The Bentons Arrival

4 locks, 6 Miles, 1 Lift bridge. Now moored at bridge 26.

Today was going to be a busy day as we were expecting a Tesco's delivery between 9am and 11am and then we had race off down to the railway station to meet Robin and Jenny, our caravan club friends from NZ, off the 11.41 am train. First of all though we had to move up through bridge 20 so that we were closer to the road for the Tesco delivery, this we did at about 7.30 before anybody else was stirring.

As the morning wore on we were becoming a little nervous that Mr Tesco wasn't going to arrive until 11 and then we would be hard pushed to get to the railway station on time. While waiting up at the road side I became involved in helping some hire boaters get through the lift bridge. One of them turned off his engine to remove the key as his BW key to operate the bridge was on 1 key ring. This was OK until after he had been bow hauled through the bridge gap. When he tried to restart the engine he found that his battery was flat and the engine wouldn't turn over. The hirer must have had a previous experience like this as he was carrying a pair of jumper leads which he produced but was unsure of how to use them. I had a look down the engine hole and all I could see were dirty battery terminals so rather than mess with them I tried to restart the engine and the battery had recovered sufficiently enough to turn the engine over and it fired first shot. Are hire companies so pushed for time that they cannot maintain their boats properly or is it a case of trying to reduce overhead's? I wonder.

When I walked back to the boat there was another hire boat who's hirer had just started the engine and was concerned that the ignition light wouldn't go out so I suggested that he give the engine a quick rev up and the problem would be solved. This he did and the light went off so another satisfied boater.

Mr Tesco finally arrived at 10.40 so we quickly packed away the chilled goods and left the rest until we returned from the station with Robin and Jenny in tow. After stowing their cases on board we set off for our next mooring which was to be near bridge 26 ready to take on the Grindley Brook locks the next day. Along the way Robin came and joined me on the stern and at the appropriate time he had the tiller thrust into his hand and told "Here you are have a go on this ". Being somebody who is used to manoeuvring caravans he soon got the hang of it.

Needless to say that having not seen Robin and Jenny for nearly 2 years there was a lot of catching up to be down and the TV never even got a second glance.

1414 locks, 2027 miles, 45 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 21 lift bridges since Nov 2006