Today’s the day ......................... to lend a hand

As I mentioned before, the locks on the Grand Union Canal are big enough for two boats to go through side-by-side.  So it’s a good idea to team up with another boat if you can and go together.  It saves on water – and elbow grease. 

The mitred gates at the head and tail of each lock can be very heavy – and the winding gear to shift the paddles almost impossible to turn by just one person.  The boat we teamed up with to go through the Knowle Locks only had a crew of two – so while one steered, there was only one other person who would have had to do all the lock stuff single-handed.

By the time we had shared a few locks together, we knew a fair bit about them.  They were an Australian couple, who had bought their boat on the internet – unseen.  They had come over to England a week before, picked up the boat and were going to use it to explore for the next six months before selling it on again.

By then, I imagine that they will have muscles on their muscles ......................