Broken Locks, Shiny Locks and Blown-up Locks!!

For those who have been waiting with bated breath for news on the problem with Baldwin's Knob lock - the problem has hopefully been fixed. Both gates have new pots under the heel posts!!! Now, only if I knew what that meant. It's too early in my days as a canal fanatic to know about this - I will Google it soon!!!

The first crewing since my training went well though - good numbers on the boat, it didn't sink, and I'm sure all passengers were accounted for at the end of the trip. Mind you, we also had a trainee crew member, felt great being a bit of a mentor to someone else, and also a trainee skipper. So we had plenty of help at Brewhurst Lock. Bearing in mind the dire weather forecast - it was a very nice day indeed, and those that came out on Zaccariah Keppel had almost perfect conditions. With the skipper's permission we let any kids that wanted to to get off and also help with the lock beams.

As I say to anyone that will listen to me, there is probably only one thing better than helping to crew the trip boat......and that would be to get well paid for crewing the trip boat.

With the imminent thought of volunteering to crew the new electric boat - Wiggonholt, for some upcoming charters in July, I attended the final crew and skipper training session last friday. Having had to get into work for an early morning call to our Melbourne office, I was able to leave early enough to avoid the crowds leaving Sandown Park race course, and also not hit too much traffic leaving London. So, even though I stopped off to get some BP garage food (yum! yum!), I arrived at the Trust's car park an hour before the training was due to start. I had never been north of Loxwood before along the canal, and was intrigued to see how it compared to the fully restored section south of Loxwood.

The new Loxwood lock, a new addition to the original canal infrastructure, required to bring the canal back up to it's original level following the lowering to get under Loxwood High Street, is all shiny and desperate to see more action. Work is still underway on the gates, with a temporary wooden dam in place. Not a lot of water north of the gates, despite it being pictured in water at the official opening ceremony a few weeks ago.

The next mile or so of the canal can be seen, but certainly lacks water - lots of weeds and open muddy canal bed in adundance. The next lock is Devils Hole lock - which apparently was used by Canadian troops as practice for an ill-fated mision to take Dieppe in France during theSecond World War. There are still signs of the damage their explosions caused. This is now pretty much restored, but I believe will be widened to conform to the Trust's specification that the canal will be able to take wide beam boats.

Crewing the Wey And Arun Trip Boat

Friday 5th June 2009

I am doing my first post-training crewing on the trip boat this sunday...and there are problems with one of the locks!! The public trips run by the Wey and Arun Canal Trust at weekends and bank holidays help raise much needed funds towards the many restoration activities in the pipeline. They usually involve a couple of short trips through one lock and back, and then one longer trip, using 3 locks on Saturdays (labelled the Enthusiasts Trip) and 2 of these locks on Sundays. Well the second lock has been having problems, so on Sunday we will be doing four short trips, whilst Baldwin's Knob lock is drained and investigation undertaken to try and resolve the underlying problem. What this problem is is not known to me yet - when I find out I will reveal all in a future blog.

I have now put myself forward for July's public trips, and for the first time some of the evening charters, including crewing the brand new electric boat - Wiggonholt. Apparently it is eerily quiet, and will now give some of the wildlife a surprise I suspect. The new boat has been fitted out to take some 52 passengers, with a skipper and 2 crew, and can now tap in to the coach tour market. Previously they were averse to stopping off or specifically coming to Loxwood, due to the prospect of having to split their group to have trips on the 30 seat Zachariah Keppel.

Wiggonholt has also been fitted out with a wheelchair lift to further enhance our offering.
These charters are a fantastic source of revenue for the Trust, we have 28 booked in June, 19 in July, and a few already booked for August. Themed public trips at Christmas, Easter, and "Pirates and Princesses" all help to keep the Trust's profile high, and the much needed funds flowing.