We were up early to reseat the ‘ellum yet again. We also realised that the point of lift was not quite right in relation to where the pintles should enter the appropriate sockets, so a spacer was devised out of a piece of line to move the suspension point slightly further forward and line them up. This worked well, so another improvement had been developed. The butty ‘ellum had now been unseated and replaced eleven times on this trip alone, so no wonder we were improving on the technique! No one was held up through the bridge ‘ole as we moved off at 8am, set for Jericho. The Thames was now on red boards (unsafe for boating), so we were aware that there might be a delay at Isis Lock for a while, before access to the Thames was possible. Little did we realise how long that delay would be!
We cruised into Oxford on a very short line, as there were many moored boats along the towpath. The sun welcomed us as we arrived at Jericho, but there were a lot of boats waiting to get on to the Thames and moorings were not readily available. We had no option but to moor where there was a No Mooring sign, but fortunately it was in deep water. The replacement crew of Lawrie and Gill arrived shortly after and I departed to do my duty as steerer on the trip boats at Banbury Canal Day, which would be a totally different experience.
 |
| Banbury Canal Day Trip Boat (Photo by Robin Williams) |
Footnote. The boats remained at Jericho for 10days waiting for the Thames to subside and eventually shot the rapids at Osney to head for the Kennet and Avon.
3 comments:
Do you tie the elum at right angle to "normal" when locking ?
It depends on the length of the lock, but if there is a chance of it hitting or catching the cill, then we tie it up as you see. The tiller is ALWAYS removed to save it catching on the lockside. Better safe than sorry!
Thanks for reading my blog Alf. I hope you enjoy it. More to come soon about the trip back.
Post a Comment