Back start of cruiseMonday 6th August 2007, First Week
What I forget to say yesterday is that last night we were lulled off to sleep by the patter of rain on the roof and on water, and we got up on Monday morning to threatening clouds (more on this subject later).
First off, after me going on milk hunt was the ascent of the Northgate staircase. A staircase is a flight of locks where the bottom gate of one chamber is the top gate for the one below. If you think this sounds weird you should go to Chester and have it look, weird is not the only word that could be applied - scary is another!). One problem at Northgate is that for safety reasons their is no paddle gear on the off bank, and the middle chamber is a very slow emptier (and always dumps water over the bottom gates of the bottom chamber...). It took us the best part of an hour to get through (I normally work on an upper figure of 15 minutes per lock, or less if they are close together). The it was on out of Chester through the 4 normal locks o various degrees of leakiness and viciousness. Going up most broad locks you pull up to the top gate and steady the boat against one side of the lock, slowly open the paddle gear on that side and magically the boat stays more or less against that wall. But if there is problem with the lock, or the lock goblins are out in force anything can happen, with the boat bouncing around like a pea in a storm, very wearing on the stearer who can' relax for a moment in that sort of lock (normal duty for a stearer when the boat is in a lock is putting the kettle on and getting a brew going, but today was not nice in that respect...) Eventually we were out into the countryside, and clear of the linear moorings, all we had to contend with were on-coming boats and the rain, which kept coming back.
Filling nice and smoothly, for a change!
Some locks are full of water, others are covered in vegitation - Like Beeston Castle
Highlight of the day was at Bunbury where we "passed" to boats ascending with one descending the two chamber staircase. This is a fairly simple logic puzzle, but you can see the glazing coming over some as they look at the two boats in the lower chamber, and one in the upper one...., even when they see it work they can't work out how its happened, especially now the boat going up on the left is on the right at the top! (I wander how many boats facing in opposite directions we could pass in Northgate in one go? (no prizes, just polish your canal ego).
I still think the guy with his back to us is thinking "How did they do that? - I'm just slipping forward so we can continue our way up
Hail, lightening and thunder greeted us back at Nantwich, where Phil & Jane had to leave as they have to go to work in the morning.
On to Tomorrow