Friday 14 June 2019 Day 49: below Cookley Tunnel to Stewpony Wharf, Stourton Village

First thing on the agenda this morning was to text Justin to let him know that the hatch battern containing the bolt holes had pulled off the night before and we had no way of locking the boat. He texted back very quickly that we he would come out this afternoon to fix it, with a stern injunction for me to keep my phone on me so we could arrange a meeting place later in the day. 

After raining all night we gave up waiting for it to ease and set off in the soggy weather.
All the canal overflows were running

What would you call this - a huddle of ducklings?

Elder flowers in full bloom

Back up through Whittington Lock

The canal was very full

About to enter Hyde Lock

This house is all that remains of a huge iron works that that operated here for two centuries. In its heyday 20 puddling furnaces produced wrought iron and the premises lined the canal for some distance. But only the Manager's house remains.

I find the sandstones cuttings intriguing places

After some debate, we moored up on the Stewpony Wharf visitor moorings to await lunch (currently being prepared by Masterchef  Tim).  And it was lucky we did because no sooner had we sat down to lunch than Justin texted asking where we would be in the next hour. And here was perfect - 100 metres back down the towpath was a road and a carpark which are a must when getting serviced on the canals.

By the time Justin, carpenter Dave and 3 boxes of tools arrived it was bucketing down again. Poor Dave got soaked during the 1/2 hour it took tor repair the damage.

And it bucketed on and off, more on than off for the rest of the day. When the question of moving on was mooted there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the troops. So with the new batten, we battened down the hatches for the rest of the day.

A couple of hours before sunset the sun peaked through the cloudbanks and we enjoyed it for all of 10minutes before the next storm.

3 miles, 4 locks, 2 tunnels, 3 hours