It was inevitable, he was going that fast.

 Hillmorton so very busy yesterday, didn't quite expect the same this morning. After all it was only just on 9am when we got into the top lock and no queues. But I suppose this flight of locks are allegedly the busiest in the country (according to C&RT and the volunteer's on the locks) and with its three pairs of two parallel narrow locks, one would think that the trip from the top to the bottom would be relatively quick.

 We hadn't reckoned on a newby hirer not really knowing what to do. Now, we knew that lock 4 was out of action, my walk yesterday showed me that, so when I saw the same boater holding the rope towpath side and stationary in the middle of the pound, I was a bit baffled as to why he would be there. Surely he couldn't be waiting for the lock, too far away from the landing for a start. But I was 'mistook' because the glare I got as I started to creep past could have killed me outright! "Why aren't you on the landing" said I. "There's a boat coming up" said he "And the right-hand lock is out of action".  So I reversed  back but not before giving some advice about going up to the lock and waiting there rather than expect people to have second sight and know what was going on! 

He got the message and moved onto the lock landing.

Whilst waiting for my turn, C&RT turned up to check the bottom lock gates of lock 4. Apparently the water was peeing out from under the bottom gates yesterday causing the top gates to stay shut and the water to not equalise. This caused no end of problems for exiting boats. The initial thought was an obstruction lodged under one of the gates but Ian being nosey (I would have done the same) asked, and they now think the peg at the bottom of the gate had broken. Put it this way, one of the volunteers could jiggle that gate up and down with ease. Now he is either very strong or something has come adrift because that should not have been possible. You could see when C&RT tried closing the gates that one was much higher than the other. 

And this on lock 5

My observation is this flight badly needs attention. Lock 6, 5 and 2 all had paddles that didn't work and lock 4 was completely out of action. Even one of the volunteers said that these locks have been badly neglected and could do with a lot of work. And he also told me that 54 boats had gone through the flight yesterday. No wonder it's a busy flight.

Bridge 68 and a Clifton hire boat comes tearing (and I do mean tearing as you should have seen the bow wave) around a bend and panicked as he saw a moored boat by the bridge and us also coming through the bridge 'ole. It was inevitable then that the helmsman failed to turn the tiller or put it into reverse and consequently went straight on into the offside bank. And all this was watched by the chap in the moored boat hanging out of the side hatch.  We cruised past him on the wrong side and hoped that a valuable lesson had been learnt. Do not speed on the canals! It was left to that chap in the moored boat to sort them out.

That's the Clifton boat heading for the bank.

Being told what to do by that chap on the moored boat.

And the Clifton Cruisers hire base

Always very tight to get past the hire fleet during change over day.

Rugby was the destination for tonight. The usual amount of boats moored but spaces were found for us and Dire Straits. Then looking at C&RT stoppage list another unwelcome message on their website

Due to the recent dry weather, we are currently experiencing extremely low water on the Ashby Canal. This is consequently making it very difficult for our boaters to travel. 

We are working hard with our colleagues in the West Midlands Team, who are trying to bring us water from the Coventry Canal. 

However, they are very low on water as well and so it is taking longer than normal to get the water levels back up. 

We advise boaters to minimise their travel at this moment in time and please proceed with care.

Oh blast. Is this another of our plans gone awry. Maybe yet another rethink is in order.