We set off early to get the bulk of the Atherstone flight done unhindered. Pat going ahead as usual found all the bottom gates open with paddles up. More work for her but no hold-up for the boat as I would occupy the time faffing about closing gates. On this lock there are no convenient hand hold to close one of the gates from the boat on exiting the lock (with one exception), so it means stopping below at the steps, climbing up and jumping the gates to get both closed. Working carefully it all takes time, but I was arriving at the next lock just at the right time. We did the flight in 2 hours. Pretty well standard time I guess. At Atherstone we picked up a "slow boat" ahead. Not really that slow, just a little slower than us, however we got delayed anyway at Glascote.
There were two boats on the water point at the top which made access to the lock landing pretty difficult so the only other space to wait was on the other side of the boatyard entrance. This resulted in a delay working the lock swapping the boats round and a build up below.
We caught up with the "slow boat" (never got its name) at Hopwas and we in turn by the boat that had been behind us at Glascote. This guy was in a real hurry and overtook both of us short order never to be seen again. The Anchor pub at Huddlesford Jct seemed to be doing a roaring trade if the number of boats moored all over the place was anything to go by. The wind is getting up and we were pleased to call it a day. At least we are now a day ahead of plan and wont need to hurry so much for the next few days. Our timing for Cromwell Lock and the tidal Trent Islooking good re tide times.
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