At Knowl St Heritage Boatyard there's a big pile of brash that is the result of our efforts to control the over boisterous foliage in the boatyard. The intention was to take this to a spot up the Peak Forest and have a bonfire to celebrate Samhain. Unfortunately a breakdown on "Forget me Not" scuppered that plan, so it was postponed until the Winter Solstice, December 21st.
The brash has to be transported, so it needs to go on "Forget me Not"s deck. The first part of the job is to take "Forget me Not" up the 7 locks to the boatyard. It made sense to take "Hazel" too so that volunteers could gain some experience working a pair through locks, and enjoy the trip too.
I was a bit concerned when I started getting last minute cancellations. It seems that nasty viruses are doing the rounds at the moment. I needn't have worried, by, well, a bit after the start time of 10 am, we had a good team together. Helen, Ozzy, Aaron, Marcus, Andrea, James, Kim and Kath were our crew. Of these, the only experienced boaters were Aaron, Kim and Kath. Kath and Kim elected to go ahead setting locks, so I took the motor and Aaron looked after the butty and help the trainee steerer, initially James.
We immediately picked up something on the blade and struggled to get past the moored boats. I stopped and tugged at what felt like clothing with the cabin shaft. I don't know what it was as it came free and drifted away.
With the blade turning freely we were soon through the Asda tunnel and on to lock1W. With Aaron's help our team quickly picked up the techniques. As I waited for the butty to work up the lock I tied the motor in the entrance to Whitelands 'tunnel' and had another poke at the blade with the shaft, successfully removing some plastic bags and fabric. I then removed some floating tree loppings that were threatening to jam the gates. We encountered many more of these as we worked our way up.
Kath and Kim had gone way ahead of us. We got through the 'tunnel' (opened out over a century ago but still a long narrows that can be difficult if the water is low or there's rubbish in it). This time it was easy going.
After lock 2 there's only a short pound to lock 3 so the motor goes ahead, leaving the butty to be bowhauled the short distance. Unusually, a rather dishevelled looking steel boat was tied in this short pound. As we took water out of the pound to work the lock it began to list alarmingly. With two lockfulls taken I began to wonder if all the roof clutter would stay in place. Luckily it did, but getting the line over for bowhauling was tricky.
Lock 3 had a bottom gate that wouldn't stay open. I had to push it with "Forget me Not"s bows and worried that it might stick and jam the boat. It didn't and I later discovered that there was something spongy behind the gate that oozed oil when compressed. I was pleased to see water pouring over the weir and a tight top gate. For years there have been bad leaks in that top gate, causing low water levels in the long and often rubbish filled pound above (see my post 'Secrets of the Peak Forest).
The long pound was unusually easy to navigate. The only difficulty was a pile of stone ( I think) on the bottom at the approach to lock 4. The motor dragged herself over this but the butty caught her up and they nearly jammed in the narrows.
Locks 4 to 6 have short pounds so the butty is bowhauled through again. Number 6 is very slow filling as the locking mechanism doesn't unlock on one paddle, so only the other one can be used. I was expecting the bowhauler to arrive ahead of the butty and pass the line up to me to do the Indian Rope Trick of swinging it under the lock tail bridge. Instead, "Hazel" arrived at quite a speed being legged under Melbourne St bridge by Aaron.
After waiting an age for the lock to fill the pair attempted to set off. I'd recently made up a new towing line from some rope that appeared to be pretty sturdy. I decided to give it a try. I suppose I gave it quite a snatch setting off from number 4, but nothing extreme. The line exploded. It wasn't as strong as it looked! I backed up the motor and tried again with the old towing line. All went well until the entrance to Tesco. The motor stuck fast on what I imagine was a shopping trolley. I tried all the usual tricks but she wouldn't come free. Crowds of gongoozlers gathered on each side. Eventually I rang Aaron, who was expecting us at lock 7, to ask him to send down a flush of water. This, and assistance pulling on the back end line from a particularly strong gongoozler, got the boat free.
We bounced over a few more shopping trolleys, then something impeded the motor in the tail of lock 7 and we managed to get the 2 boats wedged. This was soon dealt with and we started to work up our final lock of the day.
As the motor rose in the lock a lady with small child in a pushchair stopped to watch. The little boy was fascinated and the pair stayed to watch the whole procedure. Perhaps in 15 years time he'll join us.
A pile of tree offcuts lay to one side of the lock, all waiting to be thrown in and cause havoc down the locks.
The usual procedure is to wind in the winding hole immediately above the lock and reverse up to the boatyard. The boats fit in better facing West. On this occasion Kim is planning to fit new engine 'ole doors so he wants the relevant side facing the bank. We went forwards the 100 yards or so to the boatyard. There seems to have been some silting since we last had boats there as we stemmed up on the approach the were unable to get "Forget me Not"s stern end close to the bank. Kim is going to have to learn to walk on water!
