Bartimaeus

The Montgomery Canal was officially abandoned in the middle of the last century, but has been brought back to life by enthusiasts.  It is necessary to book your passage down through the locks at the end, and to make a booking for your return, no longer than fourteen days later.

The friendly lock-keeper helped us through the first two locks which form a staircase.  He pointed out the unusual way in which the water goes between the two chambers, and invited me to leave the helm and come to the front of the boat to photograph it.

The arrangement is indeed unusual, and once the gates are open would not have been visible to me.  The operation of the lock was nevertheless fairly conventional as far as I could see from my vantage point at the helm.  I presume the extra frames at the end of the lock arm are a safety feature to stop operators falling off the platform, though this doesn't seem to be deemed essential on most locks.

The lock-keeper waved us off in to the short pound below where there was already a boat waiting, and another rising in the lock.  I was advised to wait on the left (wrong) side to let the first boat pass.  I did and immediately went aground.  I waited for the other boat to pass before extricating myself with some gentle reverse.

The other two locks went smoothly with the assistance of another lock-keeper (and another man, who seemed to be his friend).  We set off at a gentle pace after the warnings of shallow water.  It's only a short distance to the Weston Arm where we made a short stop to dispose of our recycling.  It was hardly any further to the next lock, named for Graham Palmer, who was instrumental in making this waterway navigable again.

We deliberately kept our speed down, but after our time on the Chesterfield Canal last year, and the Glasson Branch in our first year, this was positively speedy.  Treacle should never be as runny as this. The bridges have a prominent piece of stonework to allow for stop planks.  These (or the boats) are protected by extensive wooden buffers, which make the bridge holes themselves quite narrow.  We noticed our speed drop under the bridges, and found a lot of silt for a few boat lengths beyond each one.

The next few miles were predominantly on a small embankment with a drainage channel separating the towpath from the surrounding land.  At one point there was a channel off to the side.  The swing bridge at the end had no mechanism to move it, and the basin beyond was full of vegetation and a fallen tree.

A wooded section gave some clues to the rebuilding process.  Some of the trees that had grown up on the bank had been blown over.  Their roots on the canal side were clearly being constrained by the sheeting used to make the bank watertight.  Whole lengths of bank had been lifted up exposing the building materials in a hexagon pattern underneath.

When we reached the Queens Head, we found our first viable mooring spot and stopped for lunch.  The cruising hasn't been as slow as we'd been warned, but our network connection speed has dropped again - it has been poor for a while, but is close to nothing now.  We're pleased to be able to write about the day while we're here, but it may be some time before our words can be read by anyone else.

After lunch, the cool cloudy weather was giving way to a sunny afternoon.  I was intrigued by something I'd noticed on my map - the small village of Knockin has a shop.  It was only a few miles away, and as we could do with a few provisions, I couldn't resist the temptation and suggested a tandem ride.

Most of the route there was pleasant lanes, but the last mile was on a busier road with some impatient drivers.  The shop itself was a pleasant surprise.  We confessed to the shopkeeper that we'd mainly come for the name, but I was pleased with what we found.  She served us coffee and I had a pastry. She also sold milk, bread and other produce - we left with a handy selection.

We had a look inside the church and then explored a road end which had a suggestion of a path on it.  Two locals told us we wouldn't get through because of the kissing gates, but pointed us to the bridleway at the top of the hill.

The bridleway was just where they had said.  The deep ruts meant I had to concentrate on steering more than on the road, but it took us smoothly through the fields and on to the quiet lanes we had come on - much better than the busy road.

The pub probably won't be open on the days we are passing in the other direction, so we took the opportunity to have our evening meal there tonight.