Cut and Rune: Kidsgrove/ Red Bull Locks

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.7 miles

Total 585 Locks 20 Tunnels

Running total mileage 884.4 miles

A day passing through Harecastle Tunnel is a day not wasted! It is a fascinating experience going through that tunnel because even though it is not as long as Blisworth it seems much further. Fortunately Telford and his engineers seem to have been able to cut a pretty straight tunnel so steering in the tunnel isn’t quite so challenging as steering through the Braunston Tunnel. There is an intriguing effect as you enter the tunnel from the South, they close the gates behind you and then turn on the fans to suck out the engine fumes; As they do this the air pressure in the tunnel drops slightly which causes the moisture in the air to condense into a temporary fog. It is a little disconcerting at first because, as the lead boat, I was looking through the tunnel to the exit portal to steer my course, suddenly the exit portal disappears into the fog! All very worrying.

After completing the tunnel we did experience an odd occurrence in the next lock. Entered the lock as normal, held the boat against the bottom gate as I released the paddles then, leaving the crew to open the other paddles, I got back aboard. As the lock began to drain the boat started to move backwards, I put it into forward gear to check this but the force driving me backwards became greater the more the lock emptied. Eventually I was full speed in forward but still going backwards, at quite a rate until the ‘button’ on the back of the boat hit the cill which was now fully exposed. I had become increasingly worried, given the velocity I was going backwards, that I may hit and break the rudder but managed to avoid that. The ‘button’ however had become jammed into the cill and whatever I tried would not free it. We tried shutting the bottom gate paddles and it immediately became obvious what the problem was, the top side paddles were still open as the lock had started to refill as we shut the gates. The effect of this however was to break the chain holding the ‘button’ on, but at least the boat was then freed. It took me another half an hour or so to repair the damage but it is another lesson learnt, even when they look as though they are closed, always check the paddles in the lock.

Tomorrow we press on down ‘Heartbreak Hill’ , 6 locks in quick succession as we pass Church Lawton. Our target is to get to Wheelock for the weekend to get the shopping from Sandbach but that may be more of an aspiration for tomorrow rather than a realistic goal given that there are 23 locks and 9 miles of canal between us and there! Probably Saturday will be the day for Wheelock!