Last night was again hot, so we went to bed with the slide open, but during the night it started to rain, heavily, so it was out of bed and shut things down. By morning it was again warm and dry.
Not far to go today so we didn't set off until 10-30 am. While Diana steered I patched up some more of the rust patches coming through on the roof. As we approached the Folly we discussed whether to stop for lunch. As we slid past the only mooring spot on the straight bank, Diana said she would make a sandwich at the top of the locks. We rounded the bend below the locks and there were some boats queue at the water point, I though. But no, they were waiting for the lock. We did the only sensible, moored up and went into the Folly for lunch.
The Folly had a new chief start last week so the menu was limited to the specials board. Diana and I both decided to try the Beef Suit Pudding and it was great, not in the slightest soggy, full of meat with tasty gravy, it came with a bit of salad and a pile of hand made chips, cooked how chips should be cooked. After that and a pint of Hook Norton we returned to do battle up the locks, but the queue had gone. Unfortunately it had not gone very far,only to the first pound and from here we queued all the way back to our moorings.
Once at the top lock our problems were not over. Our mooring ropes are set up for us to moor facing down the flight, so we have to wind in the Engine Arm before tying up. BW are piling the bank opposite the arm and have left the piling machine moored with a flat beside it right opposite the arm. Faced with this I decided rightly or wrongly to reverse into the arm drawing the bows against the flat and then drive out downstream. I didn't realise just how silted up the arm was until the prop started to chew mud, but we made it and pulled surprisingly easily as the pound level was quite high.
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