Saturday, 11 August 2012

29 Locks in 3 3/4 Hours.

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‘Go to work on an egg’ the advert used to tell us, so I had one scrambled along with a slice of Bottles home-made wholemeal bread, lovely! Then after breakfast we set off early on a cool misty-moisty morning into the bottom lock. This well maintained little cottage belongs to the landmark Trust. So if you fancy a very quiet holiday beside the canal this is the ideal spot.

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This beautiful farm was spread across the crest of the hill and the out-buildings looked like they were now residences. It is also visible in the distance through the railings of the useful little foot-bridge spanning the tail of the lock.

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These two canal side-houses seemed to be in competition with one another to see who had the biggest aerial arrays!

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As you can see there are little flights of steps before each lock. We had a good system going where Bottle nipped up the steps to work one side of the lock while I did the other side. Oakfield just glided on past and rested her nose on the top gate while we shut the bottom gates and opened the top ground paddles.  While it was in the lock three ladies walked by and observed,’Look no driver’, so I told them it was remote-control! Needless to say I walked all the way up the locks. 

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At this canal-side cottage I managed to catch the guard dog posing for the camera, but missed the guard cat as it turned and wandered off!

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