Tardebigge flight

First stop last Friday was the Queen's Head at the bottom of the Tardebigge Flight, for lunch, which turned out to be very good. When the website says the canal is only a metre away, it's telling the truth. After lunch, we set off up the flight, the first lock being just round the corner.

I like the big chunky cogs on the paddle gear on this flight.

We did Tardebigge on a hire boat about ten years ago, but neither of us could remember much about it, except that we got up it much faster than expected. I have vague recollections of the reservoir, which feeds the canal about two thirds of the way up the flight. But the top lock in particular came as a bit of a surprise, as it was nothing like my memory of it. I remember it being deep, which it is, but everything else seemed new to me.

Just along from the top lock, on the offside, is the plaque to mark the meeting between
the Rolts and Robert Aickman, which led to the founding of the IWA. There's a newer plaque on the front, correcting the date on the main one.

Further along is a little basin, which in the days when our Pearson's was printed was home to a hire fleet. No longer. It's a very nice spot though, and I'm sure that had the flight not been closed for winter works, the visitor moorings would have been much fuller.

The tunnel was another surprise, something else we couldn't remember at all.