Just a short one.

We intended to move up three locks to just below Red Bull yesterday, but it was such a pleasant day and the walking is better near Church Lawton so we stayed put instead. Meg doesn’t always want to walk far these days, but she does enjoy open fields and splashing in streams and both were on the doorstep there.

This morning we woke to rain, and were reconciled to getting wet as we did what should have been done yesterday, but just before eleven the rain stopped and the sky brightened a bit so we untied and set off.
 

The fresh breeze was a problem though, as we turned left to head east, the southerly caught us side on. No problem in the locks but making it tricky to get off the top lock landings on the first two. On the other hand they were set for us, we'd reached the bottom of the three, Lock 46, just as a boat was leaving.

These three are in their 19th century form, with the paired locks both still operational.
It’s just a shame that those two below, Church Locks, and Red Bull Lock above, are reduced to singles now. The earlier chamber at Red Bull is under the pub garden… Queues can form at the bottlenecks at busy times.

The afternoon has been mainly dry, but there have been a couple of showers later on.

Tomorrow we’ll have three more locks up onto the summit level, then the one-way Harecastle Tunnel to negotiate. Depending on tunnel traffic it could either be a short day or a long one. No problem though, we’re planning to stop at Westport Lake, just a mile the other side of the hill.

Locks 3, miles 1