Last night we took Paddy out for his evening walk and the dirty little whatsit rolled in something disgusting, which led to him having to have an impromptu bath when we got home. Whatever it was stank out the boat in moments - Paddy seemed very disappointed in our reaction, quite hurt in fact.
We got away this morning with no incident and hoped to do a bit more than yesterdays meagre not quite 6 miles. That was the plan.....
We got to Tyle Mill Lock and found water and bins etc so filled up the one and emptied the other and then John went to set the lock as it was very close to the electric bridge. This stretch of water seems to have either a bridge to lift or swing or a lock every 10 minutes, which along with the current, makes for a sedate progress, at least in the sun it's a pleasant experience.
Anyway I got into the lock easily (I'm now really good at getting through one gate on these double locks) and here we are nearing the top looking back at the bridge. As we travelled onto the next bridge I went down to make us a drink. Suddenly there's a shout from the stern "Nancy I can't find the key!" Oh dear - the key is still in the lock on the bridge that you can see in the photo and we'd travelled a good half mile. So we pull in and moor at the next bridge and John ran back to find the key where he left it - I sat in the sun and did some knitting with a cuppa. Poor John, he'd already done a run this morning and so has had a surfeit of exercise today, especially when you take into account how far it is around each lock! Still at least he found it - for those who have read this from the beginning will remember him losing one at the Fool's Nook on the Macclesfield canal. We have now tied it to his trousers - bless!
This is Towney Lock - 9'8" deep - there was so much water rushing in that I imagined it would fill really quickly.....
.....it would probably have filled a lot quicker if there had not been so much water rushing out of the bottom gates!
This is Aldermaston Bridge - it's just about the biggest one we're likely to see I would imagine. Boaters can't use it during peak traffic hours as it takes quite a large busy road. There was a huge queue in both directions by the time we got through it. This was another one with a lock straight after it. We actually had help getting through this as there was a boat coming down. It's still very quiet here, we haven't seen another boat going in our direction and only a few coming down.
Another time I was down making a cuppa, the boat suddenly went violently into reverse and so I rushed to the bow to see if I'd have to push off (I didn't) and then realised that John was getting around this, what I thought was a rather sudden sharp bend. It wasn't until I went up that he told me that there was a working boat coming the other way on our side and he had nowhere to go but into the bank. They missed us by inches apparently and John said all he could see was a terrified face going past! Of course, these are big unwieldy boats and the boats coming downstream have right of way as they have less control, but it was still very scary for John. I was blissfully unaware of it all apart from the engine reversing and the bow thruster working overtime!
OH YES, Do you remember the lock with no sides yesterday, and me banging on about it? Well apparently they were designed like that - really - and originally all the locks between Reading and Newbury were like that - they are called turf locks and there will be another one apparently, great.
Here we go - Auntie Molly is remembered and Francesca's middle name to join it. I missed a Rhoda the other day that upset me, I'd have loved to have that, but it was on the Thames and we were going to fast for me to get the camera out once I'd seen it.
This is Woolhampton Lock - in our Pearson's guide it says "Beware strong currents where the Kennet joins canal at tail of Woolhampton Lock" what it should say is "Danger of Death - don't moor here, if you have it's already too late, and stay on the right and if you're really lucky you won't hit the boat moored opposite". I didn't hit the boat, but I don't know how I managed it. I have NEVER gunned the engine like I did here. The adrenaline was really pumping and John's sole piece of advice that I heard, was "go forward".
There are good moorings at the top of the lock however and both of us felt we'd done enough. We'd done 6 locks and 7 bridges that either needed lifting or swinging, to say nothing of the extra run that John had to do and the heart attack that I narrowly missed having. At least I got the washing done!
If we do a really good push tomorrow we should hit Newbury, but on current progress, I'm not holding out too much hope.
Apparently it's a Bank Holiday creeping up on us - where did that come from? Living on a boat sort of puts a hold on reality.
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