Who Killed Bambi? - Not for the faint hearted

03/04/12

Please note I didnt take a picture of the actual deer,
this is just an illustration!

Cow Roast Lock


Once the tea was made and Yog and Pete discovered they had hobbies in common ;0) the mood chilled and we waited till the gates were unlocked to allow us to set off again.


Hoorah, BW's here and the chains are coming off!!


I went up to the lock and waited for them to bring the boats in.  While I was standing there, a man on the opposite side of the lock to me pointed out something floating in the lock and asked 'What do you think that is? I think its a deer.'  I had a look and couldn't really tell.  I thought I could make out some ears under the water but it was such an odd bloated shape I didn't really know.  I thought it best to advise Yog and Pete as they entered the lock as there wasn't really anything else I could do.


Pete entered the lock first and I pointed out the gaseous beach ball floating inside and said what we thought it was.  This freaked Pete out a tad and he spent the next 5 minutes attempting to avoid it whilst screaming like a big girl and zig-zagging inside the lock in a manner I have never seen before in my life! lol
I was laughing so much I couldn't explain to Yog what was occurring and he had to wait till he entered the lock to discover that the nauseating smell inside had been caused by Pete eventually managing to squash and burst the poor thing at the side of his boat,  all over one of his fenders.  
This happened he said,  because of his effort to avoid getting it caught in his prop as he had visions of legs flying everywhere!  
The smell was so bad Pete was gagging, which in turn made me gag and Yog had to finish the lock.  It was all very smelly and horrible and not a good start to negotiating the summit.  But it was bloody funny!!

Approaching Tring

    

Our Lock Buddie Pete

03/04/12
Dudswell Locks 48-47 - Cow Roast Lock 46


We gained a neighbour quite late last night.   He had moored about 3 feet away from the bank because the water was so shallow.  It looked as if he had just aimed for the bank and stopped where he landed!  
Another early start and a full day of cycling ahead for me.   Yog went over to see where the chap beached in front of us was heading and if he wanted to share locks with us to save some water.  He was well up for it.  When Yog came back he explained that Pete was making his way to just past Leighton Buzzard to have his boat Flossie taken out of the water to be blacked and painted.  Excellent stuff, we had a lock buddie :0)


Marsworth Locks went off without a hitch, mainly because I had cycled ahead and set them up for the boys.  Pete was chuffed to bits he just had to sit on his boat and let me do all the work, I dont think he could believe his luck!! lol


We had to get a bit of a move on to get to Locks 46-39 as there is a restriction on and they are only open between 10am and 3pm.  So we put my bike on the roof and chugged to Cow Roast Lock which was the first on restriction.  We got there at 9.55 am and the chains were still in place so we put the kettle on and invited Pete in for a cuppa.