Nice to be on the move again. Down the Avon River with clear water. Can see the bottom and sometimes it's not far away. We can now do 6mph and the boat travels better at that speed. The locks on the Avon are all doubles and different. Heavy gates and nothing to spare with a 70ft boat. We paired up with a younger couple so that helped with locking. On one occasion the boat was diagonally across so the gate could be opened. Ended up at Bidford on Avon which again had a variety of manors, cottages and terraced housing from anywhere in the last 6 century's. As there are not as many places to stop on rivers we were invited to breast up alongside another boat.
Tuesday 10th August. 8 miles, 4 locks.
Went into Bidford on Avon as we had spied a nice bakery last night. Very tasty but unnecessary morning tea. Set off by ourselves with the intention of having lunch at the first lock and waiting for another boat to join us. Not necessary as at the first lock there was one waiting to go down so we joined them for the next 2 locks before they moored up leaving us to do the third by ourselves. The 4th lock had a lock keeper so that made it easier EXCEPT this is the tightest lock on the Avon (so far). Ropes needed to be pulled from various directions to hold us back from the front gate and then forward from the back gate. then open one gate and pull the boat into the middle to open the other gate. Not difficult but time consuming and I had lost the use of the crew. As we pulled into the lock Diana passed a rope to the keeper, turned awkwardly and pulled her back so she sat frozen on the front of the boat until we were through the lock and moored up downstream a bit. We were in Evesham where we had planned to stop. After several phone calls to various agencies and a 5 minute walk by me to the local small hospital I was advised to call an Ambulance. They were excellent. Paramedic did an assessment and gave us some options. A Senior Paramedic was called and when he arrived he spent over an hour working out what were the best drugs to easy the pain and get the back working again. Tomorrow will tell how successful this approach is going to be.
He wouldn't tell me when Diana would be fit for full duties!
No comments:
Post a Comment