You call Joe who lives beside Lock 25 and he comes out to help you negotiate the mechanism that lifts or lowers the boat to the right height to carry you on your journey. He looks after mostly Lock 24 & 25 and also the draw bridge. Lock 24 is a very special double lock, for the two stage lift and lower.
Wonder if Joe just shakes his head to tourists and secretly craves a professional to visit his locks.
At the lock and the double lock, John jiggles the boat into the space of the lock, where more water comes into lift us to the next level of the waterway. It is a long boat and a bit forward, a bit back to allow these big doors to open and shut again. John is so skilled at the jiggle, a little bump perhaps here and there, but the locks are resilient as is John.
Slowly again we travel the countryside, the reeds and the fish in the water pass us on the way to Rathunga. The bouquets of wild flowers, poppies and yellow irises are striking.
RATHUNGA, home to the best Indian/Italy restaurant in , I think, the county is were we spend the night. Well worth the boat ride for the warm curries on perfect gray sky and rainy day.
The world around me 