Weston Lock

Another great sky last night looking back down the canal.

Normal starting time this morning, we had planned to slip across the cut to fill with water but the services were rather busy and weren't desperate so just pushed on and would fill up later. As we passed the entrance to Mercia Marina a boat was about to come out, they followed us down to Stenson lock which we shared.
Its a long time since I have seen power station cooling towers, the last ones we use to pass were demolished some years ago. I wonder how long these will remain.

The power station was served by a rail line, I am not sure if this has just been abandoned or is waiting to move on.

The branch line runs quite close to the canal for some way and seems quite busy with freight traffic including a Tesco Train.
As we arrived at Stenson Lock a single hander had just entered from below and was slowly opening paddles, a bit one side and a bit the other. I asked if he wanted a hand and he was please to accept,  So while he watched his boat and signalled me, I opened paddles. By the time he left the lock there were two more boats waiting to come up and the one following me had caught up, so we didn’t have gates to close.
We were soon going past the Ragley Boat Stop with its lovely moorings including electricity and water

We stopped for water just before Swarkestone Lock, our locking partners pulled in just ahead for lunch. as we filled with water Diana prepared lunch, needless to say it was ready just as the tank filled, so we pulled forward and had lunch. We had just finished and it started raining so we stayed put for another half hour. until it stopped, we then worked down Swarkestone lock alone.
A short way below the lock I spotted this building not far from the canal, it reminded me of the building you can see from Tixall Wide.

A little further on we passed this notice warning of underwater obstructions, it would help if there was some clue as to how far out they run, just a foot or 2 meters?

We carried on to moor for the night in warm sunshine, unlike when we left this morning just above Western Lock.

Today’s Journey  8 miles, 2 locks in 4 hours