We were awake quite early (before 7) and as soon as sunrise was beginning there was someone about to empty the lock. They then realised that we were in the way. Mike dressed quickly and went out to explain the situation - they had not heard about the low water. The promised rain had already arrived and continued all day, quite heavy at times.
Other boaters waiting below came up from time to time in the day but no-one was going anywhere.
At 8, Christine called the East Midlands Customer service and spoke to Sharon, the same person as yesterday (Christine felt that she was now on someone's watch list!) She did not have any new information but promised to call as soon as she could find out today's plan.
It was a while before she called but by then boats were being admitted to the flight at the top. However, the empty pounds at the bottom of the flight seem to have caught the bankside staff on the hop. Not long after this update a member of the team arrived to check the bottom lock. The water level where we were had dropped a little overnight but not enough to suggest more than the usual leakage around the cill of the top gate. However, he felt that there was something preventing the towpath-side paddle from fully closing so he went off to find a keb, returning a while later.
By this time there was police activity two or three hundred metres up the canal and a walker told us that a body had been found in the water. (So even if we suddenly had water we would not be allowed through just yet anyway)
Keb in hand, the CaRT person was able to explore the suspect paddle (we had not used it yesterday when we came up) Apart from a lot of weed, he eventually pulled out a long branch that had become wedged underneath the paddle, (part in the canal and part in the culvert) He was then able to drop the paddle fully down. Even so, the leakage into the lock chamber did not seem to have changed very much. He indicated that it might day a day and half to bring down enough water for us to make progress but it was on its way.
Andrew walked up the first few locks in the flight and found that the level in at least the first three or four pounds was well below the bywash overflow so our pound would not see any for some time yet.
By now a couple of formal Notices had been posted online - the first gleefully announcing that the flight was open and the second to say that because of a Police Incident the transit was now ceased for the day and and an update would be posted tomorrow. In between we did learn from Customer Services that it was expected that we should be on the move early in the morning but if necessary the temporary opening would be extended to ensure that all the boats waiting made it through.
Andrew's walk extended into town and, although there was little to excite him he did find a Turkish bakery that makes its own cakes. He returned to the boat bearing a large box inside which was a delicious and impressive gateau. The impressive bit was immediately obvious but delicious judgement came when we rounded off lunch (mainly one of Christine's famous soups) with a proper cake tasting session.
Mid afternoon, Andrew went on another walk and this time discovering that the police cordon was not lifted and also that one of the down passage boats had made it to Lock 14. Comparing photos with this morning he could see that water was definitely coming but that the pound above us is yet to overflow into ours. Hopefully, CaRT will continue to send water during the night so that we can expect to move quite soon after daybreak. (Another early alarm as the boats below will be champing at the bit if it looks possible to make progress as they cannot do so until we are out of their way)
Otherwise we passed the day staring at the stone wash walls to see if there was even the slightest change in water level. Alas almost nothing other than a small further drop!
No comments:
Post a Comment