The day started with a trip to Tesco to use their loos and to get some more petrol for the generator. I was shocked that the petrol was 3p per litre more than the diesel but we do feel out of touch with what's been happening in the world for the last couple of weeks.
Then it was down the double unaligned staircase locks at Stourport.
We managed them better than last time with less shouting out instructions to each other and are confident we have now found a way we can manage them without appearing like imbecilical novices in the future. Time will tell.
We had expected the Severn to be flat calm in August but it was anything but that. Water slapping the hull and creating quite a bit of movement made for an interesting couple of hours.
Finally we made it on to the Droitwich canals.
The paid help were getting weary, but the trip included 193 locks in total. I'm weary of standing at the tiller so know how they feel.
The worker pressed on, and also passed on tips to the Belgian couple we shared the last six double locks with as they have just purchased their boat.
After negotiating the M5 tunnel where I have to steer on my knees looking down the side of the boat as headroom is virtually non-existent we came to our final lock, which is also our third staircase lock of the day.
The gates look big and imposing.
With a deep sigh of relief and a bang on the jetty to show that despite all this experience a helmsman needs to be continually alert we manoeuvred into our berth.
Home tomorrow to remind the Washing Machine that its days of rest are well and truly over.
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