Lock Stats
Today: 12 locks
Grand total: 93 locks
Grand total: 93 locks
To go: 186 locks
Having picked a quiet mooring out of the river flow between Bull's swing bridge and lock it was time to press on. I'd stopped early because of thunderstorms and rain and also because Monkey Marsh lock was coming up.
Monkey Marsh lock is a bit of an anomaly in that it's a turf sided lock. It turns out that there are in fact 2 turf locks on the K&A. It wasn't anything to be worried about however, I got the boat lined up to go in to the lock and using a long centre line jumped of the boat before the lock and slowed it down on the rope. There are piles in the side of the lock that demonstrate the normal profile of the lock and gangplanks that give you access to the boat.
Slightly more tricky was Woolhampton lock and swing bridge. There is a significant flow in the river through the narrow gap for the bridge and the bridge needs to be swung before leaving the lock, equally going the other way the lock should be pre prepared for boats coming the other way, something that a couple of hire boaters obviously weren't aware of as they headed towards my lock without a proper place to moor up and let me out of the lock.
This operation is usually straight forward with crew but it's fairly time consuming as a single hander. The cars were going to have to wait though. Once heading out of the lock on tick over I was accelerated through the bridge and had to slow the boat down on the stern rope having learnt this was the best method from previous mistakes with the centre line.
Having picked a quiet mooring out of the river flow between Bull's swing bridge and lock it was time to press on. I'd stopped early because of thunderstorms and rain and also because Monkey Marsh lock was coming up.
Monkey Marsh lock is a bit of an anomaly in that it's a turf sided lock. It turns out that there are in fact 2 turf locks on the K&A. It wasn't anything to be worried about however, I got the boat lined up to go in to the lock and using a long centre line jumped of the boat before the lock and slowed it down on the rope. There are piles in the side of the lock that demonstrate the normal profile of the lock and gangplanks that give you access to the boat.
Monkey Marsh Lock
Slightly more tricky was Woolhampton lock and swing bridge. There is a significant flow in the river through the narrow gap for the bridge and the bridge needs to be swung before leaving the lock, equally going the other way the lock should be pre prepared for boats coming the other way, something that a couple of hire boaters obviously weren't aware of as they headed towards my lock without a proper place to moor up and let me out of the lock.
This operation is usually straight forward with crew but it's fairly time consuming as a single hander. The cars were going to have to wait though. Once heading out of the lock on tick over I was accelerated through the bridge and had to slow the boat down on the stern rope having learnt this was the best method from previous mistakes with the centre line.
Woolhampton Swingbridge
Lock 100 felt like another milestone and although not my hundredth represented 100 locks back to my home city of Bristol. I moored up for the night shortly after this lock at Theale, really good visitor mooring. Theale is maybe more famous for the service station than the canal.
Lock 100!
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