Locks and Boats

We recently rented a narrowboat to travel England and Wales via the canals. We traversed the canals for two weeks and I have some fun stories to tell about our time.

For those who don’t know how the locks work, here is a short summary: We open the paddles (the things that let the water in and out) with a windlass (thing like a crank) and if the water in the lock is to far down or up we raise or lower it until it is at the same level as the boat. We then open the gates and close them once the boat is inside the lock. We raise the water or lower it depending on if we’re going up or down and we’re on our way. One of the worst experiences I personally had was when the windlass was to long for the gate, we had two windlasses one rusty and long but because of the length easier to crank, and one smooth, shiny, short and fought over. One time, when I lost the never ending battle and got the long one, the gears to attach the windless to were just a little too close to the gate so the windless couldn’t go all the way around. I had to crank, take it off, reset it, and crank again, over and over and then again to get it closed it got very frustrating.

We didn’t just open and close locks. There were roles for everyone. Everyone took a turn at driving with the tiller. Which, if there was nobody to talk to was quite boring. I personally did my fair share and drove nearly every tunnel we went through which was not a small amount. I barely touched a single wall while driving in the tunnels. Though once, I may have given another boat just a little too much room. Right after we went through a bridge I spotted another boat coming so I moved to the right so we could pass safely. Our boat turned a bit faster than I anticipated and we brushed the reeds lining the side of the canal. The reeds weren’t the problem though, the real trouble was the low hanging leaves that were shed all over the top of the narrowboat. There were actually two instances like this, but I was at fault only once.

The jobs were interesting and a big part of the experience but so was the wildlife along and in the water. We saw a lot of swan families with large not yet swan colored cygnet. The amount of swans we saw was nothing compared to how many ducks were swimming, napping, eating, and quacking in the water. There were also, unfortunately, lots of dead critters in the canal we saw swollen rabbits, rats, fish, frogs, mice, and other things with fur and without, in the water. At the start of week two we got a pack of swan+duck food which all the ducks seemed to enjoy and the swans seemed either uninterested in or addicted to it. One time we were feeling some addicted swans and apparently we were conserving to much food so they snapped at our fingers with food in them, seemingly wanting to eat from our hands! There was also a never ending supply of horses, sheep, and cows along the side of or in the canal. Seeing that cows, sheep, and dead critters had been in the water I did not want to take a swim.