Another day another move

It was a cold start again with the canal covered with thin ice, I had decided as long as it wasn't raining I would move, the forecast for the next three days starting tomorrow is rain so I wanted to take advantage of a dry day today.
I set of at 10:30, it was chilly but sunny and I was quite happy, just ahead was the first lock of the day, actually most of the locks along Heartbreak Hill are duplicated so a pair of locks side by side to help speed up progress of boats, you can use either, whichever is best suited to you, so if one is empty and you are going uphill you take that one, you get the idea. Unfortunately as I am going uphill nearly all of the locks today were against me as leaks from the top gates fill the locks after a boat has gone through and with little boat traffic they stay full until I arrive and empty one of them!

First pair of 10 today

Having emptied lock 64, the third one of today, and moved into it I discovered one of the paddles on the top gate was not functioning so that was annoying and it took a while to fill. There was a notice stapled on the lock beam saying that the right hand lock ahead (63) was shut for works so it was necessary to use the left lock, I think I might have noticed.

Having tied up on the landing and walked across the road bridge to get to the left hand lock I found it was 3/4 full and I was just about to empty it when I saw a boat approaching, so I waved them ahead and filled the final bit and opened the gate for them, they were very grateful.

With locks coming thick and fast and not much worthy of a picture it was head down and keep going until I reached lock 59, the wind began to pick up and it is quite open here, I struggled a bit to get the boat onto the lock landing. Lock 58 is immediately after the M6 motorway bridge and you tie up under the motorway, so there was a bit of a respite from the wind at that point.

M6 behind me in lock 58

I was in to minds before setting off whether to stop at Hassell Green after 10 locks or continue on to Rode Heath, another 4 locks ahead, but the wind really made the decision for me,
I had just passed a gap that looked reasonable but was trying to see a bit further ahead if there was anything better and decided there wasn't so I began to reverse back into the gap, not easy even without wind but I was doing ok when the chap from the boat alongside me came out and gave me a hand, he was well aware of the wind having not long moored up himself and I was grateful for his assistance.

Tonights Mooring







Totals today: 2 miles : 10 Locks