Friday 25 July 2008

Inconsiderate and selfish boaters

5 Locks, 12 Miles. Now moored nr bridge 25 Trent and Mersey Canal.

We got away before the rush this morning and did the first 2 locks solo but by the time we reached Weston lock we had caught up with another boat with the name Kai Tak making locking a lot easier as these locks are very deep with huge bottom gates.

Swarkestone Pavilion

At Stenson lock we had to wait for 1 boat coming down so the crew of both boats went up to wait at the lock while we tied up on the lock moorings. I know this is a very deep lock (12'.4") but it seemed to take a very long time before the boat emerged. After we had locked through Dot told me that the couple on the boat that had caused the delay were a pair of lazy B's as lady muck had sat on her fat a*^e on the boat and did nothing and when Dot and the lady off Kai Tak appeared the male just jumped back on his boat and let them do the work. When the lock was empty Dot and the other lady just sat back to see what he would do. The next thing they knew was him yelling up to them " Are you going to open the gates or leave us in here all day". If I had known this I would have just left him the cheeky bugger. They were not hire boaters either so they should know better.


Crane at Swarkestone 48 hour moorngs

We carried on up to Willington and pulled in at the end of the 48 hour moorings. We were tying up and were discussing wether to stay there, water up and or move on. The next thing we knew was the lady on the boat behind us telling us in no uncertain terms to turn our engine off. We had only been there a couple of minutes at this stage. That made our minds up, we obviously were not going to get on with the neighbours so with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing we moved across to the water point on the opposite bank, took on water with the engine still running and then left madam to sunbathe in the company of a Canaltime hire boat that slotted into where we had just vacated. One of the advantages of living on a boat if you don't get on with the neighbours, move on, so we did.

New Marina from the quarry on the outskirts of Willington?

Dis used Willington Power Station. Was this Nuclear?

1344 locks, 1926 miles, 43 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

3 comments:

Dogsontour by Greygal said...

Some people take the biscuit don't they? I would have stayed on the Erewash as the T&M is as bad as the M1! And Stenson is a tough lock for the ladies to do as well...I get hubby to do it and I'm pretty sure he'd have given that cheeky lot short shrift! Inconsiderate, selfish boaters are the one thing that might make me swap the boat for a croft in Scotland! Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer in more amiable company!

Adam said...

Isn't it one of the most annoying things when you go to help, and people expect you to do everything? A similar thing happened on the Oxford last year, when I went to help a boat coming up a lock. I opened the gate, and the crew were so busy talking to each other they just left without even looking at me, let alone saying thank you!

Willington was a coal fired power station, built there to make use of the Notts?derbyshire coal fields. If it had been nuclear, it wouldn't have needed the colling towers.

Derek and Dot said...

To Adam and Greygal
Unfortunately we can't always please everyone. I don't mind helping but a thank you would be nice. No one likes being taken for granted. Enjoying the cruising regardless. Thanks for the info Adam its just I'm against Nuclear and didn't know how to tell the difference.