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Date: 11th July 2024
Canal: Grand Union
Direction: West
Locks: 13
Swing bridges: 0
Dragonfly sculpture above lock 42
The cruise:
Having moored in the pound between locks 34 and 35 last night, we set off early this morning (well, early for us). Knowing that we had to navigate the last 13 locks and climb to the top of the flight was daunting, this was the most locks we had done in one day – so far. Luckily, we had perfect weather because the sky was overcast, but it was warm and dry.
The flight was surprisingly quiet today, there were no other boats traveling up, so sadly we couldn’t double up someone else. We did pass a few boats (coming down) but not many.
I was incredibly happy to see the wonderful lock keepers appear from their offices just before we reached the midway point and they helped us through 2 of the locks, but we managed to do the rest ourselves and where extremely glad when we reached the top. John had promised me a coffee and cake in the Hatton Locks Cafe, and I have to be honest it was only that thought that got me through the last one.
I found the locks themselves to be quite challenging, the bottom gates were very heavy to close, and the top paddles took all my strength to open. But the sense of achievement once we reached the top was amazing.
The Hatton Flight has a total of 21 locks within a space of less than 2 miles and these locks carry the boat up or down by 45 meters. It is a well-known canal landmark, and for us it’s an important stepping stone on our waterways journey.
Finaly at Hatton Top Lock
Mooring in Hatton:
Immediately after the top lock there was a waterpoint so we stopped to fill up our tank (it’s always worth taking the opportunity) and moored up for a short time so that we could go to the cafe for lunch.
Once fully recovered from climbing the flight we moved on to find somewhere nice for the weekend. A short distance from the top lock we found a pretty and quiet rural mooring with views across farmland. The train line was very close, but we could hardly hear this when inside the boat. There were no other boats here and there were very few people using the towpath.
There was plenty of space to moor but no Armco, so we used our mooring pins to tie up.
The towpath was a quite uneven and narrow.
There was plenty of light for the solar panels.
The internet was good but there wasn’t much TV signal.
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We are John, Lorraine, and Boasley the Boat Dog.
Follow our adventures as we learn to live the life of contiuous cruisers on the British waterways.
