Thursday 30th April We were mainly in Audlem ------------------------- Forgot to mention earlier in the week saw a floating lynch mob. Half a dozen mallard drakes taking turns to hold a hapless victims head under water ie drown him. Loads of ducks about but a general surplus of drakes compared with ducks and few big families.
With adverse weather forecast we set the alarm for pre 6am so we could decide whether to go for an early start, if dry. It was fairly dry and we chugged for ½ hour to reach Audlem top at 7:00am proceeding down 13 of the 15, without seeing any other boats on the move, in about 2.1/4 hours. The first 4 or 5 were dealt with Mrs B prepping the lock and seeing UM in. Myself opening the paddles to empty the lock and then the gates, leaping onto the boat roof, tying on or finding a steady place to stop in the exit of the lock whilst going back to shut the gates. The by-washes here are quite prolific, some with white water plumes and one sucked Uncle Mort into its flowpath and would not let go. We were jammed against the channel and the only escape was to reverse back into the lock and come out more vigorously. So we reverted to Mrs B prepping the locks then coming back to close up whilst I got on with the next one down. She had to walk twice as far, but I didnt mind. I am not a regular single hander, but the Audlem experience highlighted many of the hazards, yet the flight seemed well provided with decent bollards, steps and handrails. Though the chamber ladders have no toe room, which makes them very dodgy. Damp conditions and recently cut grass made slips possible, either on take off or landing. Its an H&S nightmare. Then there is the risk of the boat working itself back to damage the rudder on the cill, the stern rope fenders seem about an inch or two short, and anyway sometimes miss the cill. Maybe I should get some of those strings to keep the tiller pulled to one side. Must be a proper name for those. Two silly paint dinks herself dropped windlass onto rope coil it bounced off to chip a cant. I walloped the rear hatch with a windlass whilst laying out a rubber mat just to prevent such damage. Finally some folk with fishy badges in the windows of their 60ft-er demonstrated their optimism for varied boating fellowship. On successive nights, arriving at 120ft spaces they first elected to leave space for 10ft and 50ft neighbours followed by 20ft and 40ft the next night. Obviously they were trying to keep us 60ft types out, or maybe just us ! We are moored on the approach to Hacks Green 2 locks, after which we will be mithering the good folk of Nantwich prior to moving onto the Middlewich section. Beeky
