Date - 11 /08/08 Day - Monday Start - 0930 End - 1800 Bornville Harnser's present position http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route
The first job was to reverse back to Kingswood Junction and turn up the North Stratford Canal, the first 4 locks were against us, but then the boat ahead pulled over and a boat came down the flight so things were looking up. We met one or two boats in the early part of the flight which kept things in our favour but we caught up with the same boat we chased up Hatton at lock 7 as they left the lock the Anglo Welch boat coming down closed the gate behind them and the boat following turned the lock. We had to wait for the 72ft AngloWelch boat to come through the lock, how they managed the previous 5 I don't know, first they raised the top paddles once they were in and then didn't consider opening the bottom paddles to let the water out, Diana also had to tell them to drop the paddles before they left. It was if this was their first lock but it was number 8 in the flight. We continued on up and soon caught with the boat ahead again before having to wait for a boat coming down to the final lock. From here the next problem was the hydraulic operated lift bridge, its so poorly balanced that Diana could hardly wind it up and she had pulled all the paddles on the flight and most on Hatton the day before, so it was tough. Next it was half a mile of moorings at Swallow Boats then all SG at Warings Green soon to be followed by Earleswood Motorboat Club. We only managed to hold two cars up at The Drawbridge and then continued to Kings Norton Junction where we turned right towards Birmingham on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal to moor for the night on the BW Bornville 48 hr moorings, we were the second boat to arrive and about 30 minutes later a third arrived. We had been tied up for about 10 minutes when it started to rain and Diana had taken Magic for a walk with no coat, so I took the brolly and tried to find her after letting myself out through the security locked gate. -- Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Join SOW and help save our waterways http://www.saveourwaterways.org
