Thursday 29th March 2007
Crick - Birdingbury Wharf (17¾ miles, 16 locks)
We made an early start before breakfast, arriving at Watford Locks just before 8am and were first in the queue. The lady lock-keeper arrived shortly afterwards and helped prepare the locks as she walked down to unlock the bottom lock.
The weather had changed overnight and it was now cold and wet - not the best conditions for a long day of travelling.
We stopped for breakfast as soon as we were clear of the noise from the M1 motorway and then carried on back to Norton Junction and through Braunston Tunnel.
There was an obstruction in Braunston top lock which we scraped over as we left the lock, but we had more serious problems after the second lock. I tied up at the lock moorings to help Jen prepare the next lock because the bottom gates had been left wide open. We filled the lock, opened one of the top gates and I walked back to the boat. The pound was now down about 12 inches and Hawksmoor was stuck on an obstruction and listing to starboard - making a change from her usual list to port...
I tried to slide her sideways but to no avail and the water down the by-wash from above was pretty much matched by the leaking gates of the lock we had filled. We had no choice other than to let some water down from the pound above. Once free, we continued without incident down to Braunston where we moored for lunch, before setting off for Napton Junction and then to Calcutt Top Lock to fill up with water.
There were several Ownerships boats making their way down the locks, some of them with pretty inexperienced crews, including one boat where they were using the bow thrusters for steering whilst travelling along. I'm not convinced that they are designed for continuous operation and I wouldn't like to be one of the other owners when they receive the repair bill. Maybe people should be encouraged to sign up for RYA helmsman training.
On the way back to Birdingbury Wharf, we passed this boat near Bridge 18. Surely it is wider than a broadbeam boat and definitely too high for the bridges, so it must have been dropped in by an extremely large crane. It looks a little out of place to me, but presumably has a BW license.
Back near Birdingbury, we had to moor a long way before Bridge 21, due to the large number of boats. Fortunately there was a convenient gap in the hedge nearby so we would be able to load the car in the morning.