Another drenching, and chips

Monday 17^th August; Dick’s Lane lock to Hockley Heath

The forecast was once more for rain later on, so we planned an early start – but so many others beat us to it that we couldn’t leave till after 9.  Our ropes were slack again.

Water levels were still much higher than normal, but nothing to cause a problem.

We needed to empty a couple of cassettes and dump a load of rubbish, and ideally would have liked to take on water.  The sanitary station is at the junction just above the last lock on the South Stratford.  A boat was already taking on water, and a hire-boat waiting for the lock thought they had nowhere to go and were drifting about a bit in the wind.  There was nothing for it but for me to unload the cassettes as we rose up the lock and get them over to the elsan while Dave opened the gate and got out of the lock so the poor hirer could get in.  So far so good.  There were so many boats on the move it made sense for me to quickly get the next lock ready so Dave could get out of the way, so I called Meg (who had inconveniently just jumped off the boat) and we raced round the junction and over the bridge across the link.  The hirers had closed the bottom gate, but the lock was fortunately still empty.  We whizzed back again to empty the cassettes, with Meg wondering what on earth was going on.  Then a more relaxed stroll back over the bridges to find Dave already waiting for the next lock, ideally positioned to get Meg back on board and deal with the rubbish. 

We were hoping to use the tap above lock 19, but with one boat filling, another waiting, and lock 18 above empty, I opened the gates, left Dave to it and went over the road bridge and under the railway to the little shop for some supplies.  Things calmed downed considerably as we reached the ‘thick’ of the Lapworth flight.  We were behind another boat and the only volunteer had gone down to the junction, so we just took things steadily.  The side ponds on this flight have some lovely water plants.

Flowering rush

Chunks of vegetation had found its way into the navigation and Dave spent a bit of time removing it.

 

We started to meet boats coming down, inconveniently at the two short curved pounds where a certain amount of shuffling is needed to get past each other.  By now it was nearly lunchtime so we planned to moor above lock 6 where there is plenty of room, though you do need to bang in your pins.  

                                                    Probably branched bur-reed

Unfortunately the rain didn’t wait for us to get moored up – annoying, as we are still trying to dry out from yesterday.  It became very heavy so we sat tight till it started to brighten up at about 3.  We managed the first two locks in the dry before it poured once more, but with only two locks left, and already togged up in waterproofs, we carried on to moor at Hockley Heath for the night.

Water figwort

The Wharf was doing take-aways, so we ordered fish and chips and two pints of Tribute.  It wasn’t ready at the time specified so we sat at a table and started our beer in proper glass glasses before decanting them into the plastic tumblers to take away.  It was the first time we had been in a pub since lockdown and it felt weird, though good to have a pint in your hand!  The food was not as good as our local chippie and there weren’t enough chips, but as they are very dog-friendly they gave us a bag of chips for Meg for nothing.  She only got one though.

3 miles, 22 locks, rain.