Bartimaeus

Bryn and I bought milk in Long Itchington. We had followed the same path as before but as we approached the junction I saw a path into the churchyard and wondered if it would be a cut through, but couldn't see the other end. We continued round the corner, past the bus stop and along the road until we reached the shop. Coming out I could see an open gate in the wall of the churchyard so was more confident we could cut off the corner and just walk through. I didn't have my camera so Bryn took a picture of the church for me, as I liked the look of it.

When we got back Shane was pleased with our timing as he had just said to another boater that he would like to share the locks but was waiting for the shoppers to come back so we set off immediately. As we got close to the bridge approaching the first lock Shane said we could set the locking crew off and expressed a desire to be part of that crew so he chose his windlass. I took over driving and let them off at the bridge. There was a queue for the locks and I was fourth in line, so there was a only a little space left to wait and two boats coming out of the lock towards us, plus there was a flow of pumped water at the side, behind the boat in front. I had a minor panic that the boats leaving the lock would be wanting to line up with the bridge and I wouldn't be able to keep out of their way, if the flow threw me out. I hoped Shane would be able to hold me in with a rope but he couldn't reach. Of course the boats I had felt were bearing down on me, were not going very fast, and by the time they got level I had managed to get into a better position at the side. Bryn offered to grab the rope, but by then the boats were going past and no help was needed to stay out of the way after all. Panic over!

The other boater went in ahead on the left. Approaching to go in the left side is often easier as that is the side the driver is normally standing and can see down the wall. When I am going in second I often line up on the boat that is already in on my left, rather than the right side wall, with the occasional glance over to the right. This worked fine for a couple of locks. Then we were warned about a very shallow pond ahead. As we were about to exit, the other driver suggested we stick to the right and middle due to the lack of water on the left, so they kept the left gate shut, I went out first and then he came behind. We went slowly through. I realised someone had to use the left side to get in so I took my chance and was allowing him to go in the other side. Best laid plans gang aft agley. Once in I ended up drifting a bit before he got there. He was far enough behind that I ended up moving all the way over and he came in on the left too on his usual side. We now knew there was enough water to approach from that side. If there hadn't been, I should have done it the other way round, but it worked and the other driver seemed happy to go either way.

After a lock or two more Shane came on to make himself a coffee and asked if I wanted to lock. He was happy either way. I went to do some locks and was glad I did as I had a very enjoyable chat with the woman from the other boat who was a speech and language therapist who had worked in the same specialism as me. She now had a post surgical voice problem with a damaged nerve resulting in a partially paralysed vocal cord, leaving her hoarse and unable to change the volume of her voice, which was annoying her. Neither of us were voice experts. I suggested her issue might still improve, and explained that it had taken months, or even over a year, for him to find what nerves were merely bruised and still recovering, or which changes were permanent, after Shane's surgery. Her operation had been only 7 weeks ago, so though she felt no change so far, there was still hope it might.

The locking went smoothly, though once I thought the front fender might catch on the gate as we descended as I looked and saw it was poking through a gap in the gate. I asked Shane to move back a little and all was well.

We stopped for lunch before the second last lock of the flight. Someone else had stopped earlier fearing there would be nowhere to moor if she couldn't  get through for a while, due to the broken lock. The last lock in the flight was the one reported damaged. We walked down to look. On the way a white cat suddenly darted through the hedge and weaved through us to trot ahead. She liked to see her way ahead. Bryn asked if it was good luck if an all white cat crossed your path.

Having established she was nearly home, she slowed and stopped at the water's edge. Then she looked round and stared at me before moving on. I didn't think she would want a swim. 

When Bryn caught up, the cat turned and became friendly allowing him to pet her. Now home was within site she was more relaxed.

We reached the green boat ahead and the women there had a chat about their cats and the closures. They offered to give us a lift to our train if we wanted. That was kind but our main concern was getting the boat through, not getting us to the train. They had two cats. The pure white one and another pure black, a surprising pair, each with a bell.

We reached the second last lock and saw it looked in a poor state. There were new gate arms lying alongside waiting to be fitted, but at present a rotten arm looked on its last legs. The hole was so big that Bryn could look through and stuck his arm through the hole.

I realised the hole was big enough to fit a face in, and Bryn lined up to get me looking through the hole. Shane realised if he stood in the towpath he could look through too.

We continued to the reported broken gate and saw it misaligned. We suspected a boat coming up had its bow had poked through the gate and lifted the gate up as it rose. We had met this issue before and it was fixed the same day but that hadn't happened at the weekend. Several possible plans were made. We might get through on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning , but would not have time to also do the Hatton flight. We might not get through at all and Shane thought he might have to delay coming to Edinburgh so he could get the boat to a safer place for longer term waiting while I took the train to Edinburgh as I have appointments to keep in Scotland. Solutions were talked through and we relaxed and Bryn and Shane enjoyed watching a kingfisher fly through while I cooked. 

This morning I saw a boat go past. Had it come from the stretch ahead or from further up. That lock might be fixed already. Another two boats came through the lock just as Shane got up. He sprang into action. A man in the first said it was open but who knows when it might close again. I put the tiller on and cast off. The woman behind said it was open and they had come through and suggested we take care and not rush and take risks. I grabbed a windlass and was heading for the lock, when Shane said that going ahead was more helpful, as I could let the CRT staff know we were coming in case it was a temporary measure to let people through. I ran, windlass in hand. More boats were coming through. I met another lad with a windlass walking and he said I was brave to run as it was quite a distance. He might have spotted I was running in my slippers, or I just looked too old to be running. I ran past the friends from yesterday sitting with their feet up at the front of their boat. I reached the lock and looked through to see a boat had just gone through ahead of us and it was set against us, but the gates looked level. There were no staff and the chain were removed. I set the lock for us and opened a gate. I saw Bryn walking along the towpath with his windlass so he was able to operate the other side and Bartimaeus was just coming. Another panic over and we were through this bottom lock. Now for breakfast.