The one thing we did not expect at this rural and normally quiet mooring was a boat going past us at a silly time of the morning. It was the creaking of the fenders that first woke us up. I got up convinced there was a problem with the water levels, although glancing out of the window when it was that dark was a pointless exercise. it wouldn't have revealed anything anyway. Time was 4.20am. So back to bed having not found out the reason only for a few minutes later a boat engine was heard then lights illuminating through the curtain cracks. This time Ian shot up, I won't tell you what he said, swearing is not something he normally does but the gist of it was why travel down the effing flight at this time of the morning unless they had something to hide?
We did manage to get back to sleep for a short while, roughly another hour. Ian was up first, I mentioned a cup of tea, gosh it was still not even 6.30 am yet. By 7 am we were dressed and bed put away. Breakfast was had and as soon as it was light enough to see the lock, we were away.
I was certain every lock would have to be filled and as to the bottom gates, well no doubt he or she would most certainly not have bothered to close up after them. This meant twice the work for Ian and would add on probably another 30 minutes to the journey time. I was very, very wrong though, and mightily impressed that even in the dark, that person closed the gates. Even more surprising, three of the six remaining locks were full. This I couldn't fathom until dropping down the first lock water was seen gurgling in from both sides. Ian said the full lock had water cascading over the bottom gates so do those three locks act as a sort of weir?
Consequently, it didn't take too long to do the last 6 locks, less time than I expected anyway. At lock 12, a giant snowman! How festive was that, very wintery and probably the only sign of any further snow this year, it towered over the canal and made the lock look quite tiny.
And keeping with the Winter/Christmas theme, two jolly mannequins dressed as Father and Mrs Christmas seen by bridge 21.
Bridge 32, not just a bridge number but also a place to buy coal and diesel. 6 bags of coal is all that remains of the 16 we put on board when setting off from Langley. Now our only means of heating the boat, (the diesel heater is still kaput) another 4 was purchased and Ian decided to top up the diesel tank. Hopefully we now have enough coal and diesel to see us get back to the Mill in January.
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| Bridge 32. Very popular today |
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Leaving bridge 32 something was picked up on the prop. Not enough to make cruising uncomfortable but an annoying clang, clang noise was now present. Unless we can shake it off, Ian will be down the weed hatch again when we stop.
The wind picked up a tad and the chill in the air was most unpleasant. I was ready to stop and Ian was all for it until a look at canal planner showed we were not as far along as we had hoped. So we pushed on until both of us had had enough. There is only about a mile left to do before we reach Gayton Junction, then we will be back on track. Another early start then tomorrow maybe?
Oh and Ian did have to don the rubber gloves to see what was around the prop. What he found was a small wooden peg wrapped in Christmas decoration. I wonder if it can be salvaged to make FS more festive? 😉
And wildlife,
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| Red Kite |
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| Buzzard. |
2 comments:
These locks don't have by-washes, so excess water goes through the lock. You saw it coming in at the top end, and then when the lock is full it goes over the bottom gates. This means that if there's too much water, like there is sometimes at Stoke Bruerne, it can be difficult to get a level, and you have to open the bottom paddles to lower the level of the lock and the pound above.
Thanks, Adam, we found that out when the pound was flooded on the Stoke Bruerne flight.
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