Another early start.

Monday 8th October 2018 in Huddlesford.
Having tried all summer to take our cruising day by day without any time pressure, we have ended up with several very nice treats ahead over the next week which mean we really need to make progress quickly over the next few days.
So, another before dawn start - but actually it is so beautiful to watch the sunrise and it is so peaceful and quiet that we really enjoy it (even R, who is definitely a "night owl" not a "lark"!). Ahead of us was the Atherstone flight of 11 locks, so at 7am M went ahead to set the lock as R bought MM in.

We have met many foreign visitors from all round the world on the canals but it is the first time we have seen multi-lingual notices from C&RT. A sign of the times perhaps?

We have done so many locks now that we make a really good team. M walks ahead to set the next lock and open the gate ready for MM to come into the lock, then R takes MM through the lock while M walks ahead to the next one. This way, we did the 11 locks and two miles of the flight in under two hours. And it's really enjoyable on a lovely morning such as this; you feel you have the world to yourself. And you can look at all the still moored up boats with disdain, muttering "sluggards" under your breath!!!

On the way, we passed some C&RT repair work being done on the bank. Like most "serious" work that we have seen on the canals, it was being done by contractors not C&RT employees. We can't help wondering if that is the most cost effective way of doing things?

At this time of the morning, the light can be magical.

Nice to see that care has been taken to preserve the old mile markers, although the soft stone has eroded so badly that they are now impossible to read.

All the locks on this flight used to have side ponds to save water by storing half the lockfull each time the lock was emptied, but none are now in use.

Just above the last lock in the flight, M met up with an unusual fisherman. His job was to test fishing tackle for the manufacturer and, there he was, busy at work. Nice way to earn one's living!

This garden had a splendid display of gnomes and garden ornaments. The house even had a Kingsground boat moored outside it.

But our favourite was the two sheep in the middle of the lawn. Priceless!

We arrived in Tamworth at the Glascote Locks. We call them "piggy-bank" locks because they are slow to fill but quick to empty. The house next door belongs to a gentleman called Paul; we've met him on a number of occasions.  He collects bricks with different manufacturers' names in their "frogs" (middles) and creates structures with them in his garden.

In Tamworth, M went shopping for the usual "few bits" while R went to his favourite emporium for a coffee (before heroically carrying M's few bits back to MM!).

On the way back to MM, we saw this notice. Jolly handy for our new rose beds but M couldn't think of a way to get the product back home!

We carried on to Huddlesford on the Coventry Canal, where the the bridges have charming names rather than numbers.

Tomorrow, we will put MM into King's Orchard Marina so that R can go home to pick up the car. On Wednesday, we shall drive to Snettisham in Norfolk for a concert by Pamela Greener, (the wife of Jonathan, M's cousin) then back to MM on Thursday.
Today: 17 miles,13 locks and 8.0 hours.
Trip: 401 miles, 245 locks and 249.6 hours.