We walked around the open market with its wonderful cast iron supported roof above all of the stalls. Casting our eyes over the mainly flea market, it was hard to walk away without anything, it was that interesting. We then returned and looked around the covered market, not as good as we had hoped. Myra visited Sainsbury’s whilst I prepared Martlet for the narrow canal. Chimney off for the first bridge, the TV aerial post only just made it. We rode up abruptly on a supermarket trolley at the far side and managed to get off fairly easily. Then we ran the gauntlet of overhanging branches owing to the location of two new BW tugs tied up on a bend opposite. A sharp right hand bend then there it was – Lock 1E of the narrow canal! When the lower gates were closed, Myra discovered there was a problem with the anti-vandal gear on one ground paddle. It could not be released, therefore only one ground paddle would work, and yes, you have guessed, the leakage from the bottom gates was greater than the flow from one ground paddle. Some fiddling then took place and we eventually left the lock. The canal was really covered with rubbish, more than we have seen in Birmingham or Manchester. The next lock had ground paddles so stiff that the long Calder & Hebble windlass was needed. The next three locks were as bad with paddles not working, gates leaking and a general air of neglect. We removed a sheet of Orange safety netting from lock 5E just as a BW man tuned up, so we told him of the problems which he knew about, but they are not allowed to do any maintenance! We struggled up the next lock and picked up a load on the blades as I was leaving. Down the weed hatch, cloth, wire, plastic – you name it, we had it. The pound below lock 5E was low, as was this one. I crawled along in the centre, dragging on the bottom. Passing an overspill weir, I saw that the level was only down a couple of inches. In the next lock, 6E, with very stiff paddles again, the upper pound down 6 or 8 inches. We ran aground in the middle of the pound and rocked ourselves past the obstruction somehow. I looked at the book; a winding hole was above lock 8E. We decided to turn around. Boating is supposed to be enjoyable and this was not our idea of enjoyment. Lock 7E upper pound was down some 6 inches and we left the upper gate open for our imminent return, as we did with lock 8E. I turned Martlet around and headed back. We borrowed 6 inches of the fairly long pound and brought it down the locks with us. We spoke to a man who lives locally and had helped in the restoration of the canal. He was very disappointed in the way that BW have let maintenance slide. He said that in his opinion the main reason for water shortage was that the resevoir feeders to the canal are silted up and should be cleared out.
We did not run aground with the extra water and with Myra on the boat and yours truly on the long reach windlass ( it was hard work for me on two of the gate paddles) we made it to the broad canal with only one more trip down the weed hatch. What a disappointment. In our travels thus far with Martlet, 5057 locks and 9085 miles, this was the hardest of any. We moored, exhausted at Deighton playing fields and sank into a cup of tea. We will think about plan E tomorrow – possibly.
Weather - cloudy start, then hot sunny intervals, strong wind.
The 2008 journey thus far: 171 Locks & 281.5Miles & 19 Swing\Lift Bridges
Journeys using bus pass: 8
