On the boat there are a number of fluid levels we have to monitor. None of these have a gauge, so they have to be checked in various other ways. Drinking water. Also used for washing and flushing the toilet. In a big tank at the bow. When the front of the boat starts to get higher than the back it’s time to top up. That’s usually about every three days. Toilet holding tank. When it gets full it needs…
All downhill today, through ten locks, including our first double lock, where the bottom gate of one lock is the top gate of the next. Since these are double wide locks, we paired up with another boat, Flat Bottomed Girl, to go down, which saves water, and stops the boat drifting from side to side in the lock. Flat Bottomed Girl is brand new, and the owners were trying to avoid bumps and scrapes. Happily, Peggoty came with a full…
Ten locks today, a flight of eight called the Stockton locks, and then two more, Itchington Top Lock and Itchington Bottom Lock. Yes, there is a place called Long Itchington, though not apparently Short Itchington. Itchington has the potential to be a quite nice village but for the traffic on the A423 thundering past the village green. There’s a Tudor Manor House. Elizabeth I is supposed to have stayed here (about the time of the last paint job), but then…