The Hurleston contractors had cleared up and cleared off by
lunch (Friday pub time?) and we were through the 4 locks by 2.30. This might be
naive but we expected everything to be ship shape in the lock chambers. Not so.
After 3 weeks of repairs, the Hurleston locks are leaking badly, one of the
gates was dragging along the ground, there was a tyre behind a gate, and a
ground paddle out of action.
Then we were the first boat through the similarly repaired
Bunbury double lock flight, and we nearly sank the boat. At the bottom of the
lock the boat became stuck on something significant enough to tip us up. With
First Mate, Jones and the boat all in peril, Captain sprang to the paddles
thinking he could drop them quickly. Again, not so. They are the only paddles
in the system that wind down just as slowly as they wind up. The boat tipped
sideways so far that it eventually slid off the thing and launched itself into
the middle of the broad lock.
We are seriously unimpressed with stoppages that seem to
have made things worse and more dangerous than before. We survived but it was a
scary moment.
Tonight we are safely moored just under Tilstone Lock and
have just had a home made curry for dinner. All is well but we will have to see
what traps have been laid in the newly maintained Beeston Locks.
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