Date - 4 May 07 Day - Friday Start - 0900 Goring End - Folly Bridge, Oxford 1900 hrs
We we were up at a reasonable time and when I took the dog out the bottom gates of Goring lock were open. By the time we arrived with the boat a few minutes after 9 AM the Locky had arrived and closed the gates. While we waited a very nice steam launch turned up just as the gates opened. Knowing the problems that these steam boat drivers have stopping and starting, I waved him passed straight into the lock. As we left the lock the locky informed us that we would have to work the next ourselves. We left first as the steam launch was waiting to pick up another passenger/crew member. We arrived at Cleeve Lock to find the gates wide open so we went straight in. I pressed the button and the gates closed, walked to the top end and pressed the button to open the top sluices, nothing happened, I went back to the bottom end and checked every thing, it looked OK so I tried opening the gates again, nothing happened. Tried all the buttons and nothing happened. By now the steam launch had arrived and a narrowboat had arrived at the top. They all came and pressed a few buttons and nothing happened, so I rang the emergency 0800 number to be greeted by an automated system, press 1 for flood, press 2 for bonfires, rats, insects and a load more stuff, press 3 for Navigation. I was now in a queue, eventually an operator answered , took my details and told me someone would get back to me. After a bit a gent rang back to tell me that the locky from Goring would ring me and talk me through how to operate the lock. The locky rang and we went through what lights were on and what I had done, the end result was that he had to come out and sort it. We sat trapped in the lock for an hour, Three boats were waiting to come down and the steam launch which was 100 years old and a rowing umpire's launch called "Consuta" which was capable of 27 mph. Eventually the lock was sorted and we were away. By the time we reached Benson Lock "Consuta" had overtaken us and were out of sight. We arrived at Clifton Lock while the locky was having lunch, There was a cruiser waiting who had pulled away from the yard at Benson and overtaken us sometime earlier. He had lifted one sluice and waited for the lock to fill and he was just starting to open the gates, this lock is not powered up when the locky is not there so its a case of cranking the hydraulics. We both went in and I filled the lock and opened the top gates, There were 2 boats waiting to come down but they didn't offer to help. We both carried on to Culham Lock, just as we arrived the Locky left to do his weir, so we had to hand crank this one as well. At Abingdon Lock we stopped and had a good pumpout, much better than the last one we had done by a boatyard and it only cost £6 we also filled with water before pushing on to Iffley Lock where we intended to moor for the night. About halfway to Sandford Lock we met a pair of 8 on a bend on the wrong side of the river with other rowers bobbing about in the other half of the river, the result was that the rowers on the outside bashed the rowers in the middle of the river with their oars and they both almost hit the boats just bobbing about. . When we arrived at The Isis Pub at Iffley Lock we found their kitchens are closed for refurbishment , so we are now moored just below Folly Bridge on the towpath with rowers flying passed and getting hit with the occasional oar. -- Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit this site and help save our waterways http://www.savethewaterways.org.uk/
