Hazelstrine Bridge to opposite Otherton Boat Haven
Five minutes late pushing off this morning! A boat came past us, it had slowed a touch to pass, but still had us all over the shop, as we discovered this was the only time they would have speed today.
What a lovely morning, clouds and blue sky, we hoped we’d not be needing waterproofs today. At Deptmore Lock I offered to lend the chap on the boat ahead a hand, he said I could help close the gates behind him which I did. He was then taking an age to walk down his gunnel with a rope and windlass to get to the ladder. I said if he was happy for me to work the paddles he could stay on his boat, this was fine. As his boat rose in the lock it occasionally went on quite a list, I kept an eye on it, he didn’t seem at all bothered. Maybe this was normal. As he pulled away above the lock the boat kept listing and then straightening up, maybe the ballast was on wheels, it certainly needed adjusting.
A boat went down, we came up, there was another boat waiting below too, we’re back in the busy world. I hopped on board, Jamie the panto set builder had a couple of questions for me to answer. My technical drawings came out along with a scale ruler, replies were sent via Whatsapp. Yesterday I’d spent sometime looking at garden benches for the town scene. I’d been hoping for quite a curvy frame, within our budget. The only one I found was one Helen the Props Supervisor had suggested a week or so ago. I gave the thumbs up to buy one, it will need a bit of painting, but that was always going to be the case.
At Shutt Hill Lock the boat ahead was in the lock, now with two crew, the chap and his son, or sleeping partner as the chap called him. His son was new to boating and had been given the job to steer in and out of the lock. We closed the top gate behind them, then the chap insisted on helping me with the bottom gates. Nice of him, but he could be helping by getting a move on to the next lock! We were of course also being followed, the boat arriving a bit before we left the lock.
Between locks I did my best to respond to some messages coming through from Scarborough regarding Frank. A to and fro about samples is hard to write as you try to power walk along an uneven towpath, maybe I should have hitched a ride.
At Park Gate Lock the son had been charged with a windlass and when I got to the lock there was another person helping. This turned out to be someone from the trip boat that was picking up customers above the lock. Another boat down, then us up, the trip boat down, blimey it was busy.
By the time I had walked onto Longford Lock the boat ahead was just about to go into the lock. The son appeared to be ignoring his fathers calls for assistance, hiding inside, stoking the fire and setting the smoke detector off, so the chap was single handing again. They were planning on going up Wolverhampton tomorrow, that would be fun with a noncommunicative son! Hopefully they’ll have finished the flight before we arrive in a day or two! The chap pulled over to let us overtake, mooring up on the lock landing and coming to help me, son tucked away inside still.
Penkridge Lock next, this is where there was a collapsed culvert earlier this year which closed the lock and road bridge over the bottom end of the lock. There was no obvious evidence of where the work had happened. We made our way up and then pulled in to use all the services, water, yellow water, bins. The slow chap arrived, he ended up assisting the boat that had been following us, he must have let them overtake too. Then it was their turn, he was single handing again. The alarming listing of the boat was most probably being created by his son inside, it would have seriously worried me if Oleanna was moving like that.
Thankfully we were finished at the services and pulled out without jumping in front of them. Filance Lock was being awkward with it’s bottom gates opening when they’d just been shut. I chatted to the lady on the boat going up. I’ve called these locks the Lollipop stick locks for some years because of their rounded ends, today we decided they looked like they should have Funny Feet ice creams on the ends of them.
Our last lock of the day, now to find a mooring. There wasn’t much space on the 2 or 5 day moorings, but we wanted somewhere for Tilly, so we carried on to opposite Otherton Boat Haven which was surrounded by fields. There were a few too many woofers being walked though to have a good afternoon, anyway I wanted my dingding! Too early for that Tilly!
A few extra supplies were needed, a walk to the Co-op required. I followed a footpath from the bridge which turned out to be like a magical tunnel through bushes, I had to stoop a little to get through. Sunday dinner bought and some ingredients to help us up Wolverhampton in a few days time.
During the day Mick had tried to find out if there were going to be any winter stoppages on the River Avon that would affect us after panto has opened. The Avon Navigation website didn’t seem to have them listed. Then we decided to check our route back north on the CRT winter maintenance list. Hmm, several blockages we’d not noted before, a bit of a convoluted route back to the River Trent would be needed. Do we try to beat the stoppage at Vazon Railway Bridge which starts on the 5th January? Will the Trent behave for us to get back to Yorkshire in the first place? Lots of variables.
6 locks, 5.2 miles, 1 alarmingly bobbing about boat, 1 haunted mooring, 1 absent 20 year old son, 700 and 1220 checked, 0 name and DOB confusion, 1 trip boat with high tea, 1 magical path, 2 pork chops, 1 recipe checked for extra fuel, 2 lollipop locks, 10 toes each, 1 detector bipping across the way!
