Atherstone to Polesworth. 11 Locks.

A bit of a late start again today as we walked into Atherstone for a paper and found a bustling town centre/high street. We just had to stay and have a look around.

There are hundreds of different ways to work your way through a lock, some are easy, some are down right dangerous. We have been working this method going down in a narrow lock for a while now as it saves D having to walk around the whole thing twice.

In the above picture, D has shut the paddle on the gate she is pushing open,

then she moves on to open the other gate and shut the paddle.
This has saved one circuit of the lock.
I then move the boat forward and close the gate on the left of this picture by holding on to it and using the momentum of the boat to draw it shut, D then closes her gate.
That saves another circuit.
Some people, including BW staff jump that gap, I know it is not very far, but, and it is a big but, one slip and somethings going to hurt or much worse.





I do like these lock cottages with the water running under them, although I have been told over and over again that they get very wet when the water starts running in anger, I still like the idea.





A very thoughtful set of steps for the crew after they have shut the gates, not much of a window of opportunity as a trad stern boat passes by, but the thought was there.



This whole flight is in a very scenic location, I could have taken pictures like this all day.



A wild sunflower in the middle of nowhere brightening up the bank.





Our mooring for the night, this is how it was when we arrived the sun was shining, the farmer was seeding his fields with the most enormous tractor and the cattle were making the noises cattle do. Now there are three more boats behind us enjoying all this but not really adding to the picture.



The sky settling in for the evening, a chance of another sunset?............ you never know.




Until next time..............................