Bartimaeus

We had a series of days when the weather fluctuated between dull and cold one day and very sunny the next. Most people like sunshine, but when you are off grid, sun is even more important and means you can stay put more comfortably with the solar panels keeping the batteries topped up, since most of the kitchen is electric. Many canal boats have gas cookers and don’t use an electric kettle. They are very sparing with their use of electricity. Even with lots of panels, I tend to only use the washing machine when we are moving. As we set off from Beeston, on Friday, I put a load of washing on. We were moving and it was sunny and windy. Carpe Diem as they say.

We were going through the locks that Shane had driven through last time so this time I drove. We had noticed the day before that the gates had been sitting open. Shane closed them behind me when I drove in but as he went to the other end the wind blew the gate open again. Given how heavy and hard to shift these gates sometimes are, I was surprised at how much they both swung open. I moved back and did a blast of throttle to push my side closed and that helped. Shane had already started the water flowing too but the other gate was still wide open and he had to come back to shut it, despite the flow. Perhaps these gates just like being open.

I was slightly concerned that if it was that windy I might have trouble steering but it seemed to be okay with the wind basically behind. The next lock was the Iron lock and needed me to go in centrally but then stay to one side. The iron lock didn’t catch on. As I  reached near the top, I could see grooves along the edge, probably from ropes over the years rubbing. I have rarely seen these on stone locks. 

Perhaps it wasn’t rope marks as they didn’t all point towards the bollard but I couldn’t think of another reason. I have seen rope wear on metal posts protecting bridges.

The gaps between the locks are close enough to walk and in November Bryn and I had done so. Some are quite a long walk but Shane didn’t have the bike so I didn’t go too fast. I was glad that the diesel engine issue was resolved so I  could charge between the locks, or running the washing machine might not have been acceptable. At one point I was concerned that it wasn’t running as I couldn’t hear it, or see water coming out the side. Perhaps the wind, engine noise and the closed door made it hard so I ran forward to listen when there was an easy straight bit. I still couldn’t hear it. I got a spot when I felt I had time to run in and look and get back to the tiller without going too far off my line. All was well.

From my position inside a lock I spotted a feature in one of the locks, I wouldn’t have seen when working it and Shane wouldn’t have noticed from his driving position coming the other way. On the side of the lock wall, but only where the gate recess is, was a colony of fresh water mussels. I use the word  fresh to mean not briny but I don’t know that the water is very fresh! They were on both sides but not on the main wall for some reason. I guess they were small as any growing large would be cracked by the opening gates and not survive. Or perhaps this type are always small.

These mussels presumably don’t move from this small space. I have seen them before but most locks don’t have them. I wonder how they get established at all. As the lock was emptying they had been recently covered in water and were mostly still slightly open. Unlike tidal mussels the filling and emptying of the lock must be very irregular. Sometimes they must sit exposed for a long time if the lock is empty in the winter and there is very little boat movement. It was a niche lifestyle.

The machine finished spinning and the batteries reached full charge just around the time we finished the locks and moored up.  Shane attached a bungee to the dryer so it wouldn’t blow over in the windy weather while still hanging it all outside, pegged on, to take advantage of the excellent drying conditions. We had lunch then went for a walk to the nearby town of Bunbury. A large all male group were approaching the top lock as we approached. They were novices and enjoying themselves and happy to have a little advice on opening paddles. We knew they had enough arms between them to not need help opening gates once the water was level and left them to their adventure. 

Bunbury had a decent shop and we stocked up with as much as fitted in the bags we had brought. We stopped short of loading up with beer with it being a walk of over a mile back. That other boat would have been well supplied with beer we expected.

A shop that had seen better days, with curved windows and a corner door was closed and neglected. I wasn’t sure what it had been before or why it had a kilted statue above the door. I remember my dad talking about black twist tobacco so perhaps this was once an advert for it as there is a large black coil and a long pipe as well. Those coils wouldn’t fit in the tobacco tins we used to use in primary school for our sight reading words. Tobacco tins are not as commonly available these days and teachers wouldn’t choose them in school either. 

The washing dried nicely, despite a little rain and even hail on our shopping trip. I could see the ground was drying fast and there was no sign that the washing had suffered. I have never used the tumble drier, that does seem like a waste of precious electricity.

The next morning Shane leapt off to do a staircase lock. A man was watching with his baby in a buggy and a young girl in his arms. As we rose in the lock he said that the girl was looking in at the kitchen we had. I mentioned the washing machine because it was on the side she couldn’t see and not all boats have them. Marinas usually have a launderette. He was pleased his daughter was watching the lock fill with interest, she wasn’t  just interested in the kitchen. He said he had a teenage daughter who didn’t like watching them. He asked where and how far we were going and I had to admit that the main aim was to reach a pump out.

We had two possibilities ahead of us so we weren’t worried but we did need it soon since the red light was flashing. We found a suitable spot for both water and pump out but for both there was a bit more time waiting  for space at the water and repositioning to get to the pump out place. Unlike in a marina there was not space to turn the boat round to get in the best place as we are much too long. Fortunately with much jiggery pokery and clambering we managed to achieve our objectives. We were definitely needing lunch now and went into the cheese shop and cafe. There we found that we were close and they had beer, as well as lots of cheese. The other thing we had forgotten the day before was eggs. They had been finished when we had brunch before Beeston castle. Here the eggs lay loose, very free range eggs. The hens were uncaged and the eggs unboxed. I helped myself to half a dozen and popped them in a box.

Having had lunch, and extra  shopping too, with batteries pretty full we had ticked off all the boxes for the day. The wind fairly whipped up overnight and I  could feel and hear us being buffeted. It stayed strong today so we decided to stay still with no immediate need to stock up on anything and it was good to happily avoid a drive in high winds.