Day 5 Monday 21 May 2007

Swanley to Grindley Brook. About 9 miles and 13 locks today. Plenty of sunshine again. Despite the locks it was a leisurely day. There were plenty of boats going our way and we had to wait at most of the locks as they were all against us so that we had to empty them before we could go in. There were not many boats going the other way, but when we got to Grindley Brook staircase locks, we had to wait for two boats going down. You have to be careful at staircase locks as each lock empties into the next one. You have to make sure that they are set correctly other wise you either don’t have enough water to get through or you flood the cottages at the bottom! We had a great barbeque on the towpath and sat out until 11.00 again.