Finishing the job, and trouble with a swing bridge

Monday 10^th July; Newlands to Stoke Hammond

We were up a bit later than usual today, and didn’t move off till about 10.  A boater walking by said that the tree that came down yesterday was still there, though it had now been visited by CRT bods and assessed.  We were soon passing the new marina and under the three-way bridge, but the sun was in completely the wrong place for a photo.  Opposite is some fairly new-build housing.  I took this photo on a Campbell Park pathway back in 2017;

this is what it looked like then;

In May 2017

and now this!  And with a very odd design of garden wall. 

I am familiar with gabions (steel cages) full of stones to hold back soil in various applications (even stopping the road collapsing into the ditch in our village), but what are they doing here?  Will they have soil added so the owners can plant them up as green walls?  Will they be left to naturally fill with dust and debris so blackbirds can drop blackberry seeds, and willows and dandelions can colonise all by themselves?  We will find out in a few years, I am sure!  We pootled on in intermittent sunshine to Fenny Stratford where we moored at about 11 at the beginning of the visitor moorings.  After a quick check of the route, Dave went off to find Wickes, which was about 20 minutes away.  I made myself a nice cup of coffee, caught up with blog reading and stoppage notices – yet another on the Nene where we had hoped to be this trip – and generally chilled, listening to the birds.  He returned with everything he needed to complete the solar panel installation, and we had lunch before dropping down the lock and continuing our journey.

Cottages at Fenny Stratford lock

Fenny Stratford lock has a swing bridge across it, which you must open before you can bring your boat into the lock.  I found it tricky – I couldn’t pull the handle high enough to release the catch unless I stood on it, then had to quickly get off and push the bridge before the catch slipped down again!  Closing it was quite another matter.  I just couldn’t work it out.  It really does help to read the instructions, you know.  In my early days at work there was a saying when someone asked for help when they could have found it out for themselves – RTFM, or ‘read the flaming (or whatever) manual’. Definitely one of those moments.

To close the bridge, RTFM

With that embarrassment out of the way, we stopped to top up the water, and were disgusted by the state of the bins.  It’s clearly used by locals for stuff they should be taking to the tip – such as a large amount of astroturf completely the wrong size and shape to have come from a boat. 

However, Dave scavenged a useful-looking piece of wood for later.  We went on in increasingly windy conditions to finally leave the built-up area and get into the countryside.

The last of the avenues

Once the canal had moved away from the road towards Stoke Hammond we started looking for somewhere to moor before the lock, and found a peaceful spot. 

Nice

Dave got on with finishing the solar installation, firstly using sealer to fix the cable gland to the roof, using the scavenged piece of wood to apply pressure while the sealer cured.

And then tidying up inside with cable ties and fitting the little remote display next to the inverter switch where it will be easy to read.  In spite of the cloudy conditions, the solar panel was still putting charge into the batteries.  The rain started soon after 5, but was light and didn’t last long.  The local greylag family wasn’t bothered.

7 miles, 1 lock, 1 pesky swing bridge