Victor made the right decision

I CAN assure Victor that he made the right decision to turn back at Louborough, writes Arlene Parker.

My partner and I are moored at Pilling Marina on the Leicester Section just out of Lougborough, and it has come to the state that there is now no pleasure in cruising from here, as the locks are in a terrible working order.

Nothing gets attention

Nothing seems to get any attention, with paddles actually rusting-up and gates leaning so far they are near impossible to get to move, and no one seems to care about them until they fail then all we get is some silly excuse like the one at Watford Locks that it is a 'maintenance fault', though there is no maintenance, but the locks are then closed.

In days past it was always a pleasure meeting fellow boaters at locks, so I did the locks to have a good natter and left my partner at the tiller.  But now everybody has only one topic of conversation, of how terrible things are and describing their own particlar struggles and hold-ups.

Easier to move

These days it is too hard for me, so we have to swap jobs as he is stronger, but I hate being stuck at the tiller in a lock with little chance of conversation, so we have decided on either calling it a day or moving to moor on a narrow locks canal whose gates should be easier to move anyway.