Saturday 16th May, Hart’s footbridge.
Plan A for leaving Pinkhill mooring was abandoned almost as soon as it was implemented. The wind was blowing very hard on the side and was too much for the engine in reverse to warp the boat off the bank, even for the small amount of bank clearance at the fore end that I needed to move forward.
Plan B was then evolved. This entailed moving back, tiller hard over lots of revs and backing across the river to gain clearance at the fore end. Then move towards the lock and turn around in the wide part before the weir stream. At this point, a hire boat came out of the lock; I waited for him to clear and was blown aground at the back end, not too badly as with full revs (again!) I managed to get off and to turn around.
That was more than enough excitement for today; we followed the hire boat up to Northmoor Lock and talking to the steerer, it was his first time on a canal boat.
As he said, ‘A baptism of fire’! He thought that if he could cope with today, then it would be all downhill from here. I did not tell him of the weather forecast we had heard today, strong winds until at least Wednesday. Who needs good weather, we are boating!
Thinking about it, it would make a nice change if it was good for a while.
2009 Totals – Locks 173; Miles 308; Bus pass uses 2.
