Today’s aim was to get through Gloucester and onto the G&S canal.
The summer opening times of Severn locks are 8:00 – 18:00, so we set off at 8:10 for Lower Lode lock about half a mile away. When we got there we found that there isn’t really anywhere to moor up to wait, so we tied up to a large piece of wood. There was no sign of life in the locky’s cabin, I couldn’t get off from where we were so we waited awhile. It was now 8:45, I was just about to go and find the phone number for the lock when a car arrived and someone in the BW uniform got out. At first he didn’t notice us, then he called out “Have you been waiting long?” “No, only about 5 minutes” I lied. We locked through and were on our way. The weather started off as bad as the day before, but by the time we reached Gloucester lock at 12:00 the sun was out and it was warming up. Gloucester lock is currently undergoing repairs and is only open for three one hour periods a week. We had to wait until 13:00 for the next one. Moored up by just our back rope( as instructed by the lockie) in the strong current was a little odd. Through the docks and out onto the G&S, the sun was now out quite strongly and it was becoming warmer. We moored up near Sellars bridge and decided to put the signs on.
We hadn’t done anything like this before and we were a bit apprehensive as we knew that we had only one go to get it right. But after about an hour we had done both sides and she looked really good. Now, with our name on she was definitely “Our Boat”!