11th April

The Ladies locking Acen through the top lock at Lower Frankton (the exit off the Montgomery).

Woke up to a cold Monday morning.

Set off at 8.15 a.m., filled up with water at the service point and set off to get to Lower Frankton at 12.00 as arranged with BW. Very slow going, as the depth of water is low and the boat is running on the bottom of the canal, most of the way. We also had to go through four locks on the way. We arrived at about 11.30 a.m. and breasted up, with one of the four boats that were waiting to go up the locks. The lock keeper finally arrived at about 12.45 p.m. and we cleared the top lock at 1.55 p.m. We then set off to Ellesmere three miles away, we arrived at 4,30 p.m. Gave the dogs a walk and a run around a field. Put the dogs to bed to sleep the run off and the went to Tesco's to stock up, after three trips, we finally got every thing we needed, we think. It's a good job the store is adjacent to the mooring. In the afternoon the weather did warm up a bit, when the sun shone occasionally.

10 miles, 8 locks, 8.25 hours.

On this day in 1814 Napoleon is exiled to the Island of Elba.