Bartimaeus

Another fine October day saw us set off promptly again this morning.  We’d moored a short distance from a swing bridge so I walked up to open it leaving Clare to cast off.  Before I’d opened the bridge I saw a cruiser passing Clare.  After a bit of dithering they came through the bridge and stopped on the bridge landing.  Somebody got out and then the cruiser set off again.  Once Clare and Bartimaeus were through I closed the bridge and hopped aboard.

The flood lock was open so we drove straight through on to the next river section.  The cruiser, still ahead, suddenly turned towards the bank before straightening up again.  A few minutes later this manoeuvre was repeated.  This time we were close enough that I felt the need to turn away and slow down.  We overtook them slowly and asked if they needed any help.  No, the driver was new to rivers and not doing things right, but he seemed to have more experienced people with him.  We pressed on to the next lock and tied to the bollard leaving space for them too.

Clare went to press the buttons, but promptly returned for a windlass.  By the time the lock was ready we’d had a discussion with the folk from the cruiser about fitting in the lock – it was wide enough for us side-by-side or one behind the other.  I drove in first and the cruiser came in alongside.  The paddles were opened very gently and we gradually rose up in the lock. After a short canal section we went through another open flood lock and on to the river again up to the next lock.  This turned out to be fairly typical for this section of waterway.

At the next lock, I noticed that the paddles on the head gates had unusual mechanisms.  This is why we’d bought an axe handle in Selby.  Our companions had an identical item.  They tried inserting the thick end into the mechanism, but it was slightly too large, so they used the thin end.  Unfortunately that simply snapped the end off.  With some care, the remainder of the handle was used to wind the mechanism.  I tried my hand on the other paddle once the boats had risen – the force needed to lift the paddle is much reduced by then and it moved easily enough.  The mechanism is very crude.  After a quarter turn the spike has to be removed and reinserted.  It is slow work winding up and down.

Before the next lock I got out the plunge saw so that I could trim the thick end slightly to allow it to fit neatly.  I hopped off enthusiastically at the next lock to discover that it required windlasses.  We went through two more locks with our companions still not needing the axe handles.  We were wanting lunch, and the bread I had been making was ready, so we moored up after the lock while they pressed on.

The next locks were a pair and we had to wait for a party of scouts in a wide boat ahead of us.  While waiting I spotted the axe was required and trimmed the end so that it could be used the “right” way round.  The paddles on these locks were confusing.  There were windlass operated  ground paddles in large cast iron semicircular housings as well as gate paddles needing the axe handle.

By the time we had got ourselves to the top of the first lock, the scouts had gone up through the next one, turned round and come back down facing us.  We crossed in the short pound between the locks and continued on up.  At the next lock I started opening the gate paddle but the jet was too great to let it up far.  Even the smallest opening pinned the boat to the lock wall.

That was when I noticed the handle operated ground paddles.  They are low to the ground and unpainted, so they weren’t very noticeable.  Operating them was not that tricky however and Bartimaeus rose up faster and smoother than using the gate paddles alone. 

Putting the paddles back down again was more fiddly.  You need one hand to lift the ratchet while turning the handle, then remove the handle, turn the wrong way a little to release the ratchet again and repeat.  I managed to cut the back of my hand while doing the low speed juggling.  No real harm done though.

A little further on we reached another double lock.  I set the bottom one emptying with the fancy ratchet windlass – I’m not sure I’d have managed with the ordinary one.  While it was emptying I opened a paddle on the upper lock so it would be ready for us.  With Clare and Bartimaeus in the bottom lock I was a little surprised to see that the top lock had flooded the intermediate pond and was cascading over the lock sides.  I expected that filling the bottom lock would resolve it.

Once Clare and Bartimaeus were out of the bottom lock and I’d closed everything behind them I went back to the top lock.  I expected it would be ready to open but was unable to move the gate.  I went to check the top paddles and realised that one of them was half open.  In my defence, the marker was not visible without walking to the furthest corner of the lock.  Neither the axe handle or the fancy windlass would allow me to close this one.  I had to get Clare to drive to the side of the now flooded pond and pass me a different windlass.

We pressed on a little further hoping to find a mooring.  Another river section took us to yet another lock.  This one was a little longer than some.  Clare used the gate paddles to fill it.  The fountain from the first one she opened was far enough away to give a smooth ride.  Once we were halfway up the second one could be opened.

We didn’t find a mooring, so repeated the process.  This time Clare found a lock with one of the gates open and had to shimmy across the other end to close it.  We were both tired by this time and Clare was daunted by this lock.  She suggested swapping places, so I brought the boat close to the ladder and she climbed down.  With her aboard, I climbed up.

It took a lot of effort to turn the paddles to empty the lock.  Once Clare was in I tried to operate the ground paddles.  They were both so stiff that I was worried the handle would break.  I opted to use only the gate paddles again.  By now I had concluded we could moor immediately after the lock, so there was no hurry.  When the lock was nearly full, I checked the ground paddles again – with the water pressure off, they now turned easily.

We’ve made excellent progress today, but we both feel like we’ve had a thorough work out.  We are well ahead of schedule, so we can slow down a little in the next few days.