A challenge to a crewed boat! A veritable conundrum to the solo Narrowboater ! ! ! - wait til you come back! - You can always buy a ladder at Banbury ;-)
Mind you, Tortoise (30') had a good go at winding herself there whilst I was tending to the paddles, which at least I saw the funny side of afterwards. There's not many locks where that might happen.
Lorna - Aynho lock is a weird wide one with narrow gates. Normally locks are straight, but this widens out in the middle, making single handed locking (where the boat is pulled through the lock by a rope) tricky. We all manage it, of course, eventually, with a bit of swearing... ;-)
not to mention that as you come out of the lock the river cherwell crosses the canal and there is a weir to contend with. All very well unless there has been a great deal of rain the night before... then it is all a bit fierce. The force of the water wacks you into the weir, and you have to try and keep the boat moving, and off it. Especially when you have very low drain holes as I do..because you don't want to get jammed, and then have the water pouring into your front deck and subsequently into the cabin (if it gets too high)
Sounds like you are sailing the high seas when at the 'Aynho Lock'.
My sister and I used to earn tips opening the gates at 'Somerton Deep Lock' when we were girls. It started when we used to "help" the Lock Keeper but when BW ended manning it we continued ... then our mother found out. Ouch!
How rare of you short sweet and to the point
ReplyDeleteA challenge to a crewed boat! A veritable conundrum to the solo Narrowboater ! ! ! - wait til you come back! - You can always buy a ladder at Banbury ;-)
ReplyDeleteanother [partially] single hander nods sagely...
ReplyDeleteMind you, Tortoise (30') had a good go at winding herself there whilst I was tending to the paddles, which at least I saw the funny side of afterwards. There's not many locks where that might happen.
I am a non-boater so please explain!
ReplyDeleteLorna - Aynho lock is a weird wide one with narrow gates. Normally locks are straight, but this widens out in the middle, making single handed locking (where the boat is pulled through the lock by a rope) tricky. We all manage it, of course, eventually, with a bit of swearing... ;-)
ReplyDeleteuseful picture here:
http://www.mike-stevens.co.uk/reports/cruise1988a/110b26.htm
not to mention that as you come out of the lock the river cherwell crosses the canal and there is a weir to contend with. All very well unless there has been a great deal of rain the night before... then it is all a bit fierce. The force of the water wacks you into the weir, and you have to try and keep the boat moving, and off it. Especially when you have very low drain holes as I do..because you don't want to get jammed, and then have the water pouring into your front deck and subsequently into the cabin (if it gets too high)
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I don't think I have quite recovered!
Sounds like you are sailing the high seas when at the 'Aynho Lock'.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I used to earn tips opening the gates at 'Somerton Deep Lock' when we were girls. It started when we used to "help" the Lock Keeper but when BW ended manning it we continued ... then our mother found out. Ouch!