On the Canal Continued – 2
Periodically we would see fishermen along the canal fishing from the tow path. As there is no public water for fishing in the UK, these guys had to get a permit from the canal trust. I have idea how much it cost. They would be using long (9 – 10 feet) poles with spinning reels. They used tall, skinny bobbers which would be very sensitive to a strike by a fish. The rods would be laid across a short support while the fisherman waited for some action. They often had two rods. In the UK there are two types of fishermen; “sport” fishermen who fish for trout, salmon, and grayling, and “coarse” fishermen who fish for everything else. Supposedly the words “sport” and “coarse” describe the fish not the fishermen! As I, personally, fly fish for trout I don’t fall into the “coarse” category! One evening we were tied up next to a guy who did fish in the canal. I asked him about the fish he caught. I was surprised at the variety; zander (walleye to North Americans), northern pike, carp, various European panfish, and eels(!). Because of the muddy color of the water you never knew what you would catch next. I did my fishing later on the River Dee.
Often locks were in flight of two or three locks in a series. Between each lock there would be pool or section canal to queue the boats entering the locks. However sometime there are staircase locks. In this case the upper gate of one lock is the lower gate of the next. At Grindley Brook there is a three chamber staircase lock after a flight of three locks. It took some time to complete the traverse all of these locks. Because of the nature of the staircase locks boat are not sent through in a series of one up then one down and so on. But three or four boats are sent up and the three of four boats are sent down. We arrived at the staircase lock late in the afternoon. Here there is a full time, paid lock tender. Fortunately, we were able to traverse the locks before his quitting time. He and Karen operated the locks. The lock tender was a bearded young fellow. Had he not been smoking an e-cig and wearing a bright yellow safety vest he would have been right out of the 19th century. He should have been smoking Meerschaum pipe. He was very friendly and helpful.
Right after traversing the locks we saw a watering point. The folks at Andersen Boats had told us that we should fill the water tank every day. That had been several days ago so we decided to fill the tank. There is no water level gauge. We had been provided with a garden hose and key to unlock the water point. The cap to the water tank was set flush into the gunwale so as I removed it had to be careful not to drop it into the canal. After we hooked up the hose and turned on the water the tank gurgled and gurgled and gurgled. It seemed to take forever. We were glad that we stopped! When we finished filling the tank and as I was recovering the hose I managed to drop the tank end into the canal. I soaked it in hot water before the next time filling the tank!
Some pictures are at: https://goo.gl/photos/UzXb1e3GEhhNGMaTA