From Parliament to the Pub.

 When we came up the locks we saw there was one boat on the summit pound that was heading downwards and would probably go down before us so we would have every lock to fill. Mind you they do leak so they were not completely empty at most of them. 

There was about an hour before we reached the top of the Thorpe Locks and this section is quite shallow with lack of use. This, to the right, is the stone yard wharf where stone from the North Anston Quarry was brought by road to be loaded in the boats to take down to West Stockwith. The quarry had been chosen to supply stone for the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament that had succumbed to fire in 1834. Through the 1840's 250,000 tons of stone was conveyed down the canal and placed in keels and sloops to take it down the Trent and Humber to London. Blocks were cut to exact sizes and many were refused at the loading stage. The railway line runs very close here and there was a transhipment wharf here too 

As expected there were two boats missing so I suspect that they had gone down as soon as we had passed them this morning, or very early. We started down the locks at bang on 10:00. I swapped cameras as with the sun the dust in the lens of the miracle camera did not help the pictures at all.

Six locks down is Limehouse Lock and as you can see on the lock island is the outline of a building. Archaeologists uncovered it when they dug the lock and reckon it was a lime store. I assume for repairs to the stone work on the flight.. 

Here we are making good time and already at the Thorpe Low Treble staircase locks. It was much hotter today with the sun out from the beginning of the day.

Brickyard Doble staircase has some reedy pounds at the top and bottom and off the line there are shallows to beware of.

We were soon back at Turner wood Basin and really missing an ice cream. We had  done the 15 locks in 1 hour 45 mins is a steady, methodical fashion. The basin was not originally built but was widened to serve a quarry here. Hence the top lock in the Turnerwood locks is Quarry lock. We hesitated in the lock to take on liquids in lieu of an ice cream.

On the otherside of the basin are these picturesque  cottages with lovely gardens. The bollards are for 2 hiours waiting for the ice cream and tea room refreshments.

It took us 2 hours and 40 minuets to get to the bottom of Boundary Lock, 23 locks in about a mile. I think that is about a lock every 7 minutes. We swerved into Shireoaks Basin to take water and dump the rubbish and took the opportunity to have lunch too.

The six locks down to the Lock Keepers pub seemed to take ages as they are spread out, after the Shireoaks three. The Haggonfields Lock is in a funny setting with the A57 overhead and the cute little bridge at the foot of it. It always seems busy with folk here to. Here is Rhodesia and it is named after a bloke like the country used to be, and maybe as controversial as Cecil. It named after G. Preston Rhodes, who was the Chairman of the nearby Shireoaks Colliery. The village was built in the 1920's to provide housing for the nearby coal mines.

We dropped down one more lock and we were done for the day. As a reward we had booked into the Lock Keepers for a meal out, and to do our civic duty by 'Eating out to Help out.