It was a good mooring last night and this morning was again sunny to start with. It was just like old times, Woodend Lock with no top ground paddle. Last time it took about 2 years to fix but I understand there is a stoppage in 2 weeks time to fix it.
When we got to the lock there were 2 Volockies on duty, a lady who is often there and a gent, with their help we were soon on our way. There have been a lot of trees planted above the lock on the
offside, I suspect this is screening for HS2 buildings, The actual track crosses below the lock and round the corner a bit. When we reached the sight of the crossing there is little change on the
offside, but they have now fenced the towpath side off and started tree clearance, I think the protesters were just arriving on site as we passed.
There was a Volockie at both the other two locks so the gates were open ready for us and there was already a steady stream of boats coming up. The Volockie at Middle Lock enquired which way we were going at the junction so that she could let the Volockie at Junction Lock that we wouldn't need his lock. They use to use a sign with a big arrow on it to do this, but now they just use a walky talky radio.
Just beyond Bell Bridge 89 there are two boats moored, a Dutch Barge style Narrowboat and an ex BWB work boat. The Narrowboat has been cleaned and turned round, I can never recall it moving before in all the years that I have passed here. The ex BWB boat sank within months of being moored here, but today it was being pumped out in an attempt to refloat it. The water mark on the side looks about 50mm out of the water so hopefully its on its way up.
We were surprised how few boats were moored in the normal busy spots like just before the Litchfield Cruising Club or Hopwas. Our plan was Hopwas for the night and we were very pleased to find just one boat moored in front of the Lazy Otter with room for us behind. We had just moored up and the first spots of rain began falling, not much just a show and its raining again now.
Today's Journey 9½ miles 3 locks in 4 hours
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