08/24/2006

Penny's entry - Thursday, 24th August

After such an exhausting day yesterday, we had a late start by breakfasting in Tesco, doing our shopping and setting off at about midday. We were at Lock 7 and had to reach Lock 24, ready for the British Waterway men at 8am on Friday. After the first couple of locks we were joined by Trevor Jones, an Experimental Officer at Manchester University (and a microscopolist - is that the right term?) who was cycling up the towpath. He was interested in the canal system and helped us through several locks. Thank you, Trevor, it was good to meet you. At the next lock we met Dave, on his bike! He helped us right up to the top at Lock 24, and said goodby at 7.30pm. Dave was a sweet man who was knowledgeable about the natural world, diet, health and much more. He wanted to learn about the lock system and was fascinated by our boat. He had senses which most of us have lost, but he also didn't quite understand about normal social interaction. He adopted us and talked whether or not we could hear, were talking to each other or were inside the boat. However, we could not have managed the locks without his strength and it was a privilege to have entered into his world for a short while.

We have now covered 293 miles and worked through 169 locks.