Above Buckby top Lock to below it.
1/2 mile 1 Lock.
Friday. What a hectic time we are having, Friday morning topped up with water and dropped down Buckby top lock, it is always best to go through this Lock in the morning as in the afternoon or evening in good weather you have a large audience sat outside the pub just waiting for a mishap, in fact they are so close you have to squeeze past some of the tables when moving from one end of the Lock to the other.
A good veiw of proceedings.
The boat pictured in the lock looks likes an old Challenger Syndicate boat named Centurion, the crew opened the paddles to empty the lock and then battered the righthand gate open with the boat, fortunately no one was standing by the Balance beam, unlike the other gate otherwise they may have had a few drinks to replace or worse.!!
You can work this one out for yourself !!!
Saturday. On Saturday morning, as the noise from the A5 Trunk road was louder that we expected we moved another 300 yards down towards the next lock opposite open fields with a few Sheep in them.
Archimedes and Ara, two of the seven boats
I had read on Narrowboat World that 7 working boats were on their way from Paddington Basin to Atherstone carrying Gravel and that they would be passing us at around Midday so got my bike out to see if I could help them through the Locks, the first 4 boats were ok, plenty of helpers so I carried on a bit further and found nb Victoria with steerer Mike on his own so after closing the top gates of the lock he was leaving I cycled up to ready the next one, Victoria was very slow approaching, Mike thought that something was fouling the Propeller, it got so bad that we had to pull the boat into and out of the lock on ropes.
Pulling Victoria out of the Lock
Once in the lock Mike had a go at trying to clear the prop with the boat hook (Unlike a modern boat, this is the only way) while I filled the Lock, he seemed to think that it was a car tyre fouling the Propeller.
Mike attempts to remove whatever is around the Propeller of Victoria
Mike then went inside and lifted a couple of floor boards to check the driveshaft from the engine to the Propeller and found that the rubber coupling in the driveshaft had split in 2, whether this was caused by the fouled Propeller or it had just broken due to fatigue, either way the boat was not going anywhere under it's own power until the coupling had been replaced.
Victoria being assisted by nb Sunrise
The Last we saw of Victoria, breasted up with a Modern boat, hopefully by now the coupling has been fixed and she can continue on her way to Atherstone.
Sunday. After Breakfast Jayne decided that a bit of cooking was needed so out came the ingredients for one of her specials, she hasn't got a name for it but it includes Quorn mince, Onion, Peppers, Mushrooms, Vegetable Oxo, 2 tins of Tomatoes, Mixed herbs, Seasoning and a pot to throw it all in.
Into the Pot
Cook it for ???, it's a secret
And put it in Tupperware boxes or Freezer bags ready for the Freezer
We can then re-heat when needed and have it on a bed of Wholegrain rice, and it tastes very good.
Thats Jayne finished in the kitchen for a least 2 weeks now.
This evening we watched a Football match that we were looking forward to but were left disapointed by the way both teams played, never mind it's all over now and we won't have to listen to the sound of the Vuvuzela Plastic Trumpets anymore unless they are adopted by Hireboat crews to go with the Pirate hats.
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