1 Oct 2010 13:23
Re: Autumn Canal Trip
Of all the silly locks on the system the one at cut-end Autherley is my unfavourite. Some say it is not needed nowadays and that it's just there as a stoplock because of history. Remembering back a few years the old (more historic) lock did not have the stupid thick woodwork that so likes to attack boats that the modern set manage. These gates often won't open fully as mud gets behind them. At one time BW were visiting one a week to remove it... The lock is a real bottleneck with boats arriving below on the S&W two ways and above on the Shroppie. In each case those who are waiting have to fit round those moored which, on the Shroppie Side can be a hire fleet being turned round. This year we noted that tempers were rising in both directions as people had to wait who felt they had to get places so get out the way. On the way out this manfested in a series of foghorn voiced women who obviously had just taken up boating and this was their first lock for they kept ordering people to do various things like 'Get your boat in mid channel ready to enter as this boat comes out now as you are holding things up.' We have our own methods so ignored them when it was our turn only to see the gate closing as we approached. The wife, who was having a word with one of the dumb foghorns turned round to find some woman closing the gate and had to almost phyically restrain her to stop her. (The wifes leg and bum power is legendary - given a chance to leg a boat in a tunnel she wound it up to 4mph before it hit the wall on the other side as the other legger was not in the same power class (poor man). Having got the gate open she then had to be very nice to the gate pusher - yet another first timer who 'had been told to shut the gate by a passing dog walker' and now felt she was hard done by by having to reopen the gate. We left the queuing boats to get on with it for that trip but a few weeks later returned. This time we found ourselves on the end, later in the middle of a 'conker' of boats which developed from nothing too 8 boats behind a very slow hire boat going through Penderford rockin. After the rockin one (share boat) got by the now not so slow hire leaving us still 5th at Autherley.(Continue reading)
Trevor
nb.thebestlaidplansofmenandmiceetc.....
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