On Wednesday morning we
went for a walk down the Hatton flight to see what preparations were being made
for the works that are due to start next Monday. Two of the locks in the 21-lock flight are
being closed for six weeks but it still means that the whole flight will be
impassable for boats during that period.
The flight was out of action when we were here last winter too, but then
there were quite a few locks being worked on and it was closed for longer.
According to the C&RT
website the two locks are having repairs to the gates as well as repairs to one
of the cills and some ladder work. Even
though these aren’t extensive repairs, the locks will still have to be drained
in order for the work to be carried out.
When we got to the fifth lock
down I spotted a couple of breasted up C&RT flatbed barges loaded with some stanking planks.
The stanking planks for
this part of the Grand Union canal, and also the Stratford canal, are stored at
the C&RT buildings on the Hatton flight.
The pound where the barges were, is right next to the C&RT buildings
so they must have just been loaded up, ready to be towed down the flight (the
two locks to be repaired are near the bottom).
As these are broad beam locks the planks are long and not so easy to
man-handle as the shorter six/seven foot ones on the narrow beam canals like
the Stratford canal.
 |
| Some of the Hatton C&RT buildings on the far side |
When we go down the flight
at the weekend, we had hoped to moor four locks from the bottom for a week or
so as it is away from the main roads and therefore nice and quiet. Unfortunately, as the penultimate lock is going
to be one of the ones being worked on, we will have to go all the way down and
moor closer into Warwick.
Later in the afternoon I
caught a train to Warwick (handy being moored by Hatton station), walked to
Karen’s office and we drove down to Reading for dinner with Sophie (my eldest
daughter) and Yanos; they are getting married in June and this was a chance to
catch up with their plans. We went to a pleasant
and pretty Lebanese restaurant that was new to me and Karen and had a great
time.
My phone isn’t charging
properly – the lead isn’t always connecting to the phone properly so that’s one
of the many things to get sorted once we get to Leam, such as getting new spectacles
and a passport for Buddy (spectacles for me not Buddy 😉).
When we had a cruise at the weekend,
Karen had noticed a sign outside the village shop in Shrewley indicating that
they do phone repairs. So, on Thursday
morning I walked to the shop in Shrewley only to find that they no longer do
phone repairs, just PCs, but haven’t got round to updating their sign ☹
As I said the other day,
we are going to have to get red diesel and coal by road over the next couple of
months as the local fuel boat is not so local until April – Mark is stuck the
other side of stoppages on the North Oxford canal. A quick word with Mharie, who lives with her
family on a boat in Warwick, and I was furnished with the best dealer in the
area. As I have the car on Mondays I
know what I’ll be doing next Monday – thanks Mharie 😊
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