In the morning I quickly checked the water level, and it appeared to have come up about 4-5 inches since the night before. We didn't rush things, and waited until 11:00 before slowly venturing out. We inched forward through the area where we had run aground the day before, but had no problem getting through. We said goodbye to the couple in the narrowboat, who were certainly relieved that we were no longer blocking their path home.
We had only gone a mile or so, and the boat was moving so slowly for the RPMs, that I decided I needed to clear the prop again. I shut the engine down and we drifted while I got ready and climbed down the ladder on the back of the boat into the chilly water. Again I found plastic and fabric wrapped around the prop. In the end, I had to resort to using our Henkels bread knife to cut through things. I climbed back aboard and Sarah wrapped a towel around me and had a hot cup of tea ready.
The dive was not in vain. When we started up again, we had so much more power. For now, I would pretend that it would stay that way.
Watching the World Go By
Trees Along the Canal
We passed some abandoned industrial sites, but also some beautiful woodland. It was a real mixture. The oddest thing we encountered, was a disused lifting rail bridge. Now it was just a huge piece of metal constricting the canal.
What is That Thing?!
As we approached the lock, there were lots of people fishing from the banks. Just as we came up to one woman, she reeled in a huge fish, catching it in a net on a 12 ft pole. I think we scared the fish onto her hook. A black dog followed us for the last few hundred yards as we approached the lock. At one point, it decided to try to swim out to us, and jumped into the canal. We were too fast.
Jimmy from WI was already waiting when we arrived. He opened the gates, and told us we didn't even need lines when descending. The pups jumped out to greet the other dog, while we got going with the lock.
The Boat at Lock 20
Jimmy advised us that the next level was 18 miles before the next lock, and that if the water level were to go down, it would take a long time to come back up. He suggested we hurry to the next lock. This was contrary to out plans, which had us staying here for 2 nights. We talked about it, and decided to head to Edenderry the next day, and spend a couple nights there. That would put us closer to the lock if we needed to make a run for it.
That evening, two more boats followed us through. The first was a narrowboat from Robertstown, whose owner had talked to Therese in Allenwood, and knew about our having been stuck there. It is a small country! The second was a beautiful wide-beam which we had seen in Sallins.
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