Marathon Day 35, Tuesday April 19th - Gloucester

The day started with a shopping trip into the town (Leamington Spa) for groceries and a plumbers merchant to replace the hose connection that we had to remove at our last water stop.  This done, we breakfasted and set sail for Napton Junction, our destination for this evening.

On our way to the shops!

Improvisation - note the screwdriver!

Girls at the helm

An hour and a half's cruising brought us to the first lock in our first set of 3 for the day - Ellie and I elected to do the manual work with Mel at the helm.  Interesting work in the heat of the day!

We gradually worked our way through the locks, Ellie and Mel exchanging places as Ellie's shoulder began to show signs of the strain.  We experienced our first Staircase lock, 2 locks linked together, in which the lower gate of the upper lock is also the upper gate to the bottom lock - interesting!

Then on to the sequence of 10 locks in the heat of the day - marvellous!!!

A final set of 3 downstream and a stop for water  (and ice creams too) before settling on an idyllic site to stay the night at Lower Shuckburgh.

Chicken pasta for dinner, the usual beverages to accompany and another  early night for a weary crew.