Leaving the Rode Heath moorings after a day off yesterday.
Thurlwood Lock was just around the corner and it was this one I had to fill. Alongside it is a planted area that was the site of the Thurlwood Steel Lock, an experimental construction designed to be used where subsidence was a problem.
It was built as a complete unit, with the chamber and guillotine gates able to be jacked up as the ground shifted. But it was sadly unreliable and slow to fill, and boat crews tended to avoid it, using the conventional chamber alongside. It opened with much fanfare in 1958, and in 1988 it was demolished, the steel cut up for scrap and the site cleared.
By the time I’d filled and emptied the lock a boat had arrived to go up, Dave off Brittany Lauren who we often meet in the winter on the Llangollen.
After this we met full locks all the way down, with boats making regular appearances on their way up.
Lock 57 at Hassel Green
Several of the duplicated chambers are out of action, some for a long time but others a lot more recently.
This actually complicates matters on the short pounds. The paired locks make using the flight a rapid operation, but then everything slows down when boats have to queue when there’s only one chamber in use. Today it wasn’t a problem, but in the height of the season…
Maybe CRT should just close one of the still-working pairs to keep the traffic flow consistent?
Canal-side cottages at Malkins Bank
Lock 64, Saw Pit Lock, our last for the day.
Locks are often named for a local feature, dwelling or industry. Lock 61 is Cardboard Lock which is a little confusing until you realise that there used to be papermill alongside!
We pulled in a couple of hundred yards below Lock 64. We could have dropped down the final two to the Wheelock moorings, but it’s nicer up here. TV reception is better, the bank is higher so it’s easier for Meg, there’s plenty of grass and you don’t get bounced about when the lock above is emptied. No brainer, really.
Locks 12, miles 3¼
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