The last day - it didn't start well

Well the boating bit  - A bit dramatic as it was a lovely morning so I walked up to the aquaduct and watched the A5 traffic going on its ever increasingly normal way. 

As an aside I was looking at maps as I'm inclined to do and plotted the walking distance between our starting point the day before at the visitor moorings above Gailey lock and our last nights mooring at Stretton aquaduct - just under three miles. So we could have walked between the two in an hour but it took us 6 hours ! 

I heard barn owls last night and Tawny owls above Gailey lock the night before. I watched a Tawny owl hopping between trees and making its call. 

So this morning  - a lovely cutting cruise to Wheaton Aston. 

There was a boat approaching the lock but the lock was full so I moored up opened the top gate and got back on Percy. The crew member from the boat below the lock walked up and closed the gate..! I sounded my air horn and she kept on closing. It was only when I got off the boat and started walking towards her she realised what she was doing  and was very apologetic. It was clear she did not have a clue what she was doing. I got Percy into the lock and she asked if I wanted her to lift the paddle but she did so without the pawl on the ratchet.... I alerted her to this and explained the risks. Then walking to check the boat and the cill I fell over a load of the 'high vis' hazard mesh CRT has layered over a damaged bollard  - felt a twit and hurt my hand as I was carrying my windlass... I was more concerned I could have fallen onto the lock! As I get older I try and be more aware of what I'm doing and how.... I don't bounce or mend as well now.

As we exited the lock the crew on the boat apologised again saying it was their crew members first ever lock - No problem every day is a learning day. 

Then it was a lovely cruise to Pat Norbury where we stopped for lunch just after high bridge.

Getting back onto our mooring was a pig as it is badly silted up so we had to saw our way back on - not helped by a new neighbour so our mooring is tight. Its a cruiser and has a sticky out outboard so I took a photo of our tight springs and tight back line in case ....

..... and the engine counter at the end 

826 when I changed the oil so a 40 hour 11 day cruise  - spot on.

Back home now .... a lovely cruise with great weather and quiet canals. We never followed a boat or were followed. We never queued for a lock and had plenty of choices for moorings. A quick boat clean inside and back in a few days to clean the outside.