I left an hour later than usual. As I was moored overnight just one boat length from the lock I walked ahead and set the lock feeling guilty about making a lot of noise at 8:00am with cottages right on the lockside. As I entered the lock I was aware of a boat entering the bridge hole just below the lock imagining that it was already empty and ready for them, as it was early and typically there isn’t much traffic about at that time. We had a laugh about it shortly after. I had the impression that the pound below was a little bit down and this fitted in with the recent closure of the lock below (Slat Mill No 26) for 48 hours due to low water levels. The pound below Slat Mill definitely was down and progress was slow. Perhaps the reason for all this was to be found at lock 27, because the top cill was leaking very badly. There was another yellow bag at Lock 28 which distracted me rather, because a boat was just leaving as I arrived waving the gates open and I didn’t twig there was a boat below hiding behind the bridge and I started to turn the lock around before realising my mistake. Bad manners! That was all put right quickly enough and I arrived at Banbury shortly after finding a sunny mooring just before the main shopping arcade. This will allow a test of my solar panels. Will they provide 24 hour power, recovering the batteries next day.?
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