was going to was closed until Thursday, so it was option two of using the Co-Op. This turned out to be packed with people panic buying again, so no loo rolls and flour for us.. Al did get a good shop though to last us a week or two. We set off onwards and upwards through the other five locks, again in our favour..

Then there was a knocking from the propshaft and Del managed to get Derwent6 into the lock and took out the weed hatch.

It turned out to be a fender rapped around the shaft, but after a bit of a struggle we got it off.

We then got to Lock two, the one that had held us up over the last week or so.. To be honest you couldn't really see what C&RT had done, which is a good thing when these lock are a national heritage. The vandals had pulled out these twisted plates which lock the hinges in place, and the lock gate fell into the water when used  

It was a bit of a relief when we did the last lock and reached the summit, as with all the leaves it had been hard work.

We were surprised that it was quiet on the Atherstone moorings, as we thought it would be busy with everyone locking down. (there's a joke in there somewhere)

Al did do some lovely sausage rolls with a coffee to keep us going.

Everyone could smell them.

It was easy cruising as we twisted and turned towards Hartshill.

We then looked for a mooring at Springwood and it was so busy we ended up mooring on a bit of a bend. It soon got dark but the fire had been ticking over all day so it was lovely and inviting when we went in..

  Early start tomorrow to get in position..