Just an excuse

Just read James Henry's article about Canal & River Trust using us boaters as an excuse for its poor maintenance of locks, and he has hit the nail on the head.

In the old days when fully loaded boats, weighing three times that of a narrowboat, were pulled by horses, there was no reversing the engine to stop one going forward into a lock too fast, and no matter how professional the bargees were it must have happened.

So the locks would be getting a thump or two, much more so that the much lighter boats of today, but the locks were obviously up to it.

Which begs the question, are they today?

Rick Helston