We set off this morning at twenty to ten, one boat had gone by earlier but we found to our surprise the next lock empty. We made a brief stop at the cafe where the boaters rubbish bins are now located before continuing to Barton Turns. We pulled over to take water on the lock moorings when a young lady from BW walked down and said there was a problem with the lock and there would be a short delay, we continued to fill the water tank and then Diana walked up to find the stop planks in. At 11 am a BW chap walked down to tell us they were waiting for a crane to arrive so they could lift and reseat the lock gate as it had come out of the cup. The crane should be here by 1 pm and we should be on our way by 4 pm all being well. 1 o'clock came as did a bunch of BW operatives, but no crane, 2 o'clock and still no crane but lots of telephone calls, 15 minutes later and the crane lorry arrived, by 3 o'clock the gate was out, the steel toe fitted back into the bottom of the gate, new rubber seals fitted to both sides of the gate and the gate was back in the lock swinging freely in the cup at the bottom and in the band at the top. The stop planks lifted and the lock cycled a couple of times to prove all was well. If the crane had arrived on time we would have been on our way by two. One boat waiting above came down and by 3.30 we had gone up and were leaving the lock. We pushed on up to Alrewas where we moored for the night at about quarter to five.
You will find our latest position at
http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route
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