'Don't play on the stairs!'

Day Two: on the Cheshire Canals

There was trouble at mill today at Grindley Brook Staircase Locks as the Bar Headed Goose, from Wrenbury Mill, got into a spot of bother.

More on that story later.

We set off earlyish today. Ri & I were given the task of buying the morning paper, so we quickly piled of the barge, ran over the bridge, where we saw the boat slowing cruising away beneath us, & found the local shop. We soon caught back up with the barge with Pa giving us the smallest window (& the biggest possible gap) to jump back on board. We then tootled on until we reached the electronic lift bridge at Wrenbury Mill. We soon discovered that our key for the bridge wouldn't work, but the ladies in the adjoining shop were on hand to help & we soon passed through & moored for lunch at the Cotton Arms. We all had a huge lunch, some of us moaning about the magnificent sized portions all afternoon. Dad & I had a meat & potato stew in a hollowed out bread loaf, was fit for a king, but neither of us could quite finish the last bit of gravy-soaked bread.

In the afternoon as the cloud set in, we tackled more locks, & they're were quite a few! Jen & Ri were becoming pro's by the time we reached the final Locks at Grindley, after which would have then signalled the end of our day & time for tea! (Clearly my days as Lock Labourer are numbered) However, that was not to be the case.

I should set the scene by stating that we had all afternoon been following a rather slow, bumbling group of slightly senior sailors, who were not the quickest with locks, nor the most subtle or delicate in guiding their boat into them. They were ahead of us & so went into the first of the three staircase locks, closing the doors behind them. Unfortunately for them & their boat, they had not read the instructions for the locks properly & clearly thought they knew what they were doing. Added into the mix that the lock warden had clocked off & an extremely unhelpful man with a dog, their odds didn't look too good. I came up to the first locks to see if things were ok & to see how this thing actually worked, & found their boat at a rather strange looking angle, with the front tipping quite high up & the rear submerged under water with the helmsman scrabbling for the ladder to escape. Anyway, after a little panic & much deliberation, a crowd gathered, mostly consisting of the crew of queuing barges, up & down, the appropriate people were called, the remaining codgers on the titanic were evacuated & then camera's starting snapping!

It was all very exciting, but by about 9.30pm the barge had been bilged & was floating again. It was then towed by rope, as the only month old engine was knackered, up the remaining locks & to freedom where its previous inhabitants could board & kip for the night in their soggy beds & contemplate their lucky escape.

We had our tea, watched Overboard (we love Kurt Russel & Goldie Hawn) as it seemed appropriate & then hoped that tomorrow would not be quite as adventurous as it was for our canal cohorts.. but obviously still quite fun!