After yesterday's horrendous rain, we were quite glad that today was only grey but dry. (The forecast suggested some rain in the afternoon but we avoided any on the way back to marina)
As we left our overnight mooring you can see just how dull the day was. As a result we do not have too many pictures for you today -well, to be truthful, it was also because this is well worn territory for us and we were on the lookout just for anything new.
As we approached the first lock, Mildenham, we could see from some distance that something wzas happening at the lock. Turned out to be a CaRT team of three starting work on piling a short length of collapsed towpath. They were putting a lot of care into making sure that the first one or two at least went in upright.
What, however, did amuse us was that each of three vehicles they arrived in had a different logo - the present one (sinking tyre) as well ad the two previous ones (bridge and reeds, bridge and swan) not to mention different feel-good straplines!
Something else that really should have had a photo but we were already just leaving the lock. There is a litter bin alongside the lock and we noticed that it was full to overflowing. Comments on canal social media not infrequently complain about the state of disposal bins. The immediate thought was that this was a classic example of neglected bins. However, just as we were leaving a small truck turned up to empty the bin. We asked how often he did this and the answer was at least twice a week. Now, until today we had seen very little boat traffic on this (or any navigation) and it is hard to believe that very much of this waste actually came from canal boaters. Thoughtless folk either leave their waste lying around or use bins that were not meant for them, or paid for by them, but left to someone else to clear up (and pay for). (Unless, of course, it was the local council that was clearing them) Rant over!
Looking back after leaving the last of the wide locks (OK Barge Lock is wide but its minimal rise hardly counts!) you can see that the greyness was still with us and the lighter sky in the distance stayed away as successfully as it did yesterday.
There was an increase in on-coming traffic over any other day this week by several hundred percent! Even two boats sharing the wide locks down to the river.
We paused at Netherwich Visitor Moorings - completely empty before we arrived - where we were able to have our lunch
On again and soon through the swing bridges in Vines Park and also Barge Lock. Actually had 150 mm rise so yesterday's rain must have made some impact although all the gauges/markers we saw seemed to be much as when we came down. However a boater coming down did say that the motorway bridge was on red last night. We scraped underneath with no problem.
Progress was impacted at Lock 7 when two kind walkers came up to us to say that we had left our keys ion the padlock at Barge Lock Swing Bridge! Mike walked back as fast as he could and was highly relieved to find that they were still in place. Someone had at least closed the bridge. By the time he arrived back at the boat, a boat that was coming down (and meeting a friend there) had helped Christine into the lock where she was ready to leave.
Mid afternoon we were back in the marina and tied up on our long term pontoon. Since we are not going home until Sunday, why, you might well ask, did we feel it necessary to get back so soon? Apart from being relieved that we were not trapped by a rising Severn (in fact it usually takes a day or so for the levels to rise enough to close navigation in response to heavy rain) the boat has a postponed date at 7 am on Monday morning. It should have been blacked a few weeks back but was abandoned when it was found that different work was needed than expected. Hopefully all is now re-specified and re-scheduled (at enhanced costs, needless to say!) and it will all be spick and span when we return at Easter. Always a bit frustrating that much of this work is not visible although the hull paint does show plenty of wear and tear as the result of cruising quite some distances and often in the less-well maintained parts of the network (usually the more interesting!)
As the first real trip out after the winter, we will now need the next two weeks for aching muscles, stiff points and other parts we wish we could have renovated, to recuperate! At least we are able to make reasonable progress when out cruising - long may it continue.
6.8 Miles - 11 Locks
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