I woke up early, about 6.30. A beautiful morning so I started out at 8am from my lovely overnight stop near Fleckney. I made my way to the first lock of the day and filled her. Just as I was about to enter a walker said "I hate to tell you this but below the next lock the canal has no water". I walked down to have a look and found that a paddle was up on the third lock and 2 locks and a pound were indeed empty. I put the paddle down and called BW for advice. Within 5 minutes a BW team were on the case (not a result of my call - that would have been miraculous - but as part of their daily checks). I was held up for an hour but chatting away to the BW team, the time soon passed. I was caught up by my mooring companions, Nifty Fifty, and we did the last couple of locks together. I stopped for a cuppa but within half an hour I was off again to do the remaining 7 locks of the day. It's wonderful on a warm day like today when there is no wind. I met quite a few people to talk to at various locks but very few boats. I had to set each lock before I could use it AND some of them were really hard work. At the penultimate lock I twisted my ankle in a dip, and it has become quite painful. I just hope it doesn't hold me up tomorrow as I have 12 more locks and 8 miles to do. Met our friend, Pete, at Kilby Bridge and we had a drink at The Navigation pub. He is doing my trip but in reverse. (No he's not going backwards all the way, he is going clockwise while I am going anti-clockwise.) Sadly, I couldn't go on my planned walk because of my ankle injury. Blast.
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