We’re up reasonably early and by 09h00 we are casting off from our overnight moorings. As we do this another boat is passing by and they ask us if we’d like to share the lock. This is a very helpful offer as it makes lighter work if shared between more people.
After the Admiral Nelson we have five locks to traverse before we enter the Braunston Tunnel which is fractionally less than 1km long. Our companions are forty-year veterans of boating experiences, who offer us some invaluable tips. This is our first tunnel and although it’s not really daunting, it’s a relief to see the light and then emerge unscathed, exception for a few coats of paint now adorning the tunnel wall.
After the tunnel it’s more locks, a seemingly never-ending chain of them. At first we’re on our own but as the morning wears on it get increasingly busy and before long we’re sharing the responsibility with a Scottish couple also on their first boating holiday. The locks are very slow to traverse and our ill-conceived idea about how much ground we would cover soon shows - by midday we had managed about three miles, and eventually we stopped for lunch around 14h00 having covered around six miles.
Locks are very interesting. Obviously they are the only way to go uphill or downhill on water and are a brilliant idea. There’s a variety of protocols but mostly it’s common sense and a bit of back-work. On approaching an uphill lock, the lock-jock (my words) jumps off and, if it’s not already in the lower position, opens the sluices to let the water out so it’s level with your boat. Then the gate or gates are opened, as these weigh tonnes it’s quite a push! Next the boat is driven in, the gates closed and the sluices closed. Optionally the lock-jock ensures the boat is loosely tethered, particularly useful if another boat is coming alongside. Finally the lock-jock opens the top sluices until the lock has filled, during which the boat is raised to the level of the upper water-course, the boat leaves and the gates and sluices are closed.
All this can take half an hour, during which forwards trajectory has been a majestic 100 yards, and as locks seem to be like busses, it can take up half a morning to progress very far. As mentioned we moor for lunch before continuing southerly.
We pass through some lovely looking towns and villages, and also enjoy the countryside slowly changing as we (occasional) reach a breath-taking four mph. That speed rarely lasts as it’s etiquette to slow right down for and moored boats, and so half the time we’re doing less than two mph.
It’s amusing that we failed to realise we wouldn’t get time to go walking each day as we though, so instead we take turns to walking alongside, thus ensuing that we get our exercise, and photos of the other driving. The afternoon is lock-free so we do manage to add a few miles and we eventually reach our intended morning for the night, just two or three hours later than we imagined. During the afternoon the galley slave has also managed to create a lovely looking banoffee pie.
Time for a quick shower and then at 19:00 we join a FaceTime dinner party to drink and cook, canapés followed prawn and salmon pasta followed by the aforementioned pie - excellent! Our friends also have the first two but resist midweek pudding. Such restraint!
Comments
Post a Comment