Day 7 - Friday December 22nd - Swanley to Platt Lane 15 miles 1 furlong, 14 locks, 8 hours 35 minutes Weather - Cloudy
Bit of a lie in today, didn't set off until 7.35am. Up the four remaining locks to the Wrenbury level, where I started to instruct Chris into the mysteries of the various types of lift bridges. What I hadn't quite expected was what we found at Wrenbury Church Lift Bridge. The bridge was neither closed nor open - it was missing altogether. It looks as though the bridge is in the process of being rebuilt. The key operated lift bridge at Wrenbury itself was negotiated by 9.45am, but not before a queue of eight cars and lorries had built up. During the next four locks I tried to explain how a staircase lock worked. It all became a lot more obvious when we walked up them before setting the bottom lock. Cleared the top of the staircase at 1.15pm, and decided to fill up the water tanks in case we had more nights of hard frost and the taps froze up. While filling with water we had a quick fry up, setting off again with all tanks filled at 2.00pm. Three more lift bridges, this time windlass operated before we moored for the night by Platt Lane bridge at 3.45pm. Eating on board tonight before trying the beer at the nearby Waggoners. Terry Streeter NB Arun - Platt Lane
