From our mooring we reached Fradley after 75 minutes, picked up a tail at the locks and another just after Woodend Lock. All OK until the Armitage "tunnel". As you can see in the picture the entrance is BLACK. The tunnel is very short, but turns left just after the blackness and is narrow for about 200 yards. 
So a member of the crew has to enter the tunnel on the towpath and check that the way is clear before signalling to the helmsman that the way is clear. So I instructed Pat. "What kind of signal should I give", says Pat. We settled on starjumps. Now you can see Pat there walking towards the tunnel entrance. What can you notice about her? Yes, she is dressed in black. So as soon as she entered the tunnel she disappeared. I must have been waiting outside for five minutes before I had a phone call to say where are you. I've been doing star jumps for the last 5 minutes. All this caused a tailback of boats behind, which then in turn caused mayhem for one opposite direction hire boat at a narrows. Such fun!
Comments