Today's Canal : Kennet and Avon
Another very warm day! We were slowly making ready to leave when a single hander that had moored over night a couple of boats further back came past us. We quickly speeded up so that we could join him in going down the six locks that make today's target.
He was quite happy with the idea - he even suggested we roped the boats together (breasted up/rafted up) so that only one steerer would be needed. Christine was already at the helm so the task fell to her - her first time doing this.
Taking it slowly - steering one boat with another attached, feels very different and, of course, it takes longer to stop than normal (twice the weight with just one engine). Nevertheless, she slipped into each lock without touching the sides!
Just over one and a half hours later we emerged from the final lock for today. There seemed to be enough room for both of us to overnight although in the end we had to persuade one boat to shuffle a bit. We unroped the two boats to come out separately as we were, in any case, turning to the right to the service pontoon. We had to wait a few moments as another boat was just about ready to leave and then we had to docey-do around each other!
Not the easiest of service points - the pontoon is only a short one (and very wobbly) and the elsan point is a little distance away.
We then moored up on the opposite bank and joined our lock companion for morning coffee.
Late afternoon, we (separately) took short strolls a little further down the flight but is was too hot to do very much.
The next lock is very definitely closed overnight. In addition to the usual padlocks on the ground paddles, there are also rather substantial locked posts which prevent the gates being opened.
Christine took photos of the flight.
0.8 Miles - 6 Locks
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