On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 8:07 AM, Steve Heaven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A couple of years ago we met a hotel pair at a lock on the S&W. We were > going down. When we arrived, the hotel motor was in the lock coming up. > We naturally assumed that we would go down and then the butty would come > up, but they refused to let us go down in between them. They emptied the > 'empty' lock and we had to wait until after they'd brought the butty up. > When I tried to discuss it with them their basic argument was "We're > professionals, we know what we're doing. You're just on holiday so your > views dont count" !
It is tricky to let another boat through between the motor and butty - especially if they don't know its going to happen before they reach the lock. It usually involves pulling the butty out of the way, and then pulling it back in the lock. If you really want to get through on the down lock all I can suggest is that you offer to move the relevent boats about yourself! :-) However they should never be using the schedule excuse - most hotel boat routes are quite relaxed from what I've seen, however the crew probably just want to get to the next stopping point so they can get pissed up in the pub earlier! Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
