Waking Nicola up at 7a.m. is never easy, but it was necessary so that we could pull the boat silently to a less ridiculous position.
At 8.15 we were ready to start our day's journey proper, commencing
with 4 locks straightaway to put us onto the Stourbridge canal.
In
between the 3rd and 4th of these locks we attempted a very tricky procedure
to take some video footage of the boat. Not that difficult, you might think,
except that the camera's power was coming from the boat's 12 volt socket,
via a lead coming through the window to Sue, who was walking along the
towpath keeping pace with the boat. I therefore had to steer very close
to the bank which, in a slightly water-deficient lock pound, led to some
more grounding comedy. Nothing that a few pushes with the boat hook couldn't
solve though and we were soon on our way again. Even including the filming
escapade, and with one crew member still in bed, the 4 locks only took
an hour. The Stourbridge Canal was quite a contrast to the beauty of the
Staffs and Worcs - the countryside and the weather were dull and drab and
at times I wondered if I'd taken a wrong turn somewhere and entered
a drainage ditch.
At 10.30 we reached the bottom lock of the Stourbridge 16. Lauren was, by now, out of bed and so she and Nicola jumped ashore to set the lock. I had forgotten that this was a lock which required the special anti-vandalism key, without which the girls could not raise the paddles. Lauren, not realising this, struggled to turn the windlass which sprung straight back at her causing her to bruise her finger. The commotion she created however caused local residents to think that a far more serious accident had occurred, and we very soon had an offer of a lift to the local Accident and Emergency department. Luckily, such action was not required: cold water and a bandage sufficed, but it did unfortunately put one crew member out of action - and we still had 24 locks ahead of us that day! Sue and Nicola worked all the locks, throughout the Stourbridge 16, and later the Delph flight of 8, and by the end of it all had it down to a fine art.
The Stourbridge 16 was an interesting flight, starting and finishing
in countryside but passing through industrial and town settings along the
way. The 9th and 10th locks caused me some puzzlement as there seemed to
be virtually no pound, but a friendly British Waterways employee explained
to me that the water supply came from behind the neighbouring house. It
was around about lock 9 that our hitherto quick progress was slowed as
we caught up another boat ascending the flight. This boat, called Paradise,
was being driven by its owners: a couple who had only just bought it and
were still quite new to the game. Their approach to locks was (understandably)
considerably more cautious than your average holiday-maker's, so we found
ourselves waiting around rather more than earlier. In the meantime the
British Waterways man chatted and helped out with locks (see picture),
and we were out of the 16 by 1.30. 3 hours - not bad - and the British
Waterways man said he reckoned that we'd have done it in two without the
delays.
A short section of canal later and we were at the foot of the Delph
locks. Moored there was Paradise, while her owners had their lunch break,
and we also decided to moor for ours. We didn't stop for too long though,
as we were keen this time to start the flight ahead of Paradise.
This we did and it paid dividends - 8 locks in one in hour, despite
the off-putting presence of a creepy man in a light blue jacket (pictured
opposite) who wandered up and down the flight making odd remarks to boaters
and sitting on the lock gate while you were contained within the lock,
although never actually offering to help at all. (I paid close attention
to this man, half expecting to hear such a description on the next Crimewatch.)
The view looking down the flight was impressive because, unlike the
Stourbridge flight, most of these locks were in a straight line.
At the top of these locks we were presented with the much more 20th Century view of Dudley's Merry Hill Centre, with its massive car park and (sadly inoperative) monorail. (Choruses of the Simpsons' Monorail song abounded from that point on, replacing the previous favourite tune of Rosie and Jim.) We moored up at the Waterfront Centre at 4.30 - good progress today, rewarded by a trip to the shops and to Maccy D's. On return to the boat at about 9pm, Sue was convinced that we were sinking as the stern of the boat was significantly lower in the water than the bow. Although I justified this with the rationale that the water tank was near empty and the toilet storage tank was becoming fuller (no pun intended) the paranoia was infectious and no-one slept well that night, fearing Titanic-like scenes in the middle of the night.
Lauren, with bandaged finger, emerges from the boat having missed
all the action of the Delph locks.