I think we chose the wrong day to walk to Stanton for the next part of the lock repairs. Although the thaw had set in my goodness that towpath was slippy! Pockets of compacted snow on top of ice had me grabbing for Ian many a time as feet went in all directions. I made sure Ian was the one to walk next to the canal and not me! Oh, hang on...maybe that wasn't the best idea I had 'cos if he had fallen in, no way would I have been able to pull him out! Anyway we arrived just in time for the crane boat to be lifting the balance beam from the lock gate. Rob, C&RT guy in charge, told us that the crane boat was not man enough for the job of lifting the gates even though the gates were estimated at being nearly 3 ton each and the crane could lift 3.5 tons. It was all to do with the angle of the boom. A straight lift would probably be okay, but extend the arm and this would make the boat very unstable. Instead, a crane lorry, bringing the new gates from Stanley Ferry, was to arrive but unfortunately not until tomorrow. Looks like yet another trip to the site with the hope of timing our arrival for when the lorry arrives.
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We only stayed for the first of the beams to be removed. Maybe we should have stayed for the second one. A blooming great tree was in the way and the lifting of the balance beam would have been quite a sight to see. For the boom to move in position another 2 feet to the right would be needed. Hmm, wish now we had stayed!
And the same swans as in yesterday's post but this time fighting with the ice.
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