Hatton in two and a half hours

We set off yesterday morning at 8.30, Yarwood in the lead, Nb. No Problem behind and four miles to go before reaching the summit of the Hatton flight of locks.  Amazing, the grass along the entire length of our route had all been CUT! Well done C&RT, more of the same please..
On reaching the Shrewley tunnel the dogs and I headed up the ramp and into the horse tunnel that would take us up into daylight at the top of the hill where we walked along a track over the hill to meet the canal again.

 Shrewley Tunnel with its separate horse tunnel to the right

 No Problem and Yarwood 'hovering' while another boat exits the tunnel

 And here comes No Problem out of the tunnel

 Followed by Yarwood

 I stopped to pass the time of day with Lisa on Nb. Chyandour, they had ascended the Hatton flight the previous day

 Yarwood and No Problem rafted together and being steered by Sue

When we got both boats into the first lock, Vic and Joe set about tying them securely together so that only one steerer was needed to bring the boats down the flight thus releasing another body to help with the locks.  Joe has done this a couple of times before so Sue was persuaded to give it a go.

 Part way down and a view of Warwick in the distance

 Lock readied and in go the two boats

 I had got the trusty bicycle out of the hold and went ahead filling locks and opening gates leaving Joe and Vic to empty the locks and open and close  bottom gates.

 Two and a half hours later and we were mooring up, job done!

 

We took ourselves off to The Cape of Good Hope for a well deserved pint and a bite to eat.

L-R Me Keith and Jo

Sue and I then went and found Keith and Jo of Nb. Hadar where they are moored in the Saltisford Arm where we enjoyed a cuppa in the sunshine with our hosts.  We had a quick tour of the arm seeing all the improvements that have been made before wandering back to our respective boats and our men. Lovely to see you both and keep on getting better and stronger Keith!