Over the Crest (but not many waves)

The weather was very misty but you could feel it getting warmer, so we set off at 9.00am hoping to get to the summit locks at 10.00am. We waited twenty minutes in case another boat came along and sure enough a fibre glass boat turned up. We had to go in the lock first as he was worried about getting crushed by Derwent6. As we climbed higher and higher through the Wootton Rivers flight of locks the water levels got lower and lower. We heard that two boats had got stuck in the shallow water yesterday as the pump had packed up. A new one was fitted late last night, and the levels were up by six centimetres, not a lot then we thought! We got to Bruce's tunnel and the prop was spitting leaves out the stern, and the rocks were scraping along the base plate.You can see from this picture that the levels were down by over two feet. But Derwent6 passed the test and we managed to get to the first descending lock..Phew! God help anyone trying to get through tomorrow if we don't get any rain...We dropped down five more locks and then moored up at Crofton Pumping Station. Del has always wanted to see the Beam Engine here built in 1812, the oldest working one in the world. They have two, the second one was built along side in 1845. We would have loved to have seen it in steam, but this only happens on certain weekends. We used the Cafe and had a sandwich in the sunshine over looking the canal. Late afternoon we went for a walk into the village of Wilton and what a pretty little village it is too. We then walked up to the Windmill which is a lovely peaceful spot and a nice walk.We got back to Derwent6 and put on some music and chilled in the evening....it had been another nice day...