Wednesday 12th June 2019 in Crick.
Thankfully, a dry morning, albeit overcast and cool.
We "let go" just after 9:00am and arrived at the bottom of Watford locks about half an hour later. The centre four locks at Watford are a "staircase", so passage through all seven locks is very much a one-way thing, with several boats going one way and then several boats going the other. So, waits of an hour or so are common. Anticipating probable water shortages, the locks are now padlocked from 4:00pm to 10:00am, so we wanted to get there before the rush.
We were not happy to find four boats in front of us!
We signed in with the volunteer lock keeper who was unlocking the gates.
Imagine our delight to find that we were actually second in line! One hire boat decided that they didn't have time to go all the way up and all the way back down, so turned around. Another boat appeared to have been abandonned and we met the owner of the third boat on the towpath, who was taking his two dogs to the McDonalds at nearby Watford Gap Services for hash browns!!
There were five boats already coming down through the staircase. There are two normal locks below the staircase four, so the first boat in front of us was allowed through the first two locks to wait at the bottom of the staircase, and we were allowed through the first lock to wait below the second lock. We both then had to wait for all five boats to come down the staircase and exit the flight.
R helped the volunteers by filling and setting the bottom lock five times as the boats came down.
Meanwhile, the Swedish group from the hire boat which had turned round, walked up to see the locks and quizzed R all about narrowboating. Apparently, they had decided to explore England by narrowboat having watched "Midsomer Murders" on Swedish television!
While re-setting the bottom lock, R invented a new version of "Pooh Sticks". The large paddles create strong whirlpools as they suck the water down into the lock and R noticed sticks that got caught in the whirlpools then went through the paddles and popped up in the lock. Great fun!
At last we were allowed through the second lock and into the staircase proper.
Each staircase lock has a "side pound", so the sequence of paddles is unusualy complicated with red paddles and white paddles.The old saying is "Red before white, you'll be alright, white before red, you'll wish you were dead". M was very happy to have the help of the C&RT volunteers!
The C&RT office at the top is very well maintained, but the whole site is a bit blighted by the noise of the M1 passing over the bridge just a few yards in front.
All the time we were waiting and going up the locks, M was a bit distracted because she kept seeing "Eddies" roaring past on the M1.
A lovely surprise to see nb "Tyseley" at the top - home to the Mikron Theatre Group, a floating company of very talented actors who perform all around the network. They perform two original plays every year and they have been going for over 40 years. Well worth a visit if they are in your area.
R and MM disappear into Crick Tunnel a mile above the locks.
M had decided to walk across on the old horse path. The start was pretty (despite having to negotiate waist high nettles initially), but much of it has been taken over by a tarmac road.
Although M had walked it several times before, she photographed the map in case she got lost. The path is the red dotted line
Hooray! M found her way back to the canal.
And there was MM waiting for her and R had even put the kettle on.
Later, we walked into the village of Crick and found a lovely tea room. Toasted tea cakes - delicious!
The rain arrived just as we got back to MM, so we had timed it right.
Today: 4 miles, 7 locks and 2.5 hours.
Trip: 79 miles, 38 locks and 42.4 hours.
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