The problem I find is not being impatient waiting for the last inch or two to fill, it's when it never fills to level because the bottom gates are leaking so much -- sometimes several inches down... ☹️ I think the record is when we were the first boat going up Bosley locks at the end of May after the closure, the bottom lock stopped filling with about 8" to go. I said we could get the top gates open with enough people on the beam, especially since they're single gates, to which the initial response was "No you can't, and it might break the beam". I pointed out that this was extremely unlikely, and half a dozen of us got the gate open quite easily... 😊 Would have been a lot harder with the more common single top gate though, like on the Rochdale (similar size gates) where various nuts were busted trying to open them... ☹️ P.S. We were moored on the stretch just past the water point outside Stourbridge basin and it's maybe a ten minute walk from there into the middle of town, hardly a long way -- though I do agree it's not the most fascinating town in the area, unless you find pubs and restaurants fascinating...
