Leek

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 4.4 miles

Total 4447 Locks  280 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,663.4 miles

A slow trip to the Leek end of the Caldon Canal, mainly due to lack of water depth. It was interesting since, as we passed Hazlehurst Locks a boat coming back told us that it was too shallow and everyone was turning around beyond bridge 5. We could see something of the issue since, as we went under bridge 6 we came to a stop (the depth seems to be at it’s worst in the bridge holes) but stepped off the boat, bow hauled it through and continued on our way. It was slow but nothing bear as bad as Reach Lode was last year, I remained reasonably confident throughout that we’d get to the end. It was proven to be not as bad as the boat at Hazlehurst had made out since there were 5 other boats already moored when we got here. I squeezed most of RUNE into the available mooring but we ended out overlapping the boat in front by about 8 feet but he was amenable as I said we only intended to stop for lunch and then head back to Park Lane services where we were going to meet out marine engineer. Unfortunately he phoned at about 2pm and said he could be with us in 40 minutes (originally we were supposed to meet at 6pm). We agreed with this but by the time he had fixed the problem it was too late to head back down the Caldon so we are atrociously moored for the night, but this isn’t a piece of canal with much (any) passing traffic so I don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem.