Boy did it rain last night, the canal was up by 100mm this morning, our fenders which were between the hull and the piling last night hung clear of the top of the piling this morning. My weather station shows 19mm of rain in the past 24 hours and I think that is probably correct.
It was dry when we set out but it wasn’t long before the rain coat was on. I have never seen the summit this high and it was topping the towpath in places.
I managed to get a photo of the foundations of the new HS2 bridge as we went by, as you can see the weather is still fine, but look at the sky.
It looks as if last nights wind and rain took down the last of the crab apples, I wonder if any of them get eaten or if they all just rot away .
The rain started lightly but was soon coming down quite hard, we had a bit of luck at Marston Doles top lock with a boat about to leave, this meant both the locks were ready for us. Not only was the by-wash above the lock running well but the top lock gate was over topping.(sorry about the rain on the lens)
At Marston Doles bottom lock a boat approached the bottom lock as we were dropping down so we could leave that one empty , two good results. We had planned to moor somewhere in the flight and as it was really tipping it down we stopped above Napton Top Lock opposite our old mooring for ten years.