Rain dodging.

It had been raining heavily through the night but by breakfast it was just a dreary morning. We set off to be at the top of the Tinsley Flight of locks so just ambled along. There is evidence here and there of the use of  the canal, and the towpath seems to be used fair bit too.

Bacon Land Bridge. This is one of only two original bridges on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal and dates from 1819. It is also the bridge that denotes the limits of anything that can reach Sheffield Basin. The keels and barges could reach Sheffield loaded but due to the height of gthe bridge they had to fill the hold with water to get back our under this bridge if they had no return cargo.

It is about 45 mins. from the basin to the locks and the rain held off. We passed through the Attercliffe Cutting that was dug by the 'inmates' of the local work house during the depression following the Napoleonic Wars. (A Richlow Guide factoid!).

This looks like the mechanism for a coal tipper from the past.

We arrived at the Top Lock just as the Charity boat 'Ethel' was about to pen up. We have seen her moving about three or four times so are very busy giving the canal experience to disabled and handicapped people. They have full wheelchair access so must take almost as long to load up the passengers as the trip sometimes. There are many chartity organisations doing this sort of work and they are always on the look out for help.

As usual only two boats moving on the canal and they meet at a bridge hole! 'Ethel' with her passengers.

Once she had set off from the top lock we took her place and with the help of David, the lock keeper, we went down the first two locks before mooring up for the night to do some washing and visiting the local supermarkets etc.

Our mooring by Lock 2 on the Tinsley Flight.

I can report that our test of placing coir door mats, backed by PVC, under the bed appears to have solved the damp under the mattress. It was an effective and cheap solution. The other 'fix' I am quite pleased with is the glass door on the stove. I have been experimenting with the upper vent to see how best to prevent the glass getting obscured. I then remembered my scouting days. We took part in cooking and camping competitions every year and for many years we won it. One trick I perfected was keeping the billys and pans clean. To make it easy to clean after use on open fires I used to rub them all over the outside with washing up liquid. Afterwards the burnt on smoke etc just washed off. I did the same on the gall door and it just rubs off with a damp scrunched-up newspaper saving lots of effort. I should patent it I reckon. It is chucking it down now so reinforcing our plan to stop here for the day.