road. The lock looked large enough to hold our four small boats quite comfortably in one go, which was a bit of a relief as we could clearly see that it was going to be a long process getting to the other side of the road.
We checked on the other side of the road first in case there were any vessels we could use which would save us a lot of time and hassle with the lock, but there was nothing to be seen. We went back to the small building. We peered inside, there was no one or no rotters about, and so we went in.
Paul had a good look around and decided it was a fairly simple system to operate the lock, the only problem being, it couldn’t be operated manually. There was however a generator that was used to power the system, but it was going to make a lot of noise and for a long time. With the houses to our left, the high rise flats to our right and the main road in front of us, we were going to attract a lot of attention to ourselves.
Paul checked out the small generator hut next to the canal, it was fuelled up and had been maintained recently he said. So if someone else had worked out how to use it, surely we could I thought, it may even have been the former residents of the Gamebird.
We all boarded the Hue in order to come up with a plan of action. We wanted to stick with the waterways as we still felt it was our safest option and we’d known we were going to have to overcome obstacles along the way, we just needed to find the quickest and safest way through it.
We decided we were going to send a few of us ahead first on foot to find somewhere safe to take the majority of our group, especially the children, then a small group of us would stay behind and get the boats through the lock system and under the road.
Paul reckoned it was going to take a minimum of forty five minutes to get the boats through. There was a lot of water that needed to be pumped out and then back in again once the boats were on the other side of the road.
Becky, John, and I set off along the tow path that ran alongside the canal; it wasn’t long until we came across two small stone cottages at the canal side. They were both locked up. We went around the back and managed to break in through a rear window of the first cottage. It was unoccupied and it didn’t look like there had been anyone there in a long time.
We moved on to the adjoining cottage, we wanted to make sure that no one or rotters were going to disturb our guys once we got them here. It was the same as the first one, unoccupied for a long time as well. There was a dusty note left on the kitchen table for the parents of the home owner saying that if they’d come looking for them, that they’d been evacuated to the safe zone at Faslane, this gave me hope that my brother had found this safe zone and it was still secure. I also felt sorry for the home owners; I guessed no one ever came looking for them.
Both Cottages were small; both had two bedrooms with a kitchen-diner, bathroom and small living room.
We went back to the boats and got everyone to gather up enough supplies to get them through the night if needed, I hoped that they wouldn’t need it and we’d all soon be back on the boats and on our way. We all headed back to the cottages without any problems.
We got the guys settled in and secured. We reminded them where we were and so minimal noise and no lights after dark, we didn’t want anyone or anything to know they were there. We wanted to do what we had to and be on our journey as quickly as possible.
Chapter Thirty Six
Paul, David, Ken, Becky and I went back to the boats. David waited on the Saltwind and Ken on the Gamebird. Paul fired up the generator and lifted the safety barrier before jumping aboard the Hope. The three guys manoeuvred the boats into the lock. Paul jumped back off and lowered the safety barrier again and started the pumps. The boats slowly started to lower. I remember thinking, so far, so good. We’d seen movement in the distance, but nothing
We checked on the other side of the road first in case there were any vessels we could use which would save us a lot of time and hassle with the lock, but there was nothing to be seen. We went back to the small building. We peered inside, there was no one or no rotters about, and so we went in.
Paul had a good look around and decided it was a fairly simple system to operate the lock, the only problem being, it couldn’t be operated manually. There was however a generator that was used to power the system, but it was going to make a lot of noise and for a long time. With the houses to our left, the high rise flats to our right and the main road in front of us, we were going to attract a lot of attention to ourselves.
Paul checked out the small generator hut next to the canal, it was fuelled up and had been maintained recently he said. So if someone else had worked out how to use it, surely we could I thought, it may even have been the former residents of the Gamebird.
We all boarded the Hue in order to come up with a plan of action. We wanted to stick with the waterways as we still felt it was our safest option and we’d known we were going to have to overcome obstacles along the way, we just needed to find the quickest and safest way through it.
We decided we were going to send a few of us ahead first on foot to find somewhere safe to take the majority of our group, especially the children, then a small group of us would stay behind and get the boats through the lock system and under the road.
Paul reckoned it was going to take a minimum of forty five minutes to get the boats through. There was a lot of water that needed to be pumped out and then back in again once the boats were on the other side of the road.
Becky, John, and I set off along the tow path that ran alongside the canal; it wasn’t long until we came across two small stone cottages at the canal side. They were both locked up. We went around the back and managed to break in through a rear window of the first cottage. It was unoccupied and it didn’t look like there had been anyone there in a long time.
We moved on to the adjoining cottage, we wanted to make sure that no one or rotters were going to disturb our guys once we got them here. It was the same as the first one, unoccupied for a long time as well. There was a dusty note left on the kitchen table for the parents of the home owner saying that if they’d come looking for them, that they’d been evacuated to the safe zone at Faslane, this gave me hope that my brother had found this safe zone and it was still secure. I also felt sorry for the home owners; I guessed no one ever came looking for them.
Both Cottages were small; both had two bedrooms with a kitchen-diner, bathroom and small living room.
We went back to the boats and got everyone to gather up enough supplies to get them through the night if needed, I hoped that they wouldn’t need it and we’d all soon be back on the boats and on our way. We all headed back to the cottages without any problems.
We got the guys settled in and secured. We reminded them where we were and so minimal noise and no lights after dark, we didn’t want anyone or anything to know they were there. We wanted to do what we had to and be on our journey as quickly as possible.
Chapter Thirty Six
Paul, David, Ken, Becky and I went back to the boats. David waited on the Saltwind and Ken on the Gamebird. Paul fired up the generator and lifted the safety barrier before jumping aboard the Hope. The three guys manoeuvred the boats into the lock. Paul jumped back off and lowered the safety barrier again and started the pumps. The boats slowly started to lower. I remember thinking, so far, so good. We’d seen movement in the distance, but nothing
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