On the up….

We spent the day tied up at Radford, and another fine day it was too. Lunch at ours, then George and I took the hounds for a long walk to walk it off.

Both boats had quite a bit of rubbish around the props when we arrived on Saturday, George’s theory is that as we were at the bottom of two sets of locks, any rubbish in the canal finishes up here and can’t go anywhere else. I tended to agree after spending 10 minutes with my head down the weed hatch. Other boaters have cleared props on these moorings as well, but instead of bagging and binning it, have left it in the hedge bottom. I filled up a couple of carrier bags and dropped them off at the bins at the next lock.

We got off at around 10:30 this morning in bright sunshine after a frosty night.

George decided he needed the exercise so walked most of today’s 5 miles, getting the locks ready for when the boats arrived.

George on a mission.

And waiting for us.

We’d met a couple of boats coming the other way just below Radford Bottom Lock, so all the locks were with us today, unlike Hatton. Going up takes a little longer than coming down, but these modern locks are pretty efficient.

At the top of Fosse Locks there was a boat coming down, with another two waiting behind as we arrived. The most boats we’ve seen together for a while!

Fosse Locks

One of these was NB Andante, met at Anderton a year ago, and going into Birmingham. Have a good trip, you two.

Welsh Road and Wood Locks stand alone, before the last group of the day at Bascote.

Welsh Road Lock

More cute stuff

I didn’t know sheep could count…. Didn't check them all out, though. Might have dropped off.

Bascote Locks consist of two single chambers, then a staircase pair where the top gates of one lock form the bottom of the next.

Bascote Staircase Locks

After Bascote we had just over a mile before mooring near the village of Long Itchington.

The fine weather stayed with us all day, warm and sunny.

Locks 10, miles 5