Final Trip Day 8: Canals Day 4

Posted on April 30, 2017 by pensitivity101

Day 8: Tuesday 25th April

We had certainly had a variety of weather, from rain, sleet, hail and sunshine. We even had ice on the helm one morning! We were both sporting tans of a sort (read panda eyes for me) and were now in the final stretch of our final journey.
Only nineteen locks to go and we had notified the brokerage marina of our progress along the way.
We set off early again, aware that we had another first to experience as in a ‘staircase’ lock at gates 15 and 14 of the Bascote flight.
A staircase is slightly different from a standard lock as the top gates of one lock provide the bottom gates for the next.
Locks on the Grand Union are all doubles so it was similar to the river locks we were used to. We met up with two couples coming down so we shared the load. Sadly there was another casualty in the lock, that being a small deer. Hubby fished it out and lay it on the grass verge.

After that it was open water until the Stockton flight (locks 13 to 4).
It was a beautiful day, one with a sense of sadness as this would be our last night on our home.
We met another pair of couples who were travelling together (though this turned out to not exactly be the case) who had stopped after the first couple of locks in the flight to take on water.
We carried on and the canal was becoming quite busy now.
One of the girls we had spoken to earlier caught us up about three locks from the top of the flight. There had been a ‘little discussion’ about boat etiquette and the other boaters (4 on board) were sulking. Apparently they had decided to go on without waiting for her and her partner so our lassie left them to do all the hard work whilst she walked on ahead to prepare the next lock on her own.
This was at the top and I laughed out loud.
Just three locks to go called the Calcutt locks.

These were nice and straightforward so after number one, The Dip was no longer required.
We arrived at our destination and photos were snapped off by the broker as we brought her in. They were on their facebook page within hours.
We berthed her and made our way up to the office to complete the necessary paperwork.
Total time on the engine clock: 282.0 hr

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About pensitivity101

I am a retired number cruncher with a vivid imagination and wacky sense of humour which extends to short stories and poetry. I love to cook and am a bit of a dog whisperer as I get on better with them than people sometimes! In November 2020, we lost our beloved Maggie who adopted us as a 7 week old pup in March 2005. We decided to have a photo put on canvas as we had for her predecessor Barney. We now have three pictures of our fur babies on the wall as we found a snapshot of Kizzy, my GSD when Hubby and I first met so had hers done too. On February 24th 2022 we were blessed to find Maya, a 13 week old GSD pup who has made her own place in our hearts. You can follow our training methods, photos and her growth in my blog posts. From 2014 to 2017 'Home' was a 41 foot narrow boat where we made strong friendships both on and off the water. We were close to nature enjoying swan and duck families for neighbours, and it was a fascinating chapter in our lives. We now reside in a small bungalow on the Lincolnshire coast where we have forged new friendships and interests.
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7 Responses to Final Trip Day 8: Canals Day 4

  1. colinandray says:
    April 30, 2017 at 2:37 pm

    And so this “book” closes with the final chapter being completed. Looking forward to starting your next “book”! šŸ™‚

  2. Sarah Ferguson and Choppy says:
    May 1, 2017 at 2:52 am

    Club Toplockicana – that’s a great one.

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