Hard work rewarded

I did the Atherstone flight of locks the hard way today. A boat in front of me (who never once thought of just lifting a paddle before leaving) and not one boat coming towards me. So for every one of the 11 locks I had to empty it first then take the boat in and fill it (very slow fillers the Atherstone locks are). Then go ahead to the next lock and set it before walking back and bringing the boat in.

There was a boat behind me after a bit, so after closing the top gate I nipped back and opened a paddle so the lock would be ready for him. After a couple of locks he left his wife with the boat and came and helped me so that was nice.
Still, after 8 miles and 11 locks I was more than ready to stop!

There is a lovely spot near Mancetter bridge that fortunately was empty, so with huge relief I got tied up. It's very quiet here and there are brilliant walks through the woods and on the golf course. Here is my view from the loo!

A couple of days R and R is in order I think, especially as it is due to blow tomorrow.