Some photos to keep you going

As promised, here's a scheduled post to fill in while I'm away in Lincoln. I don't often do photo blogs, but thought I'd make an exception this time. All these were taken around Penkridge last weekend.


This is a pic of the state of the bottom gates at Longford Lock, and a good illustration of the lack of maintenance that BW's cash shortage causes. The lock starts to drain down as soon as the top gates are closed, wasting a lot of water in the course of the day.

Now for another example:


For quite a while, BW has been avoiding routine maintenance by just fencing off the area with orange netting. Here they've gone a stage further and erected a wooden fence around a collapsed section of lock landing.



Why didn't they just restore the path by backfilling behind the piling and resetting the bollards? It wouldn't have taken much more effort, surely?



More cheerfully:



There's a load of frame bungalows on the offside as you approach Penkridge Lock. I spotted these Peeping Gnomes lurking in the garden of one of them.


Here's a pic of the two fenders I've made recently, one with the Fender Book top (on the right) and one with the improved top:



I think they're really smart, but time will tell how they stand up to being used.


A close up of the tops. The problem with the Fender Book one is that the whipping you can see works its way up in use, and then the whole thing looks tatty.

By working the ends back down into the fender, I avoid that, but lose the stripy effect. I've got a further idea for improvement, but it'll have to wait for the next fender.


Normal service will be restored on Friday, hopefully.