It has been much colder overnight and we awoke to see a light frost covering everywhere. However, it was also a cloudless sky and the views were spectacular.
We only had an hour and half run back to the marina so we were in no hurry to set off - Christine did some of the packing ready for tomorrow's return to home, whilst Mike finished the book he had been reading this trip.
Mid morning we upped stakes (actually, released our mooring ropes from the chains we use to tie up to armco) with a great view across the field to the former farmhouse beside the church at Oddingley.
Before long we arrived at Dunhampstead Tunnel - fairly short, wide enough to pass a boat coming the other way and really quite dry.
There is a number of substantial houses close to the canal along the next stretch, each surrounded by plenty of space, no chance of being annoyed by noisy neighbours! This one was especially grand - it appears to remain a single property despite its unusual size.
This section of the canal has reeds left along the towpath side. Whilst they make a splendid photo at this time of the year, unless controlled they will soon become an obstruction to boats passing in opposite directions.
After turning left at Hanbury Junction we arrived at the top of the three locks down to the marina. These are unusual in having working side ponds which the lock keepers (mostly volunteers) are keen to see used. In drier weather they do save a certain amount of water - that is why they were built. Today we had two keepers still around and keen to help. Normally until the start of the main season they only come on in the morning for a short time just to check the water levels on the Droitwich. The warm conditions today meant that they were not anxious to leave early! The number of hire boats temporarily using the marina here for turn around have kept the flight unseasonably busy.
Passing through the middle pound.
The lock keeper at the last lock was commenting to Christine on how smoothly she steered into the lock. Alas, unused to such compliments she was completely distracted from making sure that she stopped before running into the bottom gates! The front fender, already in need of some TLC, came adrift and Mike had to effect a running repair as soon as we were back on our pontoon. We concluded that we will need to source a new fender ere ling but would like to find a shape that is less prone to slipping round to one side of the bow.
After lunch we had various tasks as well as cleaning ready for departure. Mike is trying to fit a supplementary bilge pump to dry out the sections not usually pumped by the existing auto pump - not quite sure how the rain gets in, but sometimes it does. He went up to the nearby garden centre at Wychbold for a short piece of pipe - he had obtained the pump and wiring items when last at home. However, the spare 12 v plug that he had hoped to use turned out to be incomplete so the project awaits completion next visit.
3.3 Miles - 3 Locks
No comments:
Post a Comment