On the Canal
The first step is to decide who does what. Which is pretty easy (and sexist); the husband is the skipper and drives the boat while the wife is the crew who runs up the tow path to operate the lock. As a result, most of the folks operating the locks were women. And my wife would often note, as she pointed to the guys standing by the boats waiting to traverse the lock, that the men were “husbanding” their strength.
The process is pretty straight forward. The boat is brought up against the side of the canal and temporarily secured to a bollard while the crew dashes up to the lock and opens the gate. Before opening the gate she has to let water into our out of lock. She carries a crank (don’t drop it into the canal) to operate the openings in the gate that control the flow of the water. After the gate is open the skipper motors into the lock and the gate is closed. Then the gate openings are adjusted appropriately and the boat rises or descends in the lock. The lock is opened and the skipper motors out and picks up the crew. Who is a little old lady. An agile little old lady.
The biggest problem operating the locks is that sometime they require a lot muscle. Fortunately, Karen either had enough muscle or there were others assisting in the work. Usually there was several people operating a lock because of the boats queued to pass through the locks. One of my main problems, early on, was forgetting to place the throttle fully in neutral when I leaped ashore to secure the boat.
And we were on our way.
But we had a way to go before we could stop for the night. It took us about three hours to get to where it was suggested that we stop for the night. We pulled up to the tow path, hammered in the steel stakes and tied up. It was a “short” walk along a country road to the Badger Inn. The Badger Inn was our first pub. We had visited the UK before but had never really visited a pub. They seemed too esoteric and complicated for ignorant Yanks to handle (sound silly doesn’t it?). This trip we became pub wise and were glad that we did. Sometime there are wait staff and sometime there aren’t. Sometime you order at the table, sometime you order at the bar. It became pretty obvious pretty quickly. I can now order a pint of lager (or diet coke) with as much aplomb as anyone!
We got to the Badger Inn just in time. The kitchen would close at 9:00 pm. But, they said, they were always able to find something for folks just off the canal. We had a great dinner. At least 12 hours since breakfast.
The walk back to the boats along the country lane was exciting, but we had a couple of flashlights.
Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/UzXb1e3GEhhNGMaTA
Most of these pictures have captions. If you click on the "i" that is somewhere on the page you should be able to read them