Friday 27th June Set off late (again) for another thrash downriver. Once we had passed Upper Parting it became much more obvious how fast Tam Lin could go over the ground. Having rung in advance, Gloucester Lock was ready to lift us up into the docks - somewhere we have often been but never boated into.
A happy hour or two was spent wandering around the Docks (much improved now all the building work is completed) booking a table at The Tall Ship for the following day and "doing" all four floors of the Antique Centre which occupies the warehouse overlooking the entrance lock. Then, back on the boat for the last lap. We'd rung the Bridge Keeper at Llananthony Bridge on the exit to the Docks and left the docks in company with two other boats, one of which stopped almost immediately. The very new bridge for the new commercial development opened for us - more a case of being "on test" than actually needing to be opened - the hydraulic rams still had their plastic wrapping on them! The new diversion (where the Ship Canal does a funny bend to avoid a new road junction) wasn't immediately obvious (at least not until we got to the corner and could see the new bridge) and after that came our first old-style swing bridge, operated by a Bridge Keeper winding on a bloody great handle to open the bridge. Apparently the Keeper at Llananthony rings the bridges that need to be swung (bearing in mind that the B I G trip boat needs em ALL opening, whereas titchy narrowboats can get under some of them) and they're all ready! We were now getting good views from the slightly elevated waterway, of the Cotswolds to our left and the Welsh hills to our right. Saul was a minor embarrassment - we decided to moor before the pedestrian bridge, but the Bridge Keeper saw us coming on his CCTV and opened the bridge - just as we turned in the (not inconsiderable) width of the Canal! In actual fact, the flat terrain wasn't stopping the wind and turning was sometimes too easy (in that we couldn't stop turning and got blown, broadside on, down the canal with the boat at 90° to the way it should be going). Any way, we eventually moored up, went to see the Bridge Keeper to apologise, came through the bridge for real and moored, towpath side, near the Sani station, conveniently to empty and fill things ready for a departure by road the following day. Digi TV - Zilch - analogue - the lot! Tiller Pin of the Day - Duck's Head. Grand Totals: 88 miles, 2 furlongs, 56 locks Brian L Dominic Web Sites: Canals: http://www.brianscanalpages.co.uk
