Hail to the Hive!

Today we had to battle a lot of wind and the odd rain/hail storm to get to the next stop of our journey back to Leicestershire. Entering the deep locks was actually a bit of shelter from the wind so I stayed on board as @millycf1976 operated the lock mechanisms to allow water in to raise Badger the Narrowboat up to the next levels.

It’s kind of weird being deep in the lock as the water is allowed in. You can hear the lock gates behind you creak in protest at the weight of the water pressing against them. I don’t like those creaking noises. It’s the sound of waters ominous strength testing the strength of the lock gates. It’s still a little nerve wracking no matter how many times you do it.

The lock gates, wet walls, cloudy skies and white buildings make for an impressive backdrop though when taking photos and of course #monomad always seems to spring to mind as I take these knowing the textures, shades and all round old industrial feel will work well together.

We had 9 of these bad boys today and it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to go through each so it really does eat up your travel time in the day.

But without them the canal network simply wouldn’t be possible and it was precisely the engineering behind the locks that made it all possible over 200 years ago.

It really is living history.

I Love a bit of #monomad 😜