We were quite late leaving Hilperton after news that Lock 20 had been opened. Lock 20 is part of the Seend locks (17-21) and we decided to get to a position on the canal where we would be at the start of them ready for the next day.
Then on Friday we could find a more accessible point for Steve to meet us if the driveshaft was ready to go back into the generator.
The weather that day was threatening but we seemed to out run it (at 4-6 knots that is quite an achievement
Heavy showers behind us
..........heading into glorious sunshine
We moored at Seend Cleeve which has a lovely canal side pub called 'The Barge'. John and Vinnie did not take too much persuading to go for a drink!
Tara dining 'al towpath'
Double checking that she had not missed anything under the bowl
The pub was just over the bridge..........
View from the bridge
Next morning Tara decided she needed beauty treatment......
Fun and games at one of the locks when 2 holiday boats became firmly wedged in the lock. Must add that they were being managed by company people and not clients although we learnt afterwards that they had little experience on the canal.
The only way the we could clear the lock for our own passage was to pull the offending boat out of the lock. This took several attempts and after an application of one of Newton's Laws (F=ma) it was finally persuaded/forced free
John directing operations
Free at last.
The following lock also looked narrow so John and I were not taking any chances and went in one by one. As I was attempting to line up in the canal another boat entered at speed, ramming my boat in an attempt to force it over - without so much as a by or leave... much to my great consternation. He claimed to be an experienced boater! I was unfortunately to have further close encounters with him the next day, but more of the verbal kind.
Good news! The next new bearing for John's generator had arrived and Steve had successfully fitted it onto the driveshaft.
We moored at Sells Green which gave Steve easy road access to the towpath to install the part.
John was very proud of his parking that day. Pictures show the narrowest of margins between the adjacent boats which he achieved without contact to either boat. So.. marks out of 10 please.
I won't mention the bow thrusters!!
Steve as promised arrived to fit the driveshaft
............assisted by John
Ta dah!!
The next day was Saturday and some friends of mine kindly offered to help us up Caen Flight. So once John's boat was fixed we motored on. Canal Trust volunteers gave us a lot of assistance by opening all the lower gates on the Foxhangers Locks (22-28) which meant we could go straight into them from the previous lock. So we were at the bottom of Caen Flight in what seemed to be next to no time.
Looking up the flight from our mooring at the bottom
Halfway up
It was a beautiful evening and so peaceful on the flight. All the locks just seemed to be poised ready for the following day's action, enjoying the tranquility of the late sun.
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