Wet Wet Wet

 David was up and away this morning way before I was awake, but not before he'd done last nights washing up.  

There is this time when he is awake and it's not light enough to go cycling.  Marvellous really, when he returns he brings me tea.  But don't be thinking I don't look after him too.

It was overcast and the satellite app says rain that evening.  

We made a start annoyingly just after a boat had past us so yes we'd be turning all the locks again today.

I walked to the first on not far around the corner and a twitcher was sat on the bench there.... "What have you seen?" says I, 

"Oh nothing yet" 

I told him with delight how I'd listened to two owls in the night.  He assured me they were two Tawny owls.

Then it drizzled, that wasn't mentioned earlier when I planned my outfit.

We were aiming for Bratch Locks today, in a nearby village David had planted the car not that we had plans to drive it.  It would stay there a couple of nights.

I walked between the last three locks when the sun came out and suddenly I was very hot.  After the last lock prior to Bratch I got back onboard,  there's a nice long run of moorings here, opposite the cricket ground we have moored at previously but today and several years after we were last here the trees at the edge of the cricket ground have grown up and there's precious little solar power to be had, so we crept forward and there's a sunken cruiser right in the way of the best solar spot to be had, so we crept forward, there were rings here and two moored boats, suddenly it was heavy drizzle.

Now great consternation do we reverse back around the moored boat into the shade, do we moor here on the concrete with the horrid warped metal armco and no rings, do we go forward and moor on the lock landing, very naughty to do that plus no sign of the volunteer lockkies to ask permission.

And now it was raining.

David changed his mind 17 times as the rain came down harder and harder, he even fetched out the two Big Blues, huge fenders we use on rivers but finally we decided to go down the staircase locks here and moor below.

 He untied WaL and was heard to utter some shocking language as I went to set the locks.  

Just our luck two boats were coming up, both women were drenched without coats, these two boats took time as you can imagine.  I was trying to remember how to do this and read the instructions three times, I was Looking and Learning but as these two were doing the flight in reverse...

The last lady was incredibly cheerful, no coat on, she declared she couldn't get any wetter and she offered to stay after they had exited to help me down.  

I could have kissed her, so very kind.  

She told her husband as he exited the top lock and he too came back with his windlass.

Doubly kind.

By now it had stopped pouring and the sun actually came out, I was boiling in my waterproof so I draped it over a lock beam.

As we wound up the top paddles another boater walked past and kindly said "Can't you read?  You have to wind up the blue paddle down there before this red one"  Yes Reader despite reading the instructions several times I got it wrong.

I scuttled off to correct the mistake and the kind lady took the telling off she didn't deserve.

By the time we had finished the locks and profusely thanked the other boaters we had both had enough, moored up on a sunny spot, mopped the back deck and put the tonneau cover on again, wiped the coats down with towels before they could be carried through and got inside. Phew.

I looked out to see the sign "Lock Landing Only".  Well it was a genuine mistake as the lock landing as we thought was behind us but we did stay put as no other boats there or indeed came past that afternoon.

Supper was tomato and feta bake.  Two packs of feta as David said one needed eating as it had been up and down to the boat 4 times.

PS   Absolutely no rain was forecast today.

The sun on the trees that evening below Bratch Locks