Hatton Flight.

21 Locks, 3.01 Miles. Now moored at Bridge 56. Paul from Waterways Routes helping us up the Hatton Flight.

Yesterday,due to the lack of diesel availability between Warwick and Birmingham it was decided to back track to Kate Boats and fill up. Derek on Uccello emptied his spare can’s into his tank and then took Gypsy Rover for a cruise. Unfortunately I was laid low with a bout of Gout in the big toe and was trying to keep off my feet so Dot, Carrie and the other Derek did the honours while I kept Derek’s dog Bungie company on Uccello.

Dismal looking day on the Hatton flight but no rain.

Today’s original plan to set off up the Hatton flight at 10am but we decided to postpone it and make another decision closer to lunchtime due to rain. Paul from Waterways Routes had arrived by train to give us a helping hand but a unanimous decision to wait until later as the weather forecast predicted an improvement. Sure enough just before Noon the rain stopped and it was all go,go,go. Thanks Paul for all your help and our complimentary copy of the BCN DVD, now we can plan our way around Birmingham.

British Waterways depot on the Hatton flight.

Most of the locks were still in our favour from Nb Caxton’s decent of the flight several days ago although some had filled sufficiently to hold the gates shut necessitating a quick empty. As was to be expected at this time of year we were the only boats on the move except for 1 boat that we had passed early on its moorings came through just after we had moored up for the day. We had a good run up the flight as it took us just 2 hours 50 minutes with the 5 of us.

We last saw this relic at Fradley Junction. It's an old Fordson.

2083 locks, 4079.89 miles, 76 tunnels, 130 swing bridges and 54 lift bridges since Nov 2006