After an early start prompted by a 7am wake up call from yesterday’s swan (see yesterday’s entry ), much fun was had today at the Bratch set of locks. These were once a staircase of 3, but were long ago converted into 3 separate locks with very small pounds between them, that can’t even hold the water from one lock. They are carefully guarded by the lock-keeper who operates the red paddles to ensure nothing gets flooded, whilst us boaters do the gates and the blue paddles.

Sarah is, of course, super special though and soon had the lock keeper chatting away and next thing there she was running the show and operating the red paddles herself. Well, she impressed so much she was offered a job at the end of it – 8 ’til 8 with 3 days on and 3 days off! Tempting, but maybe not just yet.

We passed some lovely gardens along the way, and this lovely flowerpot lady doing some fishing

I also took some time at a waterstop to treat some of the rust where the paint has been flaking off due to all the hard wear and tear.