From ann@waterways.freeserve.co.uk Tue Oct 19 15:06:56 1999 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:08:08 +0100 From: Ann Harvey Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Re: Amos' Summer Hols Part 2 [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Saturday 21st We woke to a fine sunny morning, and set off from the Red Bull at 8.45 am to get a good start on the locks. As these are the paired locks we were able to proceed together through most of them. We stopped at Rode Heath at 11.00 am and just sat about in the sunshine for a while, after a visit to the nearby Post Office and general stores. I decided to go for a drink before going on to Hassel Green, and soon had a following. I dragged them all out again and we set off about 2.00 pm and arrived at the Hassel Green lock at 3.30 pm and moored up well short of the lock. A trip to the adjacent shop found frozen meat for tea. We sat outside our boats in glorious sunshine, only going in to eat, then back out into the sunshine again. It was a lovely warm sunny day and we had a very pleasant trip, with everything going well. We went off to the Romping Donkey in the evening to round off the day. And round it off we did! :-) We all laughed till our jaws, ribs and throats ached. We were sitting quietly in the bar as there was a karoke in the lounge. In bounced a smallish round chap, with an infantile giggle and determination to make everyone laugh. He began on Ike, and after a few riddles he told the Quasimodo joke with many embellishments and impressions. He decided that Pat must be in charge of our group, assuming that we were all on one boat, and named him The Commander. By this time Ike was giving as good as he got and between them we were all in fits of laughter. Even a very po-faced barmaid had to crack a smile in the end. We went back to the boats giggling and shushing past the other boats and decided to start off in the morning when we felt like it and not before ^Ö it will be Sunday after all. Sunday 22nd We left Hassel Green at 11.00 am and stopped at Wheelock at 1.30 pm. The boat in front of us going down the locks was leaving all the bottom gates open behind them, giving us the work of closing them. Ken and Ike were creased doing these locks as they were so stiff ^Ö not like they had been when we did them a few years ago. I therefore ran ahead and pointed out the error of their ways to the preceding boat crew. (I know some don't agree, but the rule is 'shut all gates and paddles' so it's hardly fair to those following if you don't have to close after those in front of you, and yet leave your gates for others to do.) They were a bit surly, pointing out that there were two locks, and we could use the other one. I gave them the benefit of my opinion on having to close other people^Òs lock gates after them all the way down the flight, and thereafter they closed them after surly looks in our direction as we stood watching to see that they did. Once or twice might be accidental, but there was no attempt to close any of them until I chased them up. At Wheelock we went for a drink or three in the garden of the Cheshire Cheese, and agreed to stay here for the night. We were moored on the aqueduct and it was a very pleasant spot. Ken got talking to a chap who was cleaning his brasses, and they shone. He told us to get Shiny Sinks from Tesco, which was the product that John Wilkinson at Parkend had recommended, so we will. What he also did was to use a mop on his drill to polish up after using this. It was too hot to cook so we went for a meal in the Cheshire Cheese, then back to the boat to gather up the rest of the party and we all went to the other pub in the village. This was a very nice pub, with a nice drink, but strangely empty. Anyway we had another good evening together. Monday 23rd We left Wheelock at about 9ish and ran into a 2-hour hold up at Middlewich Junction. The men stayed to organise the chaos and hold our place in the queue, (and that's a story on its own - but not mine) while Penny, Güdrun and I walked up into the town. It was hot and we were tired but there was a very nice supermarket. This allowed us to stock up, remembering that we had to carry everything back. When we got back to the boats Amos and Joanne were the next boats to go into the lock. At Minshall lock, as Ike and I were operating the top gate paddles, there was a shout from Güdrun, whose boat Joanne was stuck by the fenders, which she had forgotten to pull in. I swiftly dropped the paddle and called Ike to drop his and we went to survey the problem. We tried pulling with a rope but that didn^Òt work so I opened the bottom gate paddles to let some water out. Eventually the gravity took effect and the boat dropped about 9 inches like a stone. We arrived at Barbridge at 5.45 where I got my toes pecked by a swan as I stood by the bank ready to catch a rope from Patrick as they came in to moor. Later we all went into the Barbridge Inn for a meal, and stayed all evening. Tuesday 24th Before leaving Barbridge Ike had to repair his driver^Òs seat, as the pole was sticking through the seat - ooh nasty! The weather was overcast and windy, (though it was not a cold wind,) making navigation difficult, especially across Nantwich aqueduct and Hack Green. There were spits and spots of rain occasionally, but they never amounted to much. We moored below the Shroppie Fly at 2.45, and after a quickie before lunch, we all stayed quietly on our boats as we are all shattered. At about 8 pm we all went up to the Shroppie Fly and spent another congenial evening together. Once more we giggled our way back to the boats, agreeing that if we left at nearly lunchtime next morning there should be a steady stream of boats coming down the locks, to save us some work. Wednesday 25th It rained all morning, on and off. We strolled up to the village for bread and papers. We eventually set off at 12 noon after several false starts as the rain kept re-starting or someone else popped up the lock behind us before we^Òd cast off. Unfortunately the boat on the water point outside the pub above our first lock, set off after us as Patrick was in the lock. We had a clear run up meeting boats at every lock except the last couple, but we were unable to help Penny as there was another boat between now, so we pressed on to Adderley. This flight was also very easy with boats coming down as we went up. We intended waiting at the top of the flight, but with the wind we were having great difficulty getting into get into the side, so Ike and Güdrun waited for the others and we carried on the Market Drayton to sort out moorings. It just began to rain again as we were in the last lock of the Adderley flight, and by the time we emerged it was pouring. It rained persistently all the way in to Market Drayton, where we arrived at 4.00 pm. Ike and Güdrun arrived after a while having given up waiting for Pat and Penny, who arrived soon after. The rain then stopped for a while. I made a crumble with the blackberries I^Òd picked. Delicious - nothing to compare with freshly picked hedgerow blackberries. In the evening we went to the Talbot with Pat and Penny, as Ike wanted an early night to dose up his cold. Pat worked out how to use the timer on our camera, so I stuck it on the edge of the bar and got a shot of the four of us together. I think we have at least one shot by each couple in every pub except Wheelock. Great fun on winter evenings playing 'Name that pub'. Thursday 26th We left Market Drayton at 9.30 and went on to Tyrley locks. Güdrun had some trouble with the fierce bywashes at these locks and bumped heavily in the entrances of the first two. Ike was jumping up and down and shouting instructions, with Güdrun coming back with ^ÓIf you can do better ^Å.etc, etc.^Ô At the third she hit the lock head-on and did some damage to the front rubbing strake. Ike (he's from Gornal in the Black Country) shouted ^ÓOne hundred and eight-ty! Bullseye, three times in a row. I used to have a nice point on my boat, now it looks like a bulldog^Òs faaace! I^Òll give you £700 for the puppies! ^Ô :-( As she approached lock 4 in the flight I took Ike^Òs hat off his head and hid his eyes with it, to mitigate the suffering for both parties, and she just brushed in that one. I thought it was going to be windlasses at 20 paces. We took our time coming up the locks as there was a boat in front and others coming down, apparently to the annoyance of the crew behind Pat and Penny, who were on a schedule. They couldn^Òt seem to understand that if you^Òre on a flight with a boat in front you don^Òt gain any time by pulling out of the lock before the oncoming boat is ready to leave the next one, so that you cross in the middle. In particular, these pounds are very shallow at the sides and if you are threshing about in the middle while the boat behind you empties the lock before the oncoming boat claims it, then there is a good chance of going aground (sideways probably). This will hold things up while you get afloat again, as the oncoming boat has nowhere to go till the boat behind has cleared the lock, which he can^Òt do if you^Òre aground in front of him. Once through the locks and through the cutting they shot past us dragging our bow almost up against their stern (could have killed their water-skier) as Ken had politely slowed down for them to pass. They ploughed on with their wave crashing along actually on the towpath. Really! I've never seen anything like it. We later learned that they had tailgated Pat through the cuttings and nearly rammed him as Pat stopped to let a boat through a bridgehole. This idiot only avoided collision by swerving in the path of the oncoming boater, who ended up in a tree. They got to Norbury a whole 10 minutes before us! We arrived at 2.30 just in time to get a pint before the 3.00 close at the Junction Inn. We visited the craft shop and then spent a restful afternoon. I phoned my sister in Telford and she arranged to come and see us on the evening. The six of us went for a meal in the Junction and my sister, nephew and niece arrived just as we were tucking into our puddings. Once again a pleasant evening followed by an early night. Concluding part to follow. Regards Ann --- The UK Waterways Network - http://www.ukwaterways.net/ * bringing the inland waterways community together * You are currently subscribed to canals as: george@adiva.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-canals-407N@ukwaterways.net