Locks?

[fatboy]

Would you say you dread locks (see what i did there) and see them as a pain or do you just get used to them and go through them without thinking?

When someone says we have 14 locks ahead of us today, does it fill you with doom?

 

Thanks in advance for the hundred or so replies

[Matthew Knowles]

Would you say you dread locks (see what i did there) and see them as a pain or do you just get used to them and go through them without thinking?

When someone says we have 14 locks ahead of us today, does it fill you with doom?

 

Thanks in advance for the hundred or so replies

Locks are all part of boating. It's like saying "I enjoy driving but hate roundabouts". Take your time through them and see them as a break from chugging along the canal.

 

Clearly, if you have 14 locks ahead of you then it may be a little daunting because you have less scope to take your time but 'dread' is probably a bit strong.

[Machpoint005]

Get used to it, part of the experience. nothing to worry about, a pleasure rather than the opposite.

However, I hope we never go through any lock without thinking.

[romarni123]

Would you say you dread locks (see what i did there) and see them as a pain or do you just get used to them and go through them without thinking?

When someone says we have 14 locks ahead of us today, does it fill you with doom?

 

Thanks in advance for the hundred or so replies

 

I would say that I used to dread them,but with the onset of middle age spread and bingo wings it seems a good way of shifting some flab

[carlt]

I miss them.

 

Even though boating at sea is a bit like several hours on a stepper machine I still can't shift the flab that I've grown, since leaving the cut.

[magpie patrick]

long days are easier with locks, the eight hour haul to Upton, with only two locks, both manned, takes it's toll on the eardrums (engine noise) and patience, yet 55 locks in twelve hours with Odana and Black Beauty was a breeze

 

I miss them.

 

Even though boating at sea is a bit like several hours on a stepper machine I still can't shift the flab that I've grown, since leaving the cut.

 

 

Carlt, my boat is a modern steel thingy but if you want a deal to make sure our "big" holiday is on a new bit of canal (by getting her up Tardebigge for us) then please say...

[cotswoldsman]

Would you say you dread locks (see what i did there) and see them as a pain or do you just get used to them and go through them without thinking?

When someone says we have 14 locks ahead of us today, does it fill you with doom?

 

Thanks in advance for the hundred or so replies

 

With dread but mainly in jest. Not that many days when you have 14 in a row.

[romarni123]

I miss them.

 

Even though boating at sea is a bit like several hours on a stepper machine I still can't shift the flab that I've grown, since leaving the cut.

[/quot

 

I have only grown flab since being on the cut.To many small shops selling to nicer things to eat.

[Naughty Cal]

We dont really like them but they are necessary to navigate the system. We are lucky that there are few locks where we keep our boat and the majority of those are manned during working hours and boater operated electric locks at other times.

 

We have covered over 700 miles so far this year yet have only gone through 36 locks, of those only 4 have been manual locks.

[Dekazer]

It's a bit of variety and often the place to have a chat with friends on other boats or to meet other boaters. However when it's wet and miserable and slippery I can't say I relish going through.

 

I also find the locks in Camden somewhat daunting on a busy summer Sunday afternoon, mainly because I'm worried someone's going to end up in the water, or I'll do something silly with a huge audience

[Gunna Do]

Mainly quite like them, adding variety to the day. Narrow locks tend to be easier and quicker but wide ones more daunting when alone but more sociable when with another boat. Gets your brain working sometimes when perhaps the bottom gate won't stay shut so you have to crack open a ground paddle so that water pressure will help etc. Of course going the other way it should open automatically but usually doesn't! As I say it keeps you on your toes.

Going Boston way in Aug so will probably long for a lock to stave off the monotony of straight rivers with high banks!!

[mykaskin]

I've done 14 before breakfast before now. Don't mind locks, but I do perfer them in small close flights rather than singles every 1/2 mile.

 

Mike

[Chris Pink]

Would you say you dread locks (see what i did there) and see them as a pain or do you just get used to them and go through them without thinking?

When someone says we have 14 locks ahead of us today, does it fill you with doom?

 

Thanks in advance for the hundred or so replies

 

I love locks, they are magical things and, as a bit of a show-off, I love taking a big motor boat into a lock, knocking enough way off it so I have time to walk down the top plank and throw a bight of rope over a bollard to hold the bows still, by which time, hopefully, my crew has the gate shut and the first paddle cracked. Has the young lovelies all of a flutter.

 

As for going up Caen hill, there is nothing quite like getting to the top and looking back over the Wiltshire plain and realising that you've just brought 20 tonnes of boat up a 200 foot hill more or less effortlessly. The biggest machine in the world that the general public are allowed to play with.

 

Locks? Bring them on I say. It's what canal boating is all about.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Chris Pink

[Naughty Cal]

Going Boston way in Aug so will probably long for a lock to stave off the monotony of straight rivers with high banks!!

 

I doubt it somehow, there will be plenty to keep you on your toes.

[romarni123]

I've done 14 before breakfast before now. Don't mind locks, but I do perfer them in small close flights rather than singles every 1/2 mile.

 

Mike

 

Do you drink irn-bru

[Machpoint005]

I've done 14 before breakfast before now. Don't mind locks, but I do perfer them in small close flights rather than singles every 1/2 mile.

 

Mike

Agreed. We (self and memsahib) went up the Bosley 12 yesterday evening in well under 2 hours, despite 10 of them being against us. Included some spectacular evening sunshine and two heavy thunderstorms.

 

It wasn't a race, but it just shows what is possible with a good technique and no 'enemy'. Locks are fun, especially in flights.

 

 

 

 

Added:

OK the memsahib says only 9 were against us, and it would have been quicker if I hadn't got jammed in lock 6 (there's a pinch point if you forget to lift a fender).

Edited July 15, 2010 by Machpoint005

[alan_fincher]

Locks are very much part of the experience for me - I tend to avoid the lock-less canals, however much anybody raves about them, (example the Ashby - you are already in a long lock-less world without taking that major diversion).

 

The Thames started to bore me, simply because of the "all electric, all keepered" thing, I was so glad to get back onto the cut, I'm afraid, although others clearly think the Thames is "tops". (An exception was the tidal bit through central London - I'll forgo locks for that ride!).

 

Our annual lock count usually manages to exceed our annual mile count, last year being the first exception (1005 miles, 904 locks).

 

A smashed pelvis and other commitments will mean a lighter year this time, but so far I think we are at about 264 miles versus 312 locks, so the balance is better, and we still have the summer and autumn holidays ahead of us.

 

If I didn't like locks, I guess I'd not keep turning out to lock-wheel for interesting boats passing through.

[Liam]

I've done 14 before breakfast before now. Don't mind locks, but I do perfer them in small close flights rather than singles every 1/2 mile.

 

Mike

 

Yes but what time do you have your breakfast

[Athy]

Would you say you dread locks (see what i did there)

What exactly do you mean by "See what I did there"?

I enjoy locks in moderation, preferably narrow ones. When we go and visit 'Trojan' we have a 2-and-a-bit hour road journey to get to our mooring and usually arrive feeling rather tired and tense. An hour and a half later, having gone 2 miles and dropped through the four narrow locks into Cropredy village, we are invariably more relaxed and feel as if we're "on holiday" even if we're there only for the weekend.

I am proud to say that I have done the Caen Hill Floight, as it's known locally, but am not anxious to do it again any time soon - going up 29 locks in a day was a few too many, especially as that was our first day on a new, unfamiliar boat!

Locks are good socialising places where one can meet other boaters and, if one so chooses, talk to them. They can foster the commumity spirit of the canals as crews muck in to help each other through.

Yes, in general they're a Good Thing. Thank goodness they already exist: if you invented them now you'd never get them past Health & Safety.

[RLWP]

Dread locks

 

Dreadlocks

 

 

Richard

[gaggle]

locks are great , especially on very hot days with boats waiting going up and down , i love watching the antics ,tut tutting ,cursing , rudeness , willing helpers being told it is not needed or wanted , other people being informed by very rude people that it is so rude of them not to offer help , throw in a nutter who bursts out in song " me " and its quite brilliant , i thought last time a play could very well be written just around locking antics , a right farce.

[Tim]

I love locks!

[Chertsey]

So... who usually steers in the locks, and who usually works them? (Unless you are solo, of course)

[MartinClark]

We (self and memsahib) went up the Bosley 12 yesterday evening in well under 2 hours

 

Three of us took a boat down the 16 locks of the Marple flight in 1 hour 20 minutes a while back!

[gaggle]

If a crew member moans about doing the lock and i say you get on the tiller i will do the lock , they always refuse and say they want to do the lock.

scurvy dogs.