Day Seven - Willington to Shardlow

I had heartburn in the night so I guess Mrs Harris’s cold pork pies can pack a punch! We woke to a beautiful, sunny morning and it was such a contrast to yesterday’s bleak weather. We decided to leave early at seven fifteen to make the most of it and have breakfast on the way. It was very quiet on the canal and not even the swans were awake.
Today was the first day we have come across double locks which are a bit trickier to operate than the single ones. These locks were built for commercial use by barges with their bigger loads. It’s usual practice to put two canal boats in one of these locks to save water but we had no-one to share with so we went it alone. They do take more time to fill and empty even though they have two sets of paddles - one right at the bottom and one half way up. I didn’t read the little sign on the lock which said open the bottom paddles first and when the water reached the second paddles to open them. I opened the top paddles and innocently watched the water gushing in. Henk tied the boat to the side of the canal and came and watched and read the sign. We quickly opened the bottom paddles. Thankfully no-one was around to watch and I got it right at the next three double locks.
We motored through wild farmland today before reaching Shardlow at twelve fifteen. Shardlow is a small community with no village to speak of. We walked two kilometres to the local post office to pick up some supplies including the paper. We returned to have lunch and decided to have a little nap. The slight rocking of the boat can put us to sleep very quickly.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon. Today is the start of a long weekend and all talk on the television is about the weather. It looks like it will be mostly OK and we are expecting some heavy traffic on the canal.
Pictures: Swans still asleep on the canal; steering the boat; the double lock with the top paddles open.