Although it started lovely and sunny, it turned into an overcast and slightly drizzly mid morning, so we were unlikely to be disturbed by passers by. I won't elaborate on the converted golf bag trolley which managed five yards from the car before it collapsed (literally) under the weight of a 15Ltr tank and 30Lb of weights! Suffice to say it was a slog to get the gear along a partially flooded, overgrown fisherman's path down to the canal. The things we do for pleasure! (mind you, it's better than sitting on a river bank for eight hours dangling a hook in the water!)

When we got up to the canal, visibility appeared average at best, but we'd only find out for real once down amongst the reeds! I'd just taken delivery of my brand new Namron 5mm/titanium lined semi-dry, and was looking forward to discovering its thermal properties, but in the end the water was 14^oC, so not really very challenging there. But I was toasty warm anyway! I recommend it.

My other dive-gear discovery of the day was a little 16ml spray dispenser called Clean n' Clear which my wife gave me. A tiny squirt on the inside of my mask, and for the duration of the dive (50 mins) no fogging, misting or streaking. About £3.35 for a bottle that'll last for ever! Nice one!

Finally, because this was uncharted territory for us, I wore a pair of heavy-duty leather gloves, and we both carried torches and a set of wire cutters (well, you can't be too careful!).

OK. Enough preamble. The Dive. Buddy checks over, I strode in first, followed by Peter. My BCD wasn't that inflated, so my fins went straight into the mud whilst my head barely got wet! You see, we'd never seen the bottom and although prodding with sticks had determined a max depth of about 9 feet at the lock, we didn't realise how shallow the canal itself was, about 4 feet in places! Anyway, we dived at an average of 7-8 feet.

Once in, even after purging the BCD of all air it was a hell of a job to get down. The suit was new, so that didn't help, but it was the lack of available depth that made it hard! Anyway, diving at an angle of 45^o seemed to do the trick, but it was hard work... much more difficult than maintaining neutral buoyancy at 30m. It was even more difficult for Peter in his dry suit - even with ankle weights!