Tuesday 21 April 2015

Animal Rescue

 

IMG_7592After taking back the hire car we had a day to kill in Wigrams marina. I must say that it seems to be a very well run and friendly marina , although we did get told off for putting up our rotary washing line on the tiller arm.

IMG_7597On Sunday morning we pulled pins at 09.15 and left the security of the marina then headed towards The Napton flight of locks. On route Carolyn spotted a lamb that was stuck in the mud and being very weak was slowly dropping down into the canal and starting to drown. We immediately pulled into the offside and i jumped off while Carolyn controlled Inca. After struggling to get to the lamb I eventually pulled it out of the canal and carried it back to the field. Being very weak it took about 15 minutes to pick its self up and gain a bit of strength to get back on its feet.

IMG_7600A bit wobbly , but hopefully it made a full recovery….

IMG_7609Volunteer lockkeepers …. Who needs them.. With a very heavy paddles on the bottom lock of the Napton flight these 2 seem very happy to carry on drinking their coffee while watching Carolyn struggle…some volunteers are very helpful and are a credit to volunteers , but these 2 were just a waste of time..

IMG_7610There is now a sign telling you to lift fenders at the second lock up on the Napton flight.

IMG_7611As you can see it is very tight ,and if we had left our fenders down we would have been well and truly stuck.

IMG_7617Funny looking Cows…In fact they are Buffalo and their meat can be bought from the Shop in Napton.

We are now moored just before the engine arm on The Napton flight and will spend the night here before moving onto the summit of The South Oxford canal.

                                                                       Happy Days

6 comments:

  1. Some years ago we helped rescue a plastic cruiser that had ignored the notice - he was adamant that there was plenty of room! I can't remember what we did but it was quite hard to get him free. I'm sure the notices weren't there when we went through last time.
    Debby and Dave
    Devonians, Exeter City and Spurs supporters

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  2. Hi Debby's and Dave . The notices were not there last time we went through ... Ps Torquay and Spurs supporters !!!!!!

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  3. Well done you for rescuing the little lambkin.
    Nice bum shot of you too, lol.
    Ann

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    Replies
    1. Just cannot trust Carolyn with a camera....

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  4. Hi Guys. We had occasion to speak to a couple of volunteer lock keepers who, to our surprise, claimed that operating the lock gates was not their job! Which begs the question - What is their job? Their reply was - Well we give advice and help single handed boaters. We are sure there must be more to it than that.

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    Replies
    1. hi John and Anthea... We have been told that they are more than happy to help Hire boats with Americans, onboard as they like to give large tips to the poor old Lockies....

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