Bartimaeus

Overnight there was rain and a fair bit of wind. Today was forecast as misty all day but we had low batteries from the tunnel still so in the absence of a downpour we were planning to move and I was pleasantly surprised at the temperature when I stepped out to cast off without a coat on.

I got off to do the first lock. It was very stiff to turn the paddles and the ground was slippery beside them. Both paddles were on the same side. The gate arm was on the other side and for a change this lock did have a crossing point on the gate. Shane was sure the gate was ready to open, but I couldn’t move it. A man offered to help and we both tugged hard and he said “it doesn’t want to go does it?” We tried again and there was a slight shift so we pressed on and it opened a little. Then another man and his dog came and pushed and with all three of us (the dog was not pushing) it slowly opened. At the other end the gate paddles were again pretty hard work. My first helper offered to give that a go too and as I was fair puggled from the first one I let him help with the second. I didn’t need help opening the gate but as he was still around I asked if he wouldn’t mind opening his side, since he seemed so willing. I hoped they would not all be that tough as there isn’t always a person passing and most don’t join in.

The next one was manageable without help but Shane was keen to do the next one so jumped off to do it. When I got near I saw him hurrying away from the lock and wondered if there was a problem. He had decided he would run to the shop for bread while the lock filled. They were all set against us today. When I got there, I tied the boat to the side and went to open the gate. I saw him coming back just as I was pushing it open. He passed me some bagels. I am pretty sure I have never been in a supermarket with my windlass, and I don’t think he had before either. 

It wasn’t just the air that was moist, the lock was very leaky and I was careful not to get sprayed when I was reversing to let him open the bottom gate. It looked like some filler had been sprayed into the holes but they were no match for the force of the water.

The wind the night before had added a few more leaves to the water and the path. At times it was hard to tell them apart the path and the canal were rust coloured. There are plenty more leaves where they came from though.

We passed a large striped wind sock which proves it was not at all windy today, though it did make me wonder if the wind has more trouble filling a very wet sock. 

After a couple of locks, Shane was down to his t-shirt but when he resumed driving had his coat back on before he got too cool. I had put his jumper inside to ensure it stayed dry when he threw it in.

When we saw a large supermarket, Shane dropped me off, as he had been disappointed by the lack of fresh bakery items at the shop he had tried. He thought I could cut through a wharf but it was all fenced. As I turned to find another route I saw a man emerge from a boat and called to him that that didn’t look like the way to the shop and he agreed it wasn’t then offered me a bath. There was indeed a bath beside the boat. A narrow boat does not have much room so a bath is pretty rare. He didn’t seem to want to keep it, and it was pretty small. I can see why he was throwing it out. 

I didn’t get much at the supermarket apart from at the bakery section, since I had no bag, but at one of the locks I had picked up an ingredient that I planned to use for tea, some fresh oregano. The “community larder” had some strawberries but I can’t see them ripening at this time of year.

Shane said the next lock was a third of a mile away and was asking if I wanted to walk or get on. I was ambivalent at first then I noticed a cute old set of steps down from the lock that made access to the boat and picking up easy, so I went for that. It even had a little rail to make it easier to step on and off.

 Rain began just as we approached a lock and we decided to stop for lunch. We had escaped heavy rain and had seen no other boats. After lunch Shane saw heavier showers on the way and we decided to stay put. We were surprised when we found another boat approaching. We got off to help them, despite the rain, as we were blocking their pick up point. In the ensuing conversation we were at first surprised that they did not intend to go through the Standedge Tunnel, it being the main attraction in this bit of canal, but they did have a pristine unscratched boat  even the boat name meant Beautiful, in Manx, so taking it through Standedge could be heartbreaking. 

The mist never left all day. We felt satisfied that we had charged the batteries a bit. Even though it brightened later, we were content with staying put and were pleased to have had an autumn day without getting cold or wet.