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Sunday 2 March 2014

Atherstone Sunday 2 March 2014.

We woke to sunshine and decided to walk through the woods to Pooley Abbey, by the time we had returned at 11am it was raining and it has carried on and off all day, the worst weather we have had all trip.

As we passed through Polesworth there was a bike scramble meeting on the hill, its the first time we have been by when there has been one in progress. As you can see its the other side of the railway line.DSCF4764

There were one or two boats about before we set off but the next one we saw was waiting to go up Atherstone locks. Rather than chase him up we decided to stop for lunch, just to make it worse he had to wait for a boat to come down the bottom lock so would have had them all with him.

After about an hour we set off up the flight, the first two locks were both empty, not only that the first two pounds were down by 18”.DSCF4771 The first pound gave no problem but I ground to a halt about 10  yards outside the third lock and we were in the middle. I eventually with lots of reverse managed to get off and to the side so that Diana could work the lock, I managed to get a bit closer as she drained the lock and then got ashore with the bow rope, between us we managed to haul the bows into the cheeks of the lock, I then got onboard and while Diana flushed water in through the top gate I rocked the boat and made very slow headway into the lock. After this we were OK apart from the rubbish I now had round the prop, We did meet another boat who were making there way down and we warned them of the low pounds. The rest of the way up the pounds were all on weir of very slightly down, but it will take a lot of water to bring that long pound up.

By the time we left the last lock the boat was struggling to move due to a fouled prop, I think we had picked a bit more up at each lock. So we called it a night and moored up on the visitor mooring on the straight. We had only just secured her when it really started to rain, it had obviously only been playing with us all day.

3 comments:

Michael & Krystyna Wooding said...

4 years ago going downhill I got stuck with Draco in the same spot Brian, I was there for 3 hours.....

Mike

Brian and Diana on NB Harnser said...

Mike, you must be touching the bottom when its on weir I would have thought. it was only 18" down and stopped us dead.

Unknown said...

It surely is raining; Matilda Rose is rising rapidly as I type and I REALLY want an early night. How do I persuade the dogs to go and have last wees in this lot? I'm not sure I want to check the ropes at the moment either - Graham really does pick his times to go away!!