We had turned the boat round at Hampton to face up stream. The recommendation to moor facing up stream was obeyed this time but turning mid stream often results in the boat drifting sideways for a while! The river is busy with many large trip boats moving up and down. Strangely it was the smaller boats that rocked our boat with their wash. We stayed several days tied to the rings at the concrete edge.
Heading up stream is different. More power is required to make progress against the flow. We are now required to give way to boats going down stream especially at the arched bridges. The locks are empty so we can go up. Sometimes the lock keeper will come to take your rope and put it round a bollard that is high up and out of sight. “I used a hooked stick to pass the rope up if the keeper could not reach down.”
One or two locks are quite large and able to take three narrowboats side by side. It is important to watch the keeper for instructions for it is he who is in charge. Wide barges go in first then us followed by ‘plactics’. Between the locks the boats travel at different speeds only to meet up at the next lock.
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