Day 11 – 28 August 2007 Earith to Whittlesey Mum wanted to be off early to drive to Huntingdon, so this also woke us up. A short while later a cruiser pulled up alongside wanting water, so I got up. Someone from the other boats had already helped him with his ropes by the time I go outside. Mum recognised the people aboard Wigford (The Lincoln Tug), and chatted a while with them.
At about 8am the boat on the outside left, the other boats were a little worried that the lock keeper had told them the wrong time, but I told them we were told between 8 and 9 in the morning. The middle two set off at about 8:30am, but the one on the inside was going in at Earith. I wanted to get a pump out, and he moved off as the hose wasn't long enough. We finally set off at 8:55am, and passed the lock 9:04am. We were making 5.7mph at first, but soon the tide started running in and slowed us down to 5mph. We could just see the other boats at the end of the first straight. By the time we had reached the corners at Sutton we were amazed at their bendyness – well any sort of corner is impressive after a 2.8 mile straight. This next section was busy with bridges, and minor corners and it was Mepal that we caught up with Wigford. We had trouble getting by the "Lincoln Tug" as the suction dragged the other boat along with us – almost like they were increasing speed. We squeezed by OK in the end, the channel is surprisingly narrow in places. The next one started overtaking us again when we tried to passed – 'Haven't touched the throttle' he said – amazing how water reacts when pushed about a bit. It was on the small corner at Bank Farm, and one of the few bridges that we caught up with the first boat that left. We didn't have as much fun getting by, but as usual on canals it could not have been in a worse place. I phoned the lock keeper as we thought we were arriving at Denver, only to realise after it was the Delph River/Drain sluices about a mile upstream. It wasn't long before we reached the lock, he already had the gates open when I called him, so we were straight in at 12:28pm. The others were far behind so he locked us through. It was nearly on the level, and by the time he had dropped the guillotine gate the water was level and he opened the other mitre gates without touching a paddle. In fact as we were leaving he opened a gate in the sluice, and you could see about an inch difference in height – the river still being a little higher. We made reasonable time to Marmont Priory, but when we reached the lock there was already a boat on the lock moorings. There was no sign of anyone apart from someone fishing just above the closed gates of the full lock. We went by the boat slowly, it was only when I saw a couple on the bow that we found out what was happening. Apparently the lock keeper (well I think it was her son) biked up the road to see if anyone else was coming. They had to wait while we arrived, but instead of getting them in the lock and having the gates ready and open for us he was just standing on the lock side fishing. We both made comments about the situation at which point the grumpy voice of the man on the lock interjected with information we had already ascertained! He thought we'd both fit in the lock, and with no more than a foot to spare we did. After closing the gates I asked him if there was any problem with the cill as we were over the red line – a grumpy "I don't know" was his reply. Thankfully his Mum came out, and made sure the boat was OK as we descended, and she seemed quite nice and chatty. The other boat let us in front shortly after the lock and on reaching the 20 foot drain turned right instead of continuing straight on for March. The channel of the 20 foot was deep, and not weedy in the middle. We kept up a good speed all the way, apart for an emergency stop at Insfield Bridge which was so low we had to remove the short chimney, and only had an inch over the mushroom vents. We nicely got to Whittlesey Lock when tea was ready, so while it was filling we had tea in the lock chamber. We moored just above the lock at the Recreation Centre, but as usual a big plastic cruiser was stuck right in the middle of the moorings with just less than 50ft on both sides of him. We squeezed in front of him at 7pm with not to much problem, but it's typical isn't it!?! Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
