We were away at quarter to nine this morning after yet another restless night and still no rain. A single handed boater passed before we set off so we gave him a bit of space before following, but we met both met boats at most lock so things flowed nicely. The weather was warm but not hot and we bumped into a fellow Cutweb member, Dave on the way.
One thing that caught my eye was this cow going for bit of a paddle, the pound was about 8” off weir.
I do wonder how some boaters see where they are going, this would send me mad if it was my boat, I don’t like people standing on the tug deck getting in my line of vision.
I noticed the brickwork behind the bottom gates of one of the locks, probably Shut Hill Lock but I didn’t make a note of it. It struck me as being very elaborate just for a recess for gate paddles to sit in with the gates open.
Up at Longford lock nor only have they made a nice job of the new edging stones but they have also fitted new bottom gates.
We carried on up through Penkridge and Gailey steadily meeting boats which was good, we past the single hander but then picked up another but the downward flow kept us moving nicely.
We passed a boat above Gailey with this painted on the side of the cabin, what could you add?
Past the do not moor here chemical works, I would love to know their authority to ban mooring, not that I want to stop there as it stinks and stopped just short of Hatherton Junction. With the forecast of rain I decided to reseal one of the hinges on the pigeon box and made it several times worse, needles to say the desperately needed rain has started and its like a leaky bucket.
Todays Journey
9 miles, 10 locks in 5¼ hours
2 comments:
Re 'I noticed the brickwork behind the bottom gates of one of the locks, probably Shut Hill Lock but I didn’t make a note of it. It struck me as being very elaborate just for a recess for gate paddles to sit in with the gates open.DSCF6987'.
I understood such underground passageways (now bricked off) were there to speed up traffic flow. No-one needed to close the bottom gates, simply winding up the ground paddles put water in the lock through two ports, the 'standard' one near the upper gates, and this one behind the lower gates which closed the gates 'automatically'.
As traffic dropped there was less need for speed, plus the danger of an unattended swinging balance beam scything down a pedestrian, and damage caused by gates banging together, were removed.
Still, it was a neat trick to improve operational efficiency; a pity its been overlooked.
Regards.
The ones up the Garrison flight are still like that Davidss
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