But the rain had eased a bit by 1 o’clock, so we decided to make a move. The 2 Wheelock Locks were in sight of the moorings, and a boat had just come down so we knew we had a least one of the paired chambers in our favour.
The two parallel locks chambers are through the bridge arches in the distance. The left-hand one was the empty one.
Mags heading up towards the second pair.
Meg keeping close to her mum.
Nasty dad took left her to be shorn this morning, so she’s having nothing to do with him. We did reconcile a little later, though.
She wasn’t the only one needing a trim, the bow fender seems to be shedding it’s stuffing!
Going up narrow locks Mags holds the bow fender against the skid plate on the top gate. It saves having to try to hold back using the engine, but it does wear out the fender. Still, it’s lasted nearly 11 years…
We worked our way up the flight, through Malkins Bank and past the golf course where we had a glimpse of watery sunshine.
But it was still very dark ahead, as we approached the almost static traffic on the M6.
As we got nearer we could see that there were only two lanes open in each direction, and this may be the reason -
Extra supports have been installed under the bridge, and they’re reducing the weight of vehicles crossing the span.
Up the last two locks at Hassall Green and we pulled in on the moorings there.
We were surprised to see only three other boats heading down the flight. Unfortunately we were following a CRT work-boat up, and he was taking the empty locks. So we had to turn all but three of those we ascended today.
But we still made good time, 2½ hours for the 10 locks. The rain had fizzled out and the last handful of locks were done in fitful sunshine. It’s been dry with hazy sun since we pulled in, so all in all not a bad trip. If we’d had followed our normal practice of cruising in the morning we’d have had rain all the way.
Locks 10, miles 2½
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