Lyra's Travels

Sunday 17th June 2012
Another early start today as we intended to get to Shardlow in one go.
Casting off we headed for the service area where there was already a queue developing. As we manoeuvred waiting for our turn on the mooring who should come along, but Sanity Again. After a few shouted greetings they managed to clear their way through melange and we breasted up to a boat already tied up there. They were doing a pump out and would be about 20 minutes while all we had to do was chuck a can and some rubbish so we could both get on and do what was needed without interfering woth each other.
As we pulled off the services another boat came along going the same way as us, which was very handy because all the locks from now on are wide, so we had someone to share with.
The next 6 locks to Shardlow went very well, apart from us picking up some c**p on our prop in lock 5 which held us up for a few minutes.
When we arrived at Shardlow mooring was at a premium, at it soon became clear why. The river lock had a red light on it due to all the rain lately, so the boats are backing up. We managed to squeeze into a spot and I wandered off down the towpath looking for a marina, hoping to get a spot for the next few days while we visit Leeds. We had a bit of luck on that front and tomorrow we'll move on down and into the marina.