Atherstone flight.

11 locks 8.76 Miles. Now moored near Hartshill.

With another fine but humid day ahead of us it was time to set off and surmount the Atherstone locks. For about half of the locks we struck lucky with another boat coming down as we went up. For the rest of the time there were 3 boats in convoy all heading up the locks so water had to be wasted. Not that this was a problem as there had been a lot of activity through the locks earlier and many of the pounds were very low. Some of the bottom gates were leaking badly also which didn’t help when we were trying to fill the lock. It meant leaving the paddles open until the top gate was open.

Mum arrives with 1 free loader.

In one lock we found 3 dead ducks and 2 ducklings that looked as if they had been trapped by a boat and crushed and killed. Totally unnecessary in our view.

Atherstone lock keepers cottage. Guess who he supports?

At Atherstone we stopped for lunch and then walked into town for some shopping. No visit to Atherstone would be complete without visiting 19 Gales for some fresh pies and produce, roll on tea time. Another surprise was the disappearance of Somerfields supermarket. We knew they had amalgamated with the COOP  but this store is now NISA extra, part of the Mills Group, one we haven't come across before. Shopping done we headed off towards Hartshill, one bridge short of the BW yard.

2232 locks, 4286.20 miles, 91 tunnels, 131 swing bridges and 58 lift bridges since Nov 2006