At the Summit

Despite the threat of rain we felt the need to move on up. The first two locks were done on our own while boats were coming down. Then we waited in a lock for a boat to come up. It was magic to get the help, the boat being called Merlin! But then it started to rain! Some of the pounds were a bit low as we progressed up through the seven locks to the summit at Cowroast. We read about some boaters who have no idea how to operate locks. They are going up and down one by one at the wide locks when they could help each other and not waste the precious water.
However at this summit the pumps were working overtime and there seemed to be enough up here. We had intended to head for the Wendover Arm but after taking on water we found another 57 foot gap to more in. By then we had had enough of the damp conditions. Unfortunately a boater started up his noisy smelly petrol generator so we had to shut all our doors and windows. Thankfully it was only on for one evening! A few days later we moved on down the Wendover Arm. It was a bit shallow in places and as we passed a boat coming out we ran aground. The fishermen where we turned at the end were not happy to see us!

We stuck our pins in just round a bend out of sight of them. The fishermen left when another boat turned up.

A walk to the Wilstone reservoir found it to be very low. Next morning the waterlevel in the canal went down a few inches.