So ended our short shakedown cruise for the new season. A cold overcast morning. The fire had all but gone out and needed re-lighting. The solid fuel I am trying does not stay in like Taybrite and as the ash quantity is no less, seems to have no advantage. I did have a little apprehension about turning the boat in the river weir stream bearing in mind the high flows and moored boats opposite did not help. It turned out OK but only with lots of back and forth which must have woken up crews. Returning, all the remaining locks were empty except Common Moor of course which still had the notice "Leave full with both top gates open". Possibly the leave full bit was a bit superfluous. Coppermill was interesting. The sluices were still open. A broken down boat was on the lower lock landing and boat coming up were all taken unawares with the ferocity of the cross flow. That boat is going to get hit soon, I thought to myself, but we didn't stay around long enough to see.
The wind was getting up again when we moored, so the windcharger was going well as we left. The boat definitely needs to be decluttered before we embark on our spring cruise.
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