Moving On Again

After much debating with myself about moving on to Bulls Bridge alone or waiting until Monday when Dave (N.B. Chavori) was moving and would have shared the locks (and the work) the slight concern over fuel and coal won, I have tentatively arranged to meet a trading boat (supplying diesel, coal and gas) on Friday at Bulls Bridge and so I decided to set off this morning, before leaving I took on water, to do that meant reversing back along the canal some distance, I could have winded (turned around), filled up and winded again but I decided I need the practice reversing, so luckily it was fairly wind-less and slowly I reversed back, as you cannot steer a narrowboat in reverse the idea is to watch the front of the boat and if it starts to wander (and they do) you have to give a short burst of forward gear steering to straighten then boat and then back into reverse, it sounds easy and if the weather is calm and there is plenty of room it is reasonably easy, with practice, however, it can also get you into a pickle if you’re not slow and careful, this time it went well and I moored on the water point and filled up,

Taking on water

it took about 45minutes to fill, I have a 900 litre tank which is quite large and it was probably about ¾ empty.

I did not intend to go far today, Pete on the boat behind me had told me I could moor just before the Hanwell flight of locks, this is shown in my Pearson’s guide as private so it’s good to talk to other boaters, I set off for the short run and arrived at Clitheroe’s Lock (99) where there was a tremendous amount of rubbish in the lock and above the lock, however it did not cause any problems other than not being able to fully open the gates, of course it decided to rain as I was working the lock and stopped as soon as I had finished, onwards to Osterley Lock (98) and the same situation, rubbish lot’s of it, in and above the lock, this section of the canal is it would appear abused and treated as a rubbish disposal point, onwards again only about half a mile to the tow path moorings just before the Fox pub at the bottom of the Hanwell flight of locks, Pearson’s guide says of the Fox “Good Beer Guide recommended pub offering London Pride, Doom Bar, and Landlord on tap” three of my favourite beers all in one place, it would be rude not to check, sadly Mr Google informs me it is quiz night tonight, I may have a quick look, not a lover of quiz nights. 

Nothing worthy of a picture on the way but here's my mooring for the night, I squeezed in between two nice wide beams, might shelter me from the wind.

Total today : 2 Locks : 2miles