Saturday 4th June
Today has been fairly hectic but not as hectic as yeaterday. We have travelled the same distance as yesterday, 5.5 miles but we have done 11 locks, 7 more than yesterday, in roughly the same amount of time.
There were a lot more boats about today than we have seen lately and a combination of no rain since last Monday and more lock useage has caused the water levels in the canal to go down alarmingly since we came this way last week. Until we got clear of Hebden Bridge we were struggling with the shallow water. We passed the first of the hire boats (the one with the girls on) fairly quickly and caught up with another one soon after that. We persuaded the second one to wait for the girls and do the locks together to make it easier for them and to save water. They seemed to think this was a good idea.
We had a brief idea about stopping in Hebden Bridge but the pound was so low there that the boats already moored there were already listing over and we couldn’t get in to the bank anyway. B and B were also going to stop there for water but there was a boat in the water point and we didn’t have anywhere to wait for them except in the winding hole. We carried on up the locks, encountering several more boats at each one. At one point there were 2 boats tied together side by side coming towards us, on a bend of course! We didn’t want to go near the edge as it was so shallow but we didn’t have any choice and ran over something hard again! The prop still seems the same (not that good) after that so no more harm done.
The same can’t be said for the hand rail though as Ken got disorientated in the tunnel with the bend in and turned the wrong way scraping the handrail all the way along the wall! We have just added it to the ever growing list of maintenance issues we have. Actually we have had to plough through several overhanging and fallen trees today so we’ll probably need a complete respray after we finish this trip anyway!
Tomorrow we are staying here, a damage free day, hurrah. Knowing our luck a boat will come out of the lock and broadside us! Has been known at Braunston!
