We got away at about 8.30 this morning, we me walking down to the Bratch Locks and Adrian bringing the boat. We were too early for a lock keeper to be on, and there was no-one coming up, so once I’d filled the top lock we could go in and follow the instructions.
The whole place is very attractive, with the little octagonal lock keeper’s office.
The next lock, Bumblehole, also has a nice building alongside, although on a much bigger scale. When we got there, a boat was just coming up, so could leave the gates for us.
The next locks are the Botterham staircase pair. All the locks round here are deep, so the middle gates of the staircase look huge as you drop in the lower chamber.
Below Swindon Lock there was a CRT Let’s Fish event going on, so I grabbed someone for a podcast interview. We’d been intending to stop for the day above Greensforge Locks, but the visitor mooring there turns out to be only one boat long, and was already occupied. As there was a water point there, we stopped and filled up. The visitor moorings below the lock are very gloomy, but then we found places to stop were less than ideal. We did tie up for a while though, for lunch and while a rain shower came through. In fact there have been quite a few showers all afternoon, some of them on the heavy side. We decided we’d move on a little after lunch, to find a place that was less on a bend and hopefully with a better mobile signal. We came down Rocky Lock, where the scenery is indeed rocky, and stopped a bit beyond the lock landing, just as it rained again.
It’s really quiet here, but only I have any signal worth talking about. It also means we’ve come a bit further than intended so will have a shorter day tomorrow, when it’s supposed to be less warm.
5 miles, 11 locks. (21 miles, 22 locks)
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