Sunday 4 August - We rose bright and early and left our moorings (bridge 58) for a short cruise to the top of the Hatton flight. The flight of locks rise 146ft over a 2 mile stretch. They are traditionally known as the 'Stairway to heaven' as the boat workers received their pay at the top once completing the flight... on this occasion we were going down. Luckily we met up with Howard and his Narrowboat at the top of the flight.
As Howard was single handed and his narrowboat was a similar length to ours, we tied them together so it freed two members of crew to do the locks. Using one engine Chris was tasked with concentrating on navigation with the occasional words of advice!
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| Lock 36 - ten to go!!!! |
We stopped for a much needed brew at lock 36 and carried on the descent really smoothly. Helen's face was getting redder and redder due to the heat and exertion as the last lock loomed in sight.😌
What a spectacular flight of locks they were, very well maintained and quick fillers. Thank you Howard for making the descent a pleasant experience ☺The descent took approximately 4hrs.
On reaching the bottom we moored at the Saltisford Canal Centre on a partially restored canal arm.
The canal centre charges just £6 per a night with great facilities including a launderette, shop, elsan etc and very well maintained and run by the Saltisford Canal Trust. From here there is just a 15min walk to historic Warwick
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