Wind, sun, Jam 'Ole boats and locks on the Grand Union

Friday, 24 October 2008 19:25

Today was a much more active and exciting day! Last night was the wildest we have had on the cut so far!

The night was very windy but as we surfaced this morning the sun was shining and everything looked very different from yesterday.

We had our first sight of one of the Jam 'Ole boats on its return journey - Bletchworth chugged by us about 10 am.

Between bridges 82 and 82A will be the junction of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway. There are plaques on both bridges explaining this.

About 12.30 we passed Jam 'Ole boat Hesperus with it's butty ho acknowledges us cheerfully asking if we had seen Bletchworth. Perhaps he hoped to catch him up.

Arriving at Fenny Stratford lock we spotted Nb Valerie and fellow blogger Les, passing the time of day with him as he came into the bows to wave.

Suddenly everything got really busy as the gate was open waiting for us and 3 other boats waiting to come down. We only just had time to draw breath and we were locked through the 1 foot 1 inch rise in no time by members of the Braunston Cruising Club and Jam 'Ole runners from Corona.

Two boats were on the top lock landing, Corona was waiting under the bridge and as we left another boat arrived.

Twenty minutes later and Towcester passed us, closely followed by Swallow, the last of the Jam 'Ole Run boats. I hope it is seen as a success and more boats will join in the next time it is run as it is great to see traditional working boats moving on the cut and also more importantly working on the cut.

We called in for diesel at Willowbridge Marina - 74 pence/litre - the cheapest in the area. John had a bit of a natter about the up-coming changes for purchasers of red diesel with Stephen, one of the family who know own and run the marina. No final conclusions made except that we will continue to keep records of running hours etc.

Stoke Hammond lock (23) has one of the double arched bridges built when the Grand Union Co. built doubled locks. At Soulbury there are the remains of these by the pumping station. Stoke Hammond is a pretty lock and has well kept gardens sponsored by the hire base nearby.

We reached the Soulbury Three just as a hire boat exited the bottom lock so it was set for us. The next lock also had a boat in it so we waited until we could swap. The third lock was when the fun began. I went up to help the single hander in front of us and there were two hire boats from the Wyvern Shipping Company waiting to come in.

The lock was very slow as one of the ground paddles is broken. I walked back to let John know that there were two boats coming down and that the pound in between was extremely low - about 3-4 feet down by the looks of things.

The single hander went out and after a while we noticed that nothing was happening above! I walked up to find that the hire boaters had closed the top gates and were waiting for......?

I explained the principle of "taking the water with you" and that the pound was so low it needed the water too. Oh... "I couldn't remember what to do from last year". We had to open all the paddles again as the bottom gates leaked and wait to open the gates once again. Meanwhile I gave them a gentle lesson in the art of opening paddles and the dangers of gate paddles.

Once the boats were in, not without crashing as the first one did not hold the boat in by rope - I explained to the skippers about the pound and that one boat should go out, then allow us to come in before the next one  left so the boats didn't go aground.

The first boat full of lads did OK but the second boat couldn't wait for John to come in and so they crossed in the pound making us go aground. Der!

We finally left the locks, having explained the paddles to yet another WSC boat waiting to come in. They were happy to have the set lock! After all that it was time to moor.

Oh, but we were not done with WSC boats as round the corner past all the moored boats came speedy Gonzales - no regard for the other boats, doing well above tick over! We took avoiding action pretty pronto.

Hum - I think that Wyvern Shipping Company need to revise the way they hand over boats and give their hirers some proper training before letting them loose to cause chaos. The daft thing is that those I talked to were only too pleased to be "trained".

Leighton lock is just along the cut from the base, I wonder if they ever take hirers there to introduce them to a lock. Hopefully the new guidelines for hire boat bases will be adhered to, however what will be the repercussions if they do not comply?

Ok - I have had my say! One positive comment - the boats look well looked after and have a nice livery!!

We are now moored not far from bridge 108. After a good night we will be ready to face the fray and anymore WSC boats we come across.

>>> View Next Post		View Previous Post <<<