The Poacher's Pocket

Wednesday:  There was quite a lot of rain overnight and it was still pouring this morning.  So set off at 7:20 in full wet weather gear. With Pat warm and dry in the cabin I came across two lift bridges so moored up and set off to work them on my own to save her having to get togged up to come out.   Then I realised that the hydraulic winders are on the wrong side, so single handed operation would be rather difficult and I had to get her out after all.  As we continued on, the wind got stronger and our progress intermittently slowed due to shallow water and the current.  For a while before Moreton Locks we had come up behind a slower boat, so when I saw a boat ahead descending the locks I expected the boat in front to go straight in as he already had his crew on the bank. I knew I would have to moor up.   There was a very strong cross wind blowing from the towpath side so I called Pat to man the front rope, leap off and secure the front while I dealt with the back.  As we were doing this I saw that the helmsman in front had decided to moor after all but only with a centre rope and he couldn't hold the boat against the wind.  Another boater came running down to help, and whilst the poor chap managed to get back on his boat it still ended up on the opposite bank.  Hire boaters above the lock were having similar problems.  Getting our boat unmoored when the time came required a synchronous action of releasing the mooring ropes and then gunning the boat to get steerage way.   Not a day for single handed boating!  We decided to continue on to see how far we could get, but the strong wind was joined by heavy showers and the shallow water was making progress very slow so seeing a handing visitor mooring we called it a day.   We found ourselves outside the Poacher's Pocket - "1 free pint of Marston's Pedigree with each 4 pints purchased".  We considered the following morning's activities.   Hopefully the wind will have died down a bit and the weather more condusive to photography.  However, the Nicholson Guide says that boats drawing more than 21 inches are not advised to try the top section.   Our draught is 25 inches?   Should we try or not?  I reasoned that no member of the internet uk.re.waterways newsgroup has reported a problem to my knowledge and there are no BW notices advising of problems, so I thought we should give it a try.