Solace Day 4.

This shot appealed to me for to day.  It is of an old working boat making its way along the canal in front of us.   The coloured part at the back is the "back cabin where the boatman and his family would live.  The black sheets in front would have covered the cargo in the hold.  As the boat stands the bow is 3 or 4 feet (a metre or so) above the water.  If it was loaded with 25 to 30 tonnes of coal,stone,grain (or what ever needed carried) the bow would have been a low as the part the man is standing on.

We left our mooring between locks 9 & 10 aiming to get up the remaining 9 before too many others were moving.  "The Mate" was steering while ClickyChick and I were "lock wheeling".  The term is thought to be from the days when the working boats sent somebody ahead on a bike to get the lock empty/full (whichever was needed) and the gates open.  We made good time competing the flight in an hour and a half which even by the Lock keepers reckoning was "making good time".

he other highlight of the day was turning on to the Ashby Canal.  New territory!  Unfortunately we needed to turn either at the end of the day or early in the morning to get back to Streethay for our engine service.  So we moored near a "Winding Hole" ready for turning in the morning.