Bartimaeus

The run back down the locks with Mugs and Roland was very enjoyable.  When we got to the ice cream stall this time, we made sure to get our ice creams immediately – nobody wanted to take the risk of missing out again.  We still had room for some “proper” lunch too before continuing down the rest of the flight to Shireoaks. The following day we had a short walk in the morning and then waved our visitors off at the station after lunch.

Alerts from Canal and River Trust (CRT) now informed us that water levels ahead of us had returned to normal, so we were no longer trapped on the Chesterfield Canal.  We decided to continue with our plan to stay put for the rest of the day anyway.  We were trying to plan the coming days knowing we had to meet Bryn somewhere, and that I was scheduled to make an overnight visit to Edinburgh for a medical appointment while he was staying on Bartimaeus.  Another alert from CRT told us that the rail bridge beyond the lock at Keadby was not able to swing, and might take a week to fix – more planning confusion.

The following day, yet another CRT alert told us that we were trapped again.  A different lock had failed, this time only a short walk from our mooring.  We took an evening stroll down to see what the situation was.

The report indicated a problem with the cill at the lock. Water was “boiling” through at a rate that was causing problems. Strangely, when we looked, the faulty lock appeared to be draining through the closed gates at the bottom faster then the water was arriving through the faulty gates at the top. Perhaps the story was different when the pound was full.

Decisions about where to meet Bryn were considerably simplified by this – we’ll be staying where we are!  That left the question of what to do with ourselves.  I found an interesting circular route that would take us to a cafe for lunch and then bring us back along a section of the Chesterfield Canal on the other side of the collapsed tunnel.  Some of the sections look as usable as parts we have navigated, though it isn’t easy to judge the depth.  Nearby locks were lacking their gates though – a lot of restoration will be needed as well as digging a new tunnel.

Before Bryn arrived we needed to fill the water tank and empty the waste tank. The nearby Shireoaks Marina has the facilities we need, so we drove in. The water was simple, but the waste tank was very fiddly. The probe at the end of the hose has to be inserted into the starboard gunwale near the bow. We tried reversing in, but couldn’t go far enough back without grounding on the nearby slipway. We tried approaching end on, but still couldn’t get near enough to insert the probe. Eventually we came in forwards and lifted the hose right over the boat – it only just reached.

There were instructions about priming the hose with canal or tap water which we tried to follow and then Clare tapped her credit card on the machine – we now had eight minutes.  I wrestled the hose in to place at my feet standing on a narrow ledge above the water.  Nothing happened.  Neither of us could see what the other was doing and there were some slightly tetchy exchanges.  At some point Clare noticed an unlabelled switch in the cabinet, similar to the one in the cabinet at West Stockwith.  Relieved, she flicked it – now something might happen.

I opened the valve again, but still nothing.  I tried standing on the valve to ensure a good seal and thought something might be happening.  It gradually became apparent that the tank was now emptying – phew.  I wondered if the remainder of our eight minutes would be long enough to complete the job as I watched the level on the meter gradually drop.  Happily, we seemed to have enough time.  I still had the awkward job of extracting the probe – at the level of my feet on a narrow ledge, while also using one hand to stop me falling in.  It came out eventually, but this exercise was decidedly more stressful than most of our narrowboating.

Before Bryn arrived there was another CRT update – we were no longer trapped on the Chesterfield Canal, but our exit from the Trent at Keadby was still unresolved.  I then had a phone call postponing my Edinburgh appointment – well that would simplify Bryn’s visit!  When he arrived, we gave him the choice of repeating the lock flight.  To nobody’s surprise, he opted for that, so yesterday we headed back towards the closed tunnel.

Bryn is an enthusiastic locking crew member.  We stopped for lunch and ice cream on the way up.  Bryn did some of the driving in the afternoon too.

Once we’d reached the winding hole at the top, we repeated our reverse to the tunnel exit before mooring for the day.  Staying in the same place as before, we knew that we could get an excellent evening meal at The Beehive, and this time we managed to set off early enough to stroll there.

Today we have returned back through the locks (stopping for more ice cream) to Shireoaks.  We’re hoping that the canal will stay open for us as we head back towards the Trent.