A staircase, and a not-staircase

Tuesday 18th September; Compton to Swindon

Compton isn’t a particularly inspiring place.  It has a Sainsbury’s Local handy for the canal, and a Spar/Post Office on the non-towpath side, but there is a busy road running through it and this morning a building (probably – covered in tarps, so could have been anything) was being shot-blasted so it was pretty noisy.  We had a third-hand recommendation for the Italian restaurant below the lock, so perhaps I am being unfair, but we’re not stopping to try it out.

Dave took Meg for a walk over on the far side of the canal while I went shopping, and  when I got back I went over there too with my camera.  This is our mooring as seen from the nature reserve.

There has been some planting along here for wildlife; the glowing rubies of the guelder rose could have grown here naturally

but these crab apples are a cultivated variety, though I don’t imagine the birds are bothered.

So it was after 10 before we set off.  We are due a quieter day after our long effort yesterday after all.  The lock here is the first on the Staffs & Worcester to have been built by James Brindley, in the late 1760s, so that must include the circular weir too.  These are a feature of this canal.

We knew there were several boats ahead of us so we just trundled along, needing to turn every lock.  It wasn’t a problem – these locks all have some form of footbridge at the bottom gates, so there is no need for long walks round the other side, or for stepping across the gap to close the gates.  Some are wide and brick-built, even with a grassy deck to the bridge

while others are narrow with a handrail, though some handrails are more attractive than others!  this is at Awbridge lock.

On the gate at Awbridge lock is a notice advising of the drop – but is it a warning or a command?

Maybe something like this would be helpful on the Hatton, Stockton and Calcutt flights, where there is a greater drop; on a previous trip we met a man who broke his shoulder falling at Hatton, and the lady we met last week with a broken shoulder may have had a similar experience – all we know is she had only just graduated to getting off the boat and walking.

The bridge at Awbridge is very attractive too, though you can’t use it for locking as there is no access from the offside.

We pulled in below here for some lunch.  The stiff breeze made it a bit tricky to get off the bank again but we were soon on our way to Bratch locks.  It must be 4 or 5 years since we were on this bit of the network, and we are remembering very little of it, but you can’t forget the Bratch.  Three locks are very close together, so close that the pounds between them aren’t long enough even for a little cruiser – but it is not a staircase.  If you take things logically it is perfectly straightforward, the paddles are colour-coded to help and there are clear instructions to avoid floods and wasted water.  We had two volunteers so we were laughing.  Here Dave is in the middle lock.  The top gate is closed behind him as he descends, but because the next boat would be going up we could leave the bottom gates of the top lock open – so you can see right through the lock to the top gates.  The pound extends just under the bridge.

As we were able to leave the bottom gates open, once we were in the bottom lock you could see right up the flight.  The octagonal toll house (buy your postcards here!) is above the middle lock.

It was all so quick and easy that we forgot to time ourselves and were on our way.  By checking the time stamps of the first and last photos I took we know it was probably less than 15 minutes!

All continued smoothly till Botterham Staircase.  A boat was going down and I wandered along for a chat.  It was strange, they had been in the bottom of the lock for a while but the water levels weren’t equalizing ….  I walked down – past the bush sticking out over the bridge across the locks – to see the previous boat had left the offside paddle up.  So we had to fill the top lock all over again, then everything worked.  Eventually we were down too.  You can see that the offside paddle would be completely invisible from the top lock (above that bridge) unless you walk to the end of the bridge.

We carried on to moor below Swindon lock and went to the Green Man to eat.  It was only OK, but did have excellent Yorkshire puds!  There is a horse chestnut tree nearby so I could get a few conkers to discourage the spiders from colonising the boat.

6½ miles, 14 locks

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