Wednesday 27 June 2012

The Big One (13-4)

Wednesday 27th June 2012



Turners Green to Warings Wharf

The weather made for a hot humid night. We were up a bit later than intended. We paid the consequence as Nb Atlas and butty Malus passed us just before we were ready to move off.

A short section of the Grand Union Canal before we proceed onto the Stratford Canal and the Lapworth Lock flight. We followed Nb Atlas and butty Malus up the flight and the butty was being hand hauled into and out of each lock. The main problems was that there were for half the flight three crew and then there were two as one left.  One of the crew ended up falling into the canal. What should have taken about four hours, took over six hours.

We were joined by Pete Walpole and family on the climb up the flight by Nb Alice and butty Alice Too. If you have seen a bendy-bus this is the waterways equivalent. Except that it does not actually flex. The butty at the front, locks into position on the boats bow.  A bit like a "Jebus" fits on the front of a line of "Tom Puddings." That's also another bad analogy because boat and butty have a bow and the Tom Puddings were square metal boxes. I understand that Pete refers to the butty as a shunt.


We stayed overnight at Warings Wharf where Mick and Nick gave us a warm welcome. The stop was to get access to mains power so that the Memsahib can do some washing. We went to the pub down the road for a meal and a couple of beers. 


Flora: We noted a couple of new canal side plants in flower including Saw Wort and Harebell. Poppies are out in abundance and bring a bright band of colour to the canal side and hedgerows.


Wildlife: Sparrowhawk chasing birds in the hedgerow was the main spot of the day. A yellow wagtail perched on a ground paddle on the Lapworth flight. Good numbers of House Sparrows in the area as well. The house sparrow population has fallen dramatically over the last 40 years.


Daily Total
Miles: 5.9
Locks: 20
Swing/Lift Bridges: 2
Bridges: 0
Tunnels: 0
Pump Outs: 0
Engine Hours: 6.1


Accumulated Totals
Miles: 962.4
Locks: 741
Swing / Lift Bridges: 119
Tunnels: 7
Pump Outs: 10
Engine Hours: 2243.5


Later......

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