Conkers and the Lock from Hell!!

Monday 1st October, 2012 in Reading.
In comes October, and we thought we were going conkers! Two reasons for this sad situation: firstly, we came up against the "Lock from Hell," of which more in a moment; and secondly, now that we are moored safely in Reading, we are under a line of horse chestnut trees which are cascading conkers on our steel roof with unrelenting loud bangs!!
We set off from outside "The Cunning Man" mid-morning and sailed down to Fobney lock, a couple of miles west of Reading, without problem. On the way we passed a very haughty Heron that eyed our approach with great suspicion!

Fobney lock was empty, so M opened the top paddles in order to fill it. The paddles are on the gate and the rush of water is quite impressive and the lock quickly started to fill up. However, the nearer it got to being filled, the slower the water rose, until finally it stopped rising altogether about 6 inches below the level of the canal.
An examination of the bottom gates showed that they were leaking very badly - so the water was draining out as fast as it was coming in. Even if there is less than one inch of difference in the levels, you cannot open lock gates, so with 6 inches difference it was quite impossible.
There were lots of reeds about, so R tried stuffing them down to try to stem the leaks from the bottom gates. He then found some hessian sacks and tried to stem the leaks with them too - all in vain. Of course, at this point the heavens opened, and we started to get seriously wet!

Eventually we gave up, closed the top paddles, opened the bottom paddles and emptied the lock again. We then opened the bottom gates and re-set them in the hopes that they would seal better this time. We also retrieved the reeds and sacks so that they would not get caught around another boat's propellor. 
This time, when we filled the lock, the bottom gates were not leaking as much and we were able to fill the lock and open the top gates to get MM into the lock. The whole process had taken over an hour.
The rest of the journey into Reading was trouble free and, of course, the sun came out now that we both didn't need to be outside. The traffic-light system through the middle of Reading was much easier to operate going downstream than it had been in June going upstream.

Yet again, we marvelled at the design and the architecture of the city and of the huge Oracle Centre. It's very impressive, particularly when viewed from the canal.

One of the first places that we saw in the Oracle was "Wagamamas" and we decided to celebrate completing the Kennet and Avon canal by going there tonight.

We moored up alongside the Oscar Wilde walk behind Reading Goal where we had stayed in June. It is right in the heart of Reading but completely quiet - or so we thought until a loud BANG on the roof alerted us to the fact that we were moored under horse chestnut trees - and it is autumn!

R's mobile phone had mysteriously been damaged, so we walked into Reading to find an O2 shop. We were so glad that we did; what a pleasant surprise the city was. Many lovely old buildings and mostly pedestrianised. R found himself a neat little Samsung mobile that is just a phone - no camera, no touch screen, no voice recognition - its just a phone!! Unbelievable!! Hooray!
On the way back we walked under some lovely weeping willows on the canal, back-lit by the sun. Beautiful.

M has a friend, Linda, who lives in nearby Caversham; they went to school in Reigate together in the 1960's. For some time they had been trying to arrange a day when they could meet up in Reading, and this afternoon had finally been agreed upon. We were delighted when a tap on the stern door announced Linda's arrival. She stayed for tea and cake, and she and M spent a happy couple of hours having a catch up. We are hoping that she will join us for a short trip out next week.
Today: 4 miles, 3 locks and 3.3 hours.
Trip: 292 miles, 302 locks and 260.2 hours (412.9 total).