Well I wasn’t expecting that this morning, there was ice all over the canal and it was only just freezing when we went to bed, the coldest it got overnight was -2° C. A boat came crashing through at about half nine and I could see the ice was a good ¼” thick, We decided to wait a bit as it warmed up and set off at 11 am after another couple of boats had been through. The second surprise was round the corner, no ice. In fact the next ice of any quantity was at The Engine Arm.
We caught up with the boat that passed us at Marston Dole top lock so we stopped to fill with water. This gave me the opportunity to get a photo of this three wheeler, you don’t see many of them about.
By the time the tank was full there was a boat coming up between the two lock so I set the top lock for him.
Bridge 118 as looking the worse for wear, one side the spandrel wall has actually fallen down with a large crack running to the Arch. From the other side day light can easily bee seen through the cracks.
Down to Napton top lock and already the locks had started leaking away, it was rather slow to refill with only on top paddle operational.
By the road bridge at the tail of lock 12 someone has deposited a pile of brick rubble on the offside. As we chugged down the flight I spotted this tree standing on the off side . How much longer it will be standing is very hard to say.You can see right through the trunk
Down near the bottom of the flight CRT were hard at work putting new lock mooring posts, it looked tough ground to be digging into. Down to the bottom lock and a chance to say hello to Stephan who is the CRT supervisor for this bit of the cut, its several years since our paths last crossed. Round the bend and a nice little mooring for the night.
After lunch it was a walk up to the post office stores for a few goodies.
Today’s Journey
2½ miles with 9 locks in 2¾ hours
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