[email protected] wrote: > At Stanground the original upper end of the lock is all shallow - about > 2' 6" I think.
No, it's the original lower gate sill that's the shallow bit - see below. The downstream extension is deeper. We have taken > Fulbourne through twice, backwards in both cases. Three times, actually. Once (the first time) forwards with a great struggle (we went very hard aground on the old sill when we were about half way out of the lock, by which time it was impossible to either shut the lower gates or reverse off, and it was only by some very clever flushing (*) by the lock keeper and shifting a fair amount of ballast forward that we got through at all); the second and third times backwards with ease. (*) very clever as in sending a flush of water down, then closing the paddles, waiting for the wave to reach the next narrows, part of it to bounce back and arrive back at the chamber before opening the paddles again so the two waves added up. He knew a thing or two, did the old lockie! Martin
