Hi All, Thursday 25th September 2008
It's (Its) a warm dry and overcast start to the day, which is about right for our climb up Hatton locks. We leave The Saltisford Arm and travel the short distance to Hatton bottom lock where the bike, walkie talkies and extended windlass come out ready for the ascent. At 10.20am the first paddle is lifted, sadly we do not have a partner boat. The first few locks are full or almost full so need emptying. As I go ahead, Wendy masters the art of leaving the lock, and closing the gate and moving off again without my intervention. A few locks up, a boat is spied in the distance, so gates are left open. Pity they did not do the same. Why is that looking to see what is coming seems be a dying art? More boats come down at regular intervals. It's (its) all going quite well. One boater tells me they left the Fleur-de-lys pub at 7am and were heading for the Two Boats that evening! Nearing the top a group of schoolgirls have gathered round the lock. Even from a distance we can see they are not European. As LT enters the lock I ask if the girls would like to help and they enthusiastically agree. They are from Chile, maths students, on a school 3 week trip to the UK. Their task here, is to work out how and why a lock works. As we approach the penultimate lock, which I have already set, a man appears and starts closing the gate. Shouts and whistles attract his attention and he eventually realises his error and opens it again. He is part of a two man crew of a small rather dilapidated cruiser, coming down. I leave the gates open. Amazingly the cruiser pulls over and the crew order lunch from the little café completely ignoring the three set locks that await them. No words are spoken and we proceed to the top dropping the last paddle after 3 hours and 20 minutes. A very respectable time. We need water, so pull in and while LT is filling, a very smart small narrowboat, goes into the top lock. On hearing the water gush out of the lock, the cruiser crew rush to start the boat and entre the waiting lock closing the gate behind them!. How rude is that. We shout and Wendy rushes down to get them to stop. "we don't like sharing" says one of the men. Wendy ignores the comment and opens the other gate. The Nb steerer express thanks for Wendy's intervention and slip into the lock. At this point a BW man appears and I explain the situation. He goes to have a word. He was not at all impressed at the conduct and was also concerned about the water waste. Back at LT, we met a very nice Australian couple who were fascinated by LT and jumped at the chance for a guided tour. Obviously people who knew quality when they saw it :-). There is now a long section with no locks, a chance to sit back and enjoy the countryside and the glorious canal. The sun has come out by this time and there is a beautiful blue sky. At Kingswood junction we decide to carry on down the South Stratford and not stop at the pub as originally planned. 4.30pm was a little too early. We are following a hire boat with elderly crew and I help to shut gates for them and set the next lock in an effort to hurry things along. After 3 locks they pull over and we carry on to the Fleur-de Lys, where we moor for the night on the pub moorings. Dinner is OK, nothing special and we are in bed asleep by 10.00pm. More later. Regards Andrew & Wendy - Tales From The Canal
