admin said
Hi Ros, welcome to the forum.

There’s no such thing as a “silly” fear. If something frightens you, and that fear causes physical or emotional discomfort, it certainly isn’t silly.

Maybe you should consider an inflatable vest when you’re doing lock work, especially if you feel dizzy when you’re near them. You’ll notice that all waterways personnel wear them when they are near locks.

You can also avoid crossing lock gates much of the time. If you are on a narrow canal that has single boat width locks, you can work the lock from the towpath. If you are on a wide canal with double boat width locks, you only need to open one lock gate (on the towpath side) if you are on your own. If you are sharing a lock with another boat, just work the lock on the same side as your boat. If the boaters from the boat that is on the lock with you are working the lock on “your” side, explain your fear to them and ask them to swap so you don’t have to cross the lock gate to the other side. They will usually be very understanding.

Thank you for your response – as ever, nothing beats the voice of experience!  I can’t tell you how relieved I am that there are ways around my phobia.  Anxiety was spoiling my anticipation of an exciting and adventurous future and I didn’t want to ruin things for my husband, who has had this dream since he was a small boy.  I think I just needed someone with experience to reassure me that this wasn’t a “dealbreaker”.  Now we just need to get that training under our belts and have a go…

blanik said

R Dawson said

admin said
Hi Ros, welcome to the forum.

There’s no such thing as a “silly” fear. If something frightens you, and that fear causes physical or emotional discomfort, it certainly isn’t silly.

Maybe you should consider an inflatable vest when you’re doing lock work, especially if you feel dizzy when you’re near them. You’ll notice that all waterways personnel wear them when they are near locks.

You can also avoid crossing lock gates much of the time. If you are on a narrow canal that has single boat width locks, you can work the lock from the towpath. If you are on a wide canal with double boat width locks, you only need to open one lock gate (on the towpath side) if you are on your own. If you are sharing a lock with another boat, just work the lock on the same side as your boat. If the boaters from the boat that is on the lock with you are working the lock on “your” side, explain your fear to them and ask them to swap so you don’t have to cross the lock gate to the other side. They will usually be very understanding.

Thank you for your response – as ever, nothing beats the voice of experience!  I can’t tell you how relieved I am that there are ways around my phobia.  Anxiety was spoiling my anticipation of an exciting and adventurous future and I didn’t want to ruin things for my husband, who has had this dream since he was a small boy.  I think I just needed someone with experience to reassure me that this wasn’t a “dealbreaker”.  Now we just need to get that training under our belts and have a go…

My wife has a simple answer – get your partner to do the locks.

 

We did a helmsman/crew course and the best question my wife asked was ‘can he work locks himself?’ – the answer was YES.

 

The whole point is to enjoy yourself. I work shifts so when on holiday I tend to wake up early ( 6-7 am) whilst my wife sleeps in – so I work the first few locks single handed. If we get to a flight my wife steers and I work the locks. She thinks this is the best division of labour.

 

As the previous reply said you should be able to work broad locks from one side- who cares if it takes a little longer. If you are working narrow locks if necessary you should be able to cross at the top gate so there is no large drop on the side you are crossing. ( If I jump across the bottom gates my wife tells me off as she thinks I am to old to keep doing it! ). So work out a system that you feel comfortable with.

 

Thanks for your reply – you two sound a bit like us – my husband is an early bird and I am a night owl, so the idea of sleeping through the locks is certainly appealing – I wonder if he will go for it!  I also agree that it should be fun and that’s the main reason my husband and I want to get a narrowboat when we are 60 (in four year’s time).  We love the idea of just taking off and going where we please, we have travelled around Europe quite a bit (not First Class, I might add), including places like Poland, Latvia and Estonia and we now take off with our tent to explore Britain and France, but there are so many places in England we want to explore and what better way to do this than on the canals and rivers. 

 

I was afraid that I would spoil it all with my fears, particularly as it has been my husband’s dream since childhood, so I feel so much better knowing it wont be the problem I expected it to be.  Also, the fact that there are so many really nice people out there with experience they are willing to share is very reassuring, as I know we have a lot to learn.