| Ten Bob Note | ||
Sunday 12th August 2007 Location: Alrewas, Staffs Today: 9 miles, 7 locks. Total distance: 409 miles. Total locks: 364 Warm with sunny spells. Pulled the pins and headed for Burton on Trent so that we could turn around to head back to Alrewas. We were about a mile away from the lock at Barton Turns when someone on the tow path advised us that the lock gate had been damaged and the lock was closed. When we arrived at the tail end of the queue for the lock, we moored up and I walked to the lock to see what was going on. It turns out that a narrow Dutch Barge style boat had lifted the top gate off it’s hinges. Apparently the front of the boat had been under a cill on the gate as the boat was rising in the lock. As the boat rose, so did the gate until the gate fell over. British waterways staff did an excellent job of getting the gate back in working order and we were on our way again after only an hour or so delay. I bet the folks on the boat that damaged the lock were a bit embarrassed as there were loads of people watching and taking photos (including me). We had lunch in the Barton Turns pub a few months back with our friends from Australia – good food at reasonable prices. Moored up back at the same spot in Alrewas. Monday: It’s much cooler today but no rain as yet. Picked up a leg of lamb from the butcher while passing on the way for the papers. If the weather holds, it will be on the BBQ tonight. Did a couple of washes and hung the clothes and sheets out to dry. The clothes line blew over in the gusty winds and one of the sheets got a dip in the canal. The clothes line is now tied to a fence post at the side of the tow path and the sheet is back in the washing machine. I will have to try and think of some way of mounting the clothes line so that it can’t be blown over by the wind. May have to weld something to the boat that the clothes line can slot in to ?? Previous page -|- Next page -|- Index page |
||
Material Copyright © 2007 Ernie Williams |