At the end of the day, the water level had started to go down. By the time we went to bed it appeared to be dropping by almost an inch an hour. We were therefore very hopeful that we would be on our way again the next morning.
The next morning it was fairly good news, but not the best we could have hoped for. The flood warning was still showing 6 inches of flood (back to where we started), but there is a big difference between a rising 6 inches and a falling 6 inches.
After consultation with Engima's Captain and a phone call to our hire company, we decided to leave together and see how we got on getting to the next lock, where there would at least be another chance to moor, this time on land with a public foothpath!
And so, here we are, bidding, not exactly a fond farewell, to our island mooring which had been home for the last 48 hours. It had, however, provided a safe anchorage and for that we were grateful.
As the current was still strong, the going upstream was slow. There were a few occasions when, even with the engine at full revs, we were only achieving a speed of a 1.5 m.p.h. We kept going forwards though and made it through the navigation hazard of the arched bridge at Binton Bridges successfully: here we are lining up to go through ...
... we all relaxed when this current concentrating hazard was behind us.
All around was evidence that other boats and structures had not fared as well in the flood as us. Being a true boat lover, I even felt distressed for the fate of this plastic pig ...
Mind you, had it been a narrow boat, I'd have been inconsolable.
As locks are the only places to moor on the upper Avon, at the next lock we met the first set of boaters we'd seen for days. They were still moored up as they were waiting to go downstream, which would have been a lot trickier, given the speed of the current. We might be making slow progress against the current but it was preferable to being swept downsteam towards a weir, out of control. One of the boaters there told us that a narrow boat had got stuck on the lip of the weir we were about to pass, and it had to be pulled off by 2 Land Rovers. We followed Enigma's lead across the approach to this weir and, with full revs, safely avoided the slip stream.
We were having quite an adventure, but we relished the excitement and our new found fredom. We knew that we would soon be at Stratford and leaving the river to return to the canals, so we were really looking forward to the rest of our holiday.
Lots of love, Eddie and the crew of Muscovy xxx
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