Hatton bottom lock (remembering Spike Milligan on a tangent)

Compared with Saturday, when we had rain all day, we actually had a sunrise on Sunday morning.  It was really rather pleasant, so I left the side hatch open whilst busying myself making my morning cafetiere of coffee and Karen's pot of tea. 

   

The children always make a joke about my morning breakfast ritual as I cannot just have one.  Before Buddy has his first walk I have my coffee and a pain au chocolate.  This is followed by muesli with yogurt and the third breakfast is a slice of homemade cake, Danish pastry or similar.  That is sometimes supplemented by a chocolate bar before lunch if I’m out for a walk.  At the weekend, when Karen takes over cooking I also have a cooked breakfast 😉

We knew we had to continue down the flight on Sunday and get beyond the penultimate lock which is being closed for six weeks on Monday.  By the time we set out all the clouds had gone, and we had blue skies and no wind 😊

Buddy checking his weemails before we set off

After a couple of locks, we reached Ugly Bridge which is well named, being one of the ugly precast concrete bridges on the flight.  The road that runs over it is called Ugly Bridge Lane which, I think, is a great name for a road.  We had left the car in Ugly Bridge Lane overnight as there is a good layby for continuous cruisers there.

Thinking about road names, reminds me that Karen and I have different views on whether or how they affect whether we would live in a house on them.  For example, we often used to visit Rye when we lived in Kent and were forever passing Dead Man’s Lane.  I used to think that would be a great place to have as an address, but Karen thought otherwise.  Coincidentally, close by, is a lane called Dumb Woman’s Lane which elicits the same responses from us, but it does make me smile that Spike Milligan lived there until he died in 2002 😉

Karen opening a ground paddle with Ugly Bridge in the background

Looking back at Ugly Bridge after passing under it – thinking about it now, there are far uglier bridges around

As it was Sunday and sunny, there were plenty of walkers out for their pre-pub pint or lunch.  Many people stopped for a chat at the locks, so we had a leisurely drop down the rest of the flight.  We decided to moor up just before the last lock as it was an open spot even though it wasn’t far from where the A46 crosses the canal.  At least we were now free of the stoppages and could carry on towards Warwick and Leam at our own pace.

Moored before the last lock – now, that is an ugly bridge behind us

We walked back up to Ugly Bridge Lane to get the car and move it into Warwick closer to our mooring.  On the way back, we called in at a garden centre and bought some primroses and a couple of other spring flowers.  The flowers in three of the winter flower pots on the boat hadn’t survived so Karen has now brightened them up.

We finished the day by having a relaxing afternoon watching the final match of the six nations weekend.

We are just over two miles from Karen's office so she will be walking to work on Monday,

Hatton flight (sensible locking for our backs – and a locking landmark)

We drove to Yorkshire for the day on Friday to visit my parents.  We went to Dad’s care home first as we had arranged for a physio to give him an assessment.  Dad came through with flying colours and was convinced he will be walking with his zimmer in a few weeks.  We’re not sure that will happen, but he is very positive so who knows?  Colin, the physio, managed to move him into a chair so now the nursing staff will hoist him out of bed each day into a chair.  The next step is to get him into a wheelchair, so one has been ordered and, once it arrives, he can then be moved around the home and be with other people.  STOP PRESS: He has asked for a blue badge so he can go in wheelchair enabled taxis – goodness knows where he thinks he’ll be going 😉

Saturday saw us up early for a cruise – well, by the time we had had a cooked breakfast (and that was after my standard pain au chocolate and  muesli 😊), it was gone 11 - that was early enough for us. 

It had been raining all night and was forecast to rain all day, but we had to get on the move as the Hatton flight was closing for six weeks on Monday and we wanted to get through it for our last few weeks in the Midlands.  We had already decided to do the flight over two days because of our backs – we have both put our backs out on this flight before.  So, we set off with only 12 locks to do.  Because of all the rain lately, the pounds were full and overflowing nearly all the gates.

Water flowing over the top of the top gates

Fortunately, the paddles were letting the water out of the bottom gates quicker than the water was coming in so we managed to get through all the locks okay.

I had set out with Buddy whilst Karen prepared a slow-cooker meal.  When I reached the top of the flight I moored up and took on water – that was when we had our cooked breakfast.

Taking on water at the top of the flight

The boats behind us in the picture above have been moored there for years; they are on permanent moorings but we have never seen anyone on them and never seen a gap where one has gone on a cruise.

Lock #46 - the top lock  

We really like the Hatton flight but the paddle gear on some of the locks has got really heavy to use recently and Karen ended up using her long handled windlass to get more leverage.  Long handled windlasses obviously give more power but at many locks, especially those with gate paddles, there isn’t the room to turn one and you end up with grazed or bruised knuckles. 

Paddles on this part of the Grand Union which have plenty of room to swing long-handled windlasses

It was wet weather gear all the way and that included Buddy.

Karen (and Buddy) looking dainty after closing up a lock

Seven locks down – Warwick church in the background and water running over the gates still

We have been stuck at locks in the past because the flow of water over the gates was too much and therefore the lock wouldn't empty.  This is more likely to happen on rivers and we both remembered being stuck in the middle of nowhere on the River Kennet section of the Kennet and Avon canal many years ago.  That time, we had stayed moored on the lock landing and by the morning we were surrounded by water.  Luckily, the river level subsided quickly and we managed to get off later the following day.

Short pound between the locks means we could get the lock empty quicker than the flow into it

Water leaking badly through the top gates - one reason the locks are being closed for six weeks for maintenance

After 11 locks we went under a footbridge called Halfway bridge that was made of precast concrete in 1929 when this flight of locks was updated as part of the formation of the Grand Union canal.  All the locks were originally single width, narrow locks, but with increased competition from the railways they were all replaced with double width, broad locks to get more traffic through.  Sadly, it was all too late and we all know what happened.  At least the canal has remained open for leisure use.

It was still pouring when we moored up for the day:

Halfway bridge in the background

Looking at us from a distance you would think the back end has drifted out:

Once we moored up we walked back to Hatton station to pick up the car.  We parked it further down the flight and got back to the boat in time to relax and watch the six nations matches, followed by a delicious meal of course 😊

The fifth lock of the day was the 2,000^th lock we have been through since moving aboard in November 2014.  Most liveaboards like us would have been through more than that in those three years or so but, as Karen has been back at work for the last two years, we have been bridge hopping most of that time.  Still, it’s a milestone for us, and we have also covered 2,165 miles in that period.

Hatton station (all sorted for the next pit stop)

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 😊