The blind leading the blind.

 I shouldn't have been surprised to wake up to poor visibility. It was mentioned on the local weather although 'misty conditions' was all that was said. A lot more than that thought I. In fact more fog than mist in my opinion. We still set off though. Headlight on and dim shapes appearing as I peered through the fog. Ian tried to get the walkie-talkies to work, changed the batteries and everything, but only one fired into life. Oh well, the phones came in as second choice.

Dropped Ian of at the bridge, two widebeams were moored but I don't think one of them was that boat that passed us last night. I bimbled towards the lock, very slowly, and then the call to say the lock was ready and waiting.

 

 In the second pound I had a delay. Ian had walked ahead but it seemed an age before any water was let down. Eventually found out why. Who ever had gone up before us had left the top gate open and even worse, both paddles up! 

And seen in the third pound, Peter again. He must have passed us late last night. Also near the lock was Nick Wolf with historic boat Aldgate. A chat with him revealed a boat was in front who had not an inkling of what to do at the locks. Were these the boaters who had left the paddles up? 

 

The next lock also had the top gate open, but paddles were down. Was this to be our lot then on the last of the three locks? Nearly up when the fog lifted a tad and waiting before the next lock was a boat. Horn pressed to alert of our presence but not a sound was heard. Kept pressing the horn but not even a squeak! Blooming thing, just when it was really needed it decided to pack up! Ian got the gate open pretty quick and I powered toward the next lock. The bottom gate was still open, had they seen me? Obviously not because the gate started to close. Fish wife comes to mind as I yelled, shouted and waved my arms frantically. That did the trick, the gate opened again, but the boat was right in the middle. No sign of it moving to one side or the other. Thankfully Ian arrived and took charge of the situation. Eventually I enter only to discover the boat had been purchased yesterday, it was his first time on the water and these were his first locks. The chap with him, equally without much knowledge although he had owned a widebeam several years ago but had never taken it off its mooring. It was like the blind leading the blind! Anyway lots of instruction given by Ian and me. They were really nice chaps and we got on famously. Ian did make it plain though, about dropping paddles and closing gates after each locking so hopefully they will now take heed. 

 

Lock 5 had a pair descending. We saw them, they must have seen us. Why then did they close the bottom gates? Of course by the time we had ascended, approached the next lock, it had already started to fill. So a quick hand gesture to warn the boat behind that I was holding back, while Ian raised the paddle to empty the lock again. 

Lock 6

At the top lock I mentioned the tunnel. He asked if we could go first, feeling more secure in following than leading. We took it steady and he kept up. Ian drove us through, I took photos of the bendy bits.

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Decided to take Ian a coffee, the end of the tunnel was in sight so a good time for him to have a warm drink but I hadn't imagined that Ian would close the back hatch slide. Cup in hand I went to step out and bang...Bl**dy hell, my head made contact with the metal and boy did it hurt! Stars were seen, well no  they weren't actually, I’m sure that's just an expression but it knocked me for six. How I didn't spill the coffee I will never know. Ian was so apologetic, said he closed it because of the drips. My own fault I suppose, I should have looked.  A painful lump has appeared, and a bit of a headache is developing. Nothing a glass or two of Shiraz later won't cure, I'm sure.
 

At Norton Junction we kept to the right. Left was the Grand Union Leicester Line. This could be a return route for us when leaving our sons after Christmas. A lot depends on the weather. The River Soar is notorious for flooding, a drop of rain is mentioned and up it comes! If we get stuck and fail to meet the deadline of 9th January when a stoppage is planned on the Erewash, we won't get back to our moorings until March. 

Norton Junction

Leicester Line Grand Union.

The moorings before the top lock were chokka block.  In fact one of the moorings had been taken up by a sunken boat! How long would that remain there? Quite a while if CRT's usual slow pace is anything to go by! They have a yard at the start of the junction so no excuse!

 

CRT maintenance yard ahead

Approaching the lock a boat already at the landing. We stopped on the opposite side, I didn't feel comfortable locking down before the boat we had travelled with so suggested they join the other boat instead of us. They readily agreed, after all our plan was to stop and not descend any more of the flight today. Funnily enough they had the same plan as we passed them moored on the 48 hour.

 Eventually our turn and we stopped near Anchor Cottage. The fog had lifted, but visibility was still poor. Mist is the problem now, it lingers and could get worse overnight. Another foggy day tomorrow perhaps?