Up early this morning to make preparations for the St Pancras Cruising Club organised trip to the new Three Mills Lock on the Bow Back Rivers. This is the lock that has been especialy constructed to allow large commercial barge operations in connection with the Olympic Park construction site. It will not be available to leisure boaters in future, so it was now or never. There was the VHF radio to fix up, engine checks and the flags to erect. We string flags front to back using inverted 'T' poles. As we had a number of bridges to negotiate I decided to cut these down which actually makes a moire stable arrangement.
Our booking for Bow Locks was for 10:00 am and the whole exercise was to take place on the one tide, so 12 boats had to be locked out and back at Bow and then the ceremonial bits done and back through Bow before the water was lost. Not wanting to have any unnecessary delay we all set off from Limehouse in good time. We should not have worried. At Bow Locks they were unloading some of the stone blocks belonging to the Euston Arch that have been retrieved from the canal. (Picture left) As a result it was 10:30 or later before we got moving. Once at the entrance of the Prescott Channel again more waiting, this time for the commercial (huge)
barge and its tugs due to be first through the lock. This movement was associated with dignitaries on the lock bridge, speeches etc. Then we were locked down onto the canalised section of the channel 8 boats in one locking, proceeded to the end of the channel, turned and retraced our steps all the way to Limehouse. Nobody got left on the mud.
Three Mills Lock. It has sector gates. We actually had to lock down to the new channel. To the right of the lock are the large sluice gates for use in flood.
Dignitaries line up on the bridge after speeches (which we were too far away to hear) and after we had been let into the lock.
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