Catastrophe in Big Lock

 We left Tattenhall on a wet October afternoon with the over ambitious plan to get to Manchester and back within the week.  With rainclouds overhead, and the need for waterproofs, it didn't bode well.  

A first night was spent in a favourite spot above Stone Lock in Beeston.  This photo was taken by him on a previous visit a few weeks earlier.  We woke up to a similar view with clear skies and sunshine but it was cold. 

The first part of our journey towards the Middlewich Arm was fairly familiar and the day got warmer.  Once on the canal we had a couple of locks to negotiate before lunch.  That's when I fell in trying to reach land.  It wasn't so warm after that (even without the dunking) and, by the time we reached Middlewich, we were ready to call it a day and find a mooring - but there weren't any.  That meant doing more locks and tying up alongside the waterpoint in the middle of town.  Then they left me to go and get dinner!

On Monday they were going to meet some friends at Broken Cross where we'd left the boat in the summer after the hottest day of the year.  It was sunny again but not so hot.  There was only one lock to do - Big Lock - and we'd done it before so had no worries.  We should have.  It turned out to be a CAT astrophe (the most suitable word to describe what happened). .

She steered the boat into the lock and it settled well in front of the cill so no danger of the back end being left high and dry.  What she didn't realise was the bow fender was hooked on the lock gate in front and, as the water dropped, so did the back end.  She quickly tied the stern rope round the steps to stop it dropping further.  He closed the front gate and ran to the back to release more water into the lock so she could refloat and reverse off the gate.  It probably only lasted a few minutes but I saw my life flash before my eyes as I dug my paws into the mat on the roof to stop myself sliding over the edge.  They seemed calm on the outside but he was running the risk of having a heart attack and she was using all her strength to hold onto the rope (and her temper).  

Once through the lock, they shakily made their way onto Broken Cross where their friends met us and told us a story of seeing a similar situation where the water-filled boat had to be lifted out by a crane.

This is what might have happened! (Daily Mail)

The rest of the day was pleasurable.  Sue and Simon steered the boat to the Anderton Boat Lift (which had closed after we'd gone through it in the summer and had never reopened).  Sadly, the cafe was closed on Mondays in October so we turned back and stopped for dinner at the Old Broken Cross where Sue and Simon left us.  They decided that, from now on, they will take things easier so on Tuesday, another sunny day, they stopped for a couple of hours by a wide part of the canal and relaxed before heading back to Middlewich.

This time we had company in the Big Lock so no mishaps.  Then we had the help of some nice volunteers to go up the town locks where he let them know what had happened.  Not sure if they were impressed or not but she steered the boat beautifully into the locks as if to prove they weren't so stupid.

The next day we travelled back along the Middlewich Arm and stopped for a late lunch at the Venetian Marina (where I was given biscuits for being a good dog!).  Then it was back onto the Shropshire Canal and we stopped at the top of the Bunbury Locks for the night.

Thursday was wet.  It spoilt our last day and, though they had no problems with the locks, they clearly weren't enjoying the journey back to a wet and windy Tattenhall.  He didn't even try to reverse the boat in.