Blackberry cruise

The Jet lag is now a thing of the past and after a few days chilling out we have been on the move heading towards the Ashby. Mrs. Biggs, still can`t believe my luck, has wasted no time in dragging me albeit willingly along the towpath on a foraging expedition. Jaq now wants to identify the other types of berry and obtain recipes for them, suggestions gratefully received.

As i sit here typing a Blackberry & Apple pie is in the making in what was my Bachelor galley that has undergone serious reorganisation.
It has been nice back on the boat not waking up to the daily exhausting heat of the past 3 months in the States but actually seeing it rain. The winds over the weekend especially Monday had the wind genny going at crazy speeds and i saw 10amps going into the battery bank.

Ok so can anyone explain why the locks at Hillmorton have been halved ie all the offside locks are padlocked. Water saving is the reason given but we joined a 12 boat queue to go down and in doing so took 12 lock fulls of water with us just as we would if both locks had been in use. 6x2/12x1. Plus one lock in use leaked real bad with it`s adjacent padlocked twin not leaking a drip.
 The Waterscape notice reproduced below says gates locked overnight- they are locked all day.
BW  will man the double locks during day.....no BW man and these are single locks! Anyone sighted a lost looking BW man hanging around a double lock somewhere?, direct him to Hillmorton please.
Best part of the notice is the request to "double up where possible when using the locks"! (single locks)

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Restriction: North Oxford Canal Hillmorton Locks 2-7

02 Aug 2011 until further notice

Associated Regional Office: South East Waterways

In order to conserve reservoir stocks along the Oxford Canal the offside tandem locks 3, 5 and 7 will be locked during the hours of 4pm - 9am overnight.

During the day BW will continue to man the double locks.

Boaters are asked to double up where possible when using the locks.

BW apologises for any inconvenience this may cause.

(Enquiries: Steve Morgan 01908 302500)
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