Do Your Own Locks

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Middlewich has always been a favourite place of ours since we first visited the Folk & Boat Festival many years ago, a place we have cruised to and through many times since. But one time in particular negotiating the locks at Middlewich we had an incident to remember, a canal memory, and not a pleasant one to say the least, but one that taught us a lesson we would never forget. We had moored overnight below Middlewich bottom lock, close to Anderson narrowboats, one of our favourite mooring places when travelling south. And after a leisurely breakfast and a short walk with my four legged friend we set off in glorious sunshine, it looked like it was going to be a good day. I went down to the bottom lock, and got it ready so that my wife could steer the boat straight in, the lock filled and nothing coming round the corner so after shutting the top gate I jumped on the boat for a lift to the next lock, normally I would have walked the short distance to prepare the next lock, but I had noticed that the gates were open and ready to cruise straight in. I had climbed on the roof of the boat ready to climb up the lock-ladder as soon as the boat was in the lock, as we were entering the lock, a voice from above said 'Stay there mate we'll do the lock for you, don't worry we know what we are doing'; (famous last words). Normaly I insist on doing the paddles myself, but his assurances caught me off guard, I jumped down from the roof and noticed that the boat was gathering speed even though my wife had it in reverse; I looked up and saw that another two men had wound the paddles up fully before the bottom gates had been shut; my hand went straight to the speed control to push it hard down in reverse, the bottom gates crashed shut behind us, the boat gathering speed and heading for the top gate at an alarming rate. The boat hit the gate with an almighty crash, re-bounded and hit the gate again, the impact knocking us both of our feet, luckily our dog was inside otherwise I am sure the impact would have thrown her into the lock with unthinkable consequences. After some loud words (to say the least) to the three of them I went down to see if there was any damage inside the boat, leaving my wife (who was still screaming and shouting at them) at the tiller.
In the bedroom ornaments had been thrown of the shelves but had landed on the bed so none were broken, into the galley there a half full kettle of water was on the floor, cups and plates etc were still in the cupboards, some broken and cracked; but then in the lounge my dog was cowering under the front steps, a glass fronted floor cupboard that we kept all our china and crystal in had been ripped from the wall and was lying face down on the floor, lifting it up I realised that every piece of china and crystal had been smashed and was lying their in a thousand pieces. I went back on deck to break the news to my wife, by this time we were out of the lock, so we tied up as soon as we could and went back inside; my wife was naturaly in tears at the sight that greeted her, but all we could do was pick up the pieces and move on. It took us well over an hour to clear the mess up and to make sure there was no glass anywhere. I dumped it all in the bins at Middlewich Narrowboats, and told them what had happened, thinking that the men (who had gone by now) may have been employed there, but they knew nothing about them. Eventualy we carried on with dampened spirits, the good day had turned out to be a really bad one. We turned right at the junction, heading for the Shroppie, and as I was working the lock (Wardle lock) Maureen came out of the lock keepers cottage, telling her what had happened her answer was plain and simple and one I would remember always, "My husband always told me - DO YOUR OWN LOCKS!!".

The rest of that trip we had several problems with the boat all caused by the lock incident, but it was a lesson learned, and one that I will make sure never happens again.

So if you are going through Middlewich anytime and someone shouts to you "We'll do the lock for you", you have been warned!!

This memory donated by Ken Fairhurst