Didn’t mean to wake up like that

Thursday, 5 March 2015

Didn’t mean to wake up like that

The pound we were moored in drained somewhat on Tuesday night so we woke up on Wednesday to a tilting boat. It’s not so obvious from this picture but it is very difficult to walk along inside.

We keep reading about how the summer is coming and the new boating season. We have mixed feelings about it because it means, selfishly, the canals will start getting busy. It has been rather nice seeing few moving boats in the winter and most of the ones we see are like us, just cruising around, having fun and enjoying life. Also, there are plenty of glorious days in the winter just not the sort where you can sit outside all evening.

As strong winds were forecast by lunch time on Wednesday we set off at seven. We let a few lock-fulls of water in to the pound and we soon floated off OK. Once again we had a beautiful day and cruised through 12 locks and covered about six miles. Apart from going under the M40 we spent the day in pleasant Warwickshire countryside.

A goose was guarding one of the locks.

We had to go across an iron aqueduct to get into one of the locks. The original aqueduct was made of wood and was washed away in a flood in 1834.

Karen thought this was a funny picture especially as it was just after I nearly fell in.

A couple of CRT guys were working on the locks and helped us through. Karen took the opportunity to ask why at lock 35 the balance beam has the numbers 34 and 35 on it. Apparently the gate was removed during maintenance work on lock 34. It was found to be sounder than they thought so it was saved and used to replace the top gate on lock 35 when that one needed replacing. I don’t follow the logic myself.

The guys were using a scuvern (they weren’t sure how to spell it and I can’t find anything on the web). They were removing the mud and stones that build up in the bottom of the lock preventing gates from opening fully.