The only thing more nerve-wracking on our Narrowboat trip than passing oncoming boats, going through small tunnels, and of course, aquaducts hundreds of feet above the ground, was going through the locks. These canals were constructed in the 1800s and they put locks in place that you had to navigate through. You have to get out of the boat, use a ratchet kind of tool that every boat has on board and hand crank them. Sounds easy but it is a little tense as you approach them. Fortunately, I got to handle the boat and Missy became a pro at how these things work, getting out and putting some muscle to it. Yeah for women's rights! The photo above shows a boat entering an 8' (deep) lock. Once you pull in, you pull the paddles to enclose you in. Then crank the mechanism to either raise you up or lower you to the level of the direction you are heading. The whole thing works pretty fast but it is a little tricky. You have to keep the nose of the boat almost up against the gate so the boat does not go back and get caught on the cill. So you keep the boat in gear at idle speed part of the time. On the other hand, you don't want to push too hard so as to damage the lock. We were there before school was out so there were not that many boats, but in the summer you could wait quite a while for your turn to get in a lock. All in a day's work, I mean fun!
The only thing more nerve-wracking on our Narrowboat trip than passing oncoming boats, going through small tunnels, and of course, aquaducts hundreds of feet above the ground, was going through the locks. These canals were constructed in the 1800s and they put locks in place that you had to navigate through. You have to get out of the boat, use a ratchet kind of tool that every boat has on board and hand crank them. Sounds easy but it is a little tense as you approach them. Fortunately, I got to handle the boat and Missy became a pro at how these things work, getting out and putting some muscle to it. Yeah for women's rights! The photo above shows a boat entering an 8' (deep) lock. Once you pull in, you pull the paddles to enclose you in. Then crank the mechanism to either raise you up or lower you to the level of the direction you are heading. The whole thing works pretty fast but it is a little tricky. You have to keep the nose of the boat almost up against the gate so the boat does not go back and get caught on the cill. So you keep the boat in gear at idle speed part of the time. On the other hand, you don't want to push too hard so as to damage the lock. We were there before school was out so there were not that many boats, but in the summer you could wait quite a while for your turn to get in a lock. All in a day's work, I mean fun!
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