Sunday, muddy Sunday
Beowulf
Tom Fenton and Faith Ressmeyer
Sun 26 Oct 2014 16:21
Four locks rising to a tunnel. Not my last tunnel. There is one on the Canal du Nord.
It was rather darker than previous tunnels.
This time the locks have bollards set in the wall, but cleverly placed so that you can just reach the activation rods. So I tried this rather than climbing up to the top taking ropes with me. It saves time, certainly, but I do NOT recommend it. The bollard in the wall is under water most of the time, and covered in layers of mud. This transfers to the ropes, which then transfers to the deck, to your feet and to you, all over.
However the downhill journey on this canal was good. The locks are modern, all to the same design, with smoothly rounded edges that won't fray your ropes and the edge sufficiently high that fenders keep the hull off the concrete. What more could you ask for?
No other pleasure boats, today, yesterday, or since when? But for once, lots of barges, or peniches. Yesterday, one was called Le Harricot Noir. Today's have had names like Broomstick, and Optimist.
Nature notes (I know this is what you have been waiting for). I haven't had the right binoculars to identify some of the small birds, but today I clearly saw a wren, on the stonework at the end of a lock. I have not seen a robin yet, but they may have been around. The most common birds these last couple of days have been jays, surprisingly. But herons, kingfishers and marsh harriers have been abundant except in urban areas. I saw a grey wagtail yesterday, the second. Cormorants have reappeared after a couple of weeks absence - a sign I am nearing the sea? Yesterday and today, a great egret, or possibly a grey heron in white phase, if that happens this far north. Another first today was a pheasant. Silver birches are now common, and among the shrubs today I saw the first buddleia. There are young elms in the scrub, just like in Suffolk, where they grow to about twelve feet and then die back.