A couple of hours, dodging the showers.

Last evening’s snow didn’t last; it turned to rain later, only traces of it remained this morning. But that was crunchy underfoot after the low temperatures overnight.

I had some shopping to do before we left this morning, and we’d been plagued by intermittent showers, so we left it till gone 11:00 before we pulled pins.

The dogs opposite turned out to see us off.

It was an uneventful trip to the top of Adderley Locks, the 2½ miles taking around an hour.

Still some persistent snow on the fields…

…and on the towpath through Betton Wood

A buzzard was toying with me through here, flitting across the canal to land in the trees, then taking off again as soon as I pointed the camera his way.

That’s the best I could do, unfortunately the camera chose to focus on a branch much nearer.
 

The towpath swaps sides at Betton Coppice Bridge, a turnover or snake bridge that allowed the boat horse to cross without dropping the tow.

Betton Coppice Bridge

As we approached the top of the Adderley Flight of 5 locks another shower blew over, this one cold and sleety. So  took the decision to call it a (short) day and tie up on the moorings above. Annoyingly this length is edged in concrete, with the notorious “Shroppie Shelf” lurking a foot below the water.

The copings were cast in place, and the shuttering used only dropped below the water level about a foot. When the concrete was poured it oozed out below the shuttering, forming a ledge which sticks out into the canal several inches. Many boaters carry wheelbarrow wheels to use to hold the hull off the shelf, but in this case we couldn’t get closer than about 14”, too far to expect Meg to jump. We’d just decided to carry on when the rain stopped and the sun tried to make an appearance, vindicating our decision.

Heading down Adderley Locks 

Adderley Bottom Lock, number 5

There was quite a bit of water coming down, making the bywashes fierce. Good planning though means that most of the flow goes down, rather than across, the canal.

We moored up between the lock landing and the 48 hour moorings on rings. There doesn’t seem to be any restriction on these moorings, and the towpath is a little drier than further along.

TV is good here but internet is dire. I’ll have to jiggle about with my dongle to get a signal.
Jiggling successful...

Locks 5, miles 3¼