Rowington

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.7 miles

Total 4810 Locks  316 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7,121.8 miles

Having done all we needed in Warwick, today we moved off up the Hatton Flight, which I have to say is a flight of locks I quite enjoy, although there are 21 of them. Interesting start because as we cast off another boat came past and was pottering towards the Saltisford Arm, apparently to get a pump out done. I pottered along behind him since there was no real rush only for another boat to come up behind and ask me to let him know when I was clear for him to come past. A little surprised since usually boats want to pass if you’ve been holding them up for half an hour or so, but 10 minutes seemed a bit or a rush. They advised me that they needed to get to Stratford, I don’t know if they meant today, anyway I explained that the only reason I was going slowly was because the boat in front was, and once he’d gone off down the Saltisford Arm I’d be back up to speed.

I don’t think rushing, and the Hatton flight go together really but once we’d got to the bottom lock there was another boat going in, so we teamed up with them, leaving the ‘rush’ boat to follow behind. We got into a good rhythm with the couple we’d teamed up with and went up the flight quite well. At the top I emptied and flushed 2 Elsans and refilled the freshwater tank, taking about 35 - 40 minutes in total (the water pressure was a bit slow on the tap). As we finished the ‘rush’ boat was just coming up the last 2 locks, so I went back and emptied the top lock for them. Since a few of the locks had been set against us, we’d done as much work as they had, but for all of their haste they were still 40 minutes behind us at the end. I feel they might have misjudged how long these trips take.