Anti-vandal keys and litterbugs

We had an excellent meal at the Ox last night. It’s a friendly place, with limited, but gorgeous food. Which father bought us, before casually mentioning that since we have a few locks first thing, we might like to go to bed at a decent time.

A few locks turned out to be 27 over five miles, and we ended up having lunch at 4.30 pm. The first nine were big double locks and the last 18 were single, but very deep.

But we’re old pros at locks, so weren’t expecting any real problems other than the odd stiff paddle or gate (kinky much?).

Apart from the anti-vandal keys, which were also anti-approved user keys. If the lock hadn’t been tightened up too much, then the bolt was so worn the key spun around without getting grip. If the bolt wasn’t worn then it was probably misaligned, so re-jigging and persuasion was required. If the bolt behaved, then the iron strap wouldn’t come off the paddle. And so on. Tempers may have frayed slightly and windlasses may have been used in a non-approved manner.

And apart from all the landfill, which people have decided belongs in the canal. We had a plastic beer glass and some plastic bags around our propeller. We passed a boat who had just spent 45 minutes removing a carpet that had snagged around theirs. Which caused father to reminisce about the time we had a mattress snagged around ours.

And apart from the water levels being low which made running aground a bit of a possibility.

And apart from the rental boat ahead of us who kept leaving the paddles up. And locking the anti-vandal locks to make sure they stayed that way. Which greatly increased chances of running aground,

And greatly increased the chances of spontaneous canal-side violence should we ever catch up to the rental given the lock crew’s extra workload of manually pulling the boat with ropes, having to open extra paddles to run enough water through that the boat could travel without hitting bottom, as well as having to finish off their work before starting our own.

It was an adventure and an experience. A lot of it was fun, especially the mini-porkpies while waiting for a lock to fill, and people we chatted with along the way. Including man with little son Dylan on his shoulders who watched us work a lock. They wandered off along the towpath, and after a very short while we caught up with them. Dylan was happily riding on dad’s shoulders, but dad was quaking in his boots as he was faced with the fiercest type of dragon to be found along the towpath, the fearsome Canada goose. Taking a deep breath, he took the goose on and scuttled past. Only to be confronted by two more of the terrifying beasties. Taking pity, we called to the two geese who turned to look at us, and taking advantage of the distraction, man and son bravely ran around the outside of them to safety.

And there was plenty to entertain. Herons sitting on brick walls, Canada geese following us in single file – which was impressive given that there were around fifty birds in the flock. I opened a swing bridge, and they passed our boat to go through ahead of us and make their way one by one up the bank and into a field.

Another junction and another swing bridge, followed by a simply stunning kingfisher. I have seen the flash of blue as they dart away, but never seen one still and close enough to see its markings before.

The weather has been cool and grey and threatening to rain all day, but has so far held off. I took a shower as the evening started to draw in, and started by running the bath until the temperature was right, at which point I hit the button that changed the water flow to the shower. No water ran which was a little disconcerting. Until suddenly, a big fat water balloon narrowly missed my head and splatted in the bottom of the bath. I mean, who leaves shower caps on the end of shower heads anyway?

 It’s nearly 7pm as I type and we are still pootling along, but having showered, I am enjoying a deservedly large Pimms in mother’s company. We might be having Chinese tonight.