CRASH BANG WALLOP

   

Well it all seems to happening round us, but luckily not to us.

Where shall I start? I was rudely awakened early Tuesday morning, and by early I mean 5am, by the sound of someone using a large industrial angle grinder, it stopped and then they started with some heavy duty banging. Most strange, and annoying I thought. Then it stopped, and about half an hour later it started again. So I poked my head out of our hatch to see sparks, like a firework, coming from the bridge behind us and a couple of guys in hi viz clothing.

As I couldn’t see the reason I went back to bed, as you do. When we did get up we discovered that in the early hours of the morning (around 2am) a car had hit the bridge, (we never heard a thing) and what I had heard and seen, was the contractors cutting the car free from the bridge railings. Yes, it hit it that hard one of its wheels was found on the other side of the canal. Apparently the driver and passenger didn’t hang about to discuss how it happened with the police.

The bridge was closed to both cars and narrowboats whilst they erected some temporary railings, and checked that the bridge alignment and hydraulics were not damaged. Luckily everything was ok and they reopened the bridge around teatime.

And there’s more, apparently the same night another car had hit a swing bridge just further down the canal, and this also had to be repaired. By the time we reached it all was good and we got through no problem.

And there’s more, but I will come to that later.

After the 2 very hot days it was time to move. We decided to make for Aldermaston. 2 reasons a post box, the Captain had a card to post and the pub The Butt Inn. But first we needed water and bins which were located at the second lock of the day.

Everything seemed to be going well until we reached the services and found 4 boats already there. 1 filling with water, 2 waiting, and the other doing a pump out. We tried to pull in behind but part of the arnco had fallen in, which meant we grounded, the Captain had an anxious moment as we tried to extract ourselves, and we got uncomfortably close to a small fibre glass yogurt pot moored on the opposite bank. Steel meeting fibre glass is never a good thing. The Captain being the most excellent steerer that he his soon had the situation under control. The 2 boats on the water point started to leave and we were able to pull in. The boat behind us Steve on, NB First Love or Cariad Cyntaf in Welsh, said he wouldn’t be long and started to fill a number of 5litre bottles. Not a problem, there is no rushing on the canal. Then he let the boat doing a pump out fill up before eventually filling his own tank. Then it was our turn.

It did give me time to check out the lock and the swing bridge before it, a rather strange set up, and it was apparent that the lock had to be set and the gates open before opening the bridge to let the boats through. As they are double locks we asked Steve if he wanted to join us, and he did. The Captain always worries that this means more work for me but I don’t mind, and sometimes I find it easier to work single handers through than have them get off their boat to help.

As we left another boat turned up on the water point, and a couple of the crew wandered up to check out the lock. I had a quick chat and discovered they were part the Mikron Theatre company who travel round the system by boat putting on performances here and there

https://www.mikron.org.uk/

Water and rubbish sorted. We were off again.

At the next bridge a boat was moored on the bridge landing, which makes it difficult to drop me off to operate the bridge. It turned out the guy didn’t have a choice, as the head gasket had gone, which meant he was going nowhere and he was waiting for help.

At the next lock Steve decided he was going to stop and have a rest, so we continues on alone doing the next lock and then we were at Aldermaston. But, as is often the case there were no moorings below Aldermaston lock, as there is a boatyard, who has use of all the mooring a long that stretch, there were signs offering chargeable moorings but no price so on we went. I then realised it was a similar set up to the earlier lock, a bridge before it, which I thought (wrongly as it turned out) meant I would need to set the lock before opening the bridge, so this is what I did.

I love the bridges on this stretch as they are in the main all electric, so all I have to do is put my key in push the button. As I was doing this I was approached by 2 ladies, its not unusual for people to be intrigued by me doing it all by myself.

We got chatting and the information they gave me suddenly changed everything, firstly the pub wasn’t open yet. Oh no. but more importantly a tree had fallen across the canal just round the next bend, blocking the canal and towpath completely, this was my next ‘and there’s more’ moment.

I got so distracted I left my waterways key at the bridge and had to go back for it.

The Captain wasn’t to bothered, as we had decided earlier this was as far as we were going today, but as with a lot of places, when we tried to moor it was impossible, either too shallow or too overgrown. We could see just before the bend 2 boats breasted up on the offside, when we got as far as them they told us there was no point in going any further. It looked like we wouldn’t be able to moor, but the Captain spotted a handy tree and got the nose of the boat tied on there and luckily at the back there was arnco. But in the position we were in, we couldn’t get off the boat.

I in the meantime had phoned CRT for an update and was told contractors wouldn’t be out until the next day, so we were here for the night.

Hopefully as tradition says things come in three’s, and this will be our last disaster on the K&A.