Ah, Autumn…

…Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Or at least it was. Now it’s the season of damp and humid sogginess…
Certainly a change for the worse, but I suppose we’ve been spoilt by the pleasant but all-too brief Indian Summer.
Yesterday was OK, not much in the way of sun, but at least it stayed dry. The Countryfile forecast was right for today, though. A little rain in the early hours, a foretaste of things to come.

It came on properly about 08:30, just as Meg and I set off for our morning stroll. And from then until about 1 o’clock it was fairly continuous, sometimes no more than drizzle, other times quiet heavy.

No rush to get going…

It seemed to be easing off around half-ten so we decided to give it a go.

Gloomy as we head off.

We had two swing bridges to pass before the triple staircase Field Locks, the first just 10 minutes away, the second giving access to a large sewage treatment plant sandwiched between the canal and river.

Sewage Works Strangford Swing Bridge

Shortly after this we arrived at the staircase locks. I was hoping but not expecting to see a lockie or two on duty; my expectations were met so I set them up by emptying the bottom chamber and filling the top. The middle was already full.

Mags in the bottom chamber, taken from the top.
I didn’t get much in the way of pictures, the rain had started again…

Instructions at the top.

The complementary sign is at the bottom.

We decided to call it a (short) day above the locks. The rain was steady and looked to be set in for the afternoon. So we put the kettle on, put up the dish (TV on the aerial is non-existent here) and had lunch while watching the news. Of course, as soon as we’d got nicely settled the rain stopped… We did toy with the idea of pulling pins again, but in the end inertia set in.

I think the rest of the week is pretty much the same, so we’ll have to play it by ear.

Locks 3, miles 1¼