The last boat yesterday was down, so we thought the locks would be in our favour this morning. But while we were having breakfast at 6:45 a boat came up behind us. So we had to follow them all the way up. They were very slow and even though we had to turn each lock, and they didn’t, we still caught them up.

At the top lock were some volunteers. They need more training on water management. They are simply told that if there is a boat coming then one coming the other way has to wait. We were below lock 2. The boat in front was just leaving lock 2, lock 1 was empty ready for them. The vlockie wouldn’t let us turn lock 2 as there was one approaching lock 1. They said it was to save water. When I pointed out that the pound below lock 2 was very  low and would benefit from a lock full of water they just ‘we have to do as we’re trained’.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and we moored up in Ansty at about two thirty.

It’s been very hot and humid. The sky is a bit grey, we could be in for a thunderstorm.