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Feel a real sense of achievement as you and your crew navigate your barge through your first lock. As soon as you to grips with them locks are all part of the fun and excitement of a barge hire holiday.

In the UK just about every inland waterway will have some type of lock and different locks require a different way of operating them. Basically a lock is a device for raising or lowering a barge between two different levels of water.

Going up -

Open the gate and take the barge into the lock and close the gate behind you. Using your windlass open the sluice gate and allow the water to flow from the top pound into the lock.

The barge will then rise as the lock fills with water. When the water level inside the lock is the same as the water level ahead in the canal open the top gates and take the barge out.

Going down -

Open the lock gate and take the barge into the lock, remember to close the gate behind you. Open the sluice gate with your windlass and allow the water to drain out of the lock. The barge will lower as the water level in the lock drops. When the water level inside the lock is the same as the water level ahead in the canal open the bottom gates and take the barge out.

Remember.........

To close the gate behind your barge on each occasion to preserve the water.

Water will always flow downhill and when a lock gate is closed against the pressure of the water the gate will not open until the water level is equal on both sides.

Travelling through a lock on your barge will take approximately 10 to 20 minutes depending on how big the lock is.

It is always nice to meet another barge coming towards you on the approach to a lock as this barge would have just exited the lock on your level and therefore the lock will be set in your 'favour'.

There are a few words of technical jargon which may help you whilst you are on your barge hire holiday

Chamber - The main feature of a lock, it is a watertight enclosure which can be sealed off from the pounds at either end by gates.

Cill - A ledge inside the lock on which the gates sit. Gates are watertight doors which seal off the chamber from the pounds. Each end of the chamber is equipped with a gate made of oak, elm or steel.

Pound - The level stretch of water between two locks.

Rise - The change in water level affected by the lock.

Sluice - Trapdoors which let water in or out and are situated in the lock gate or on the side wall of a lock are also known as paddles.

Winding gear - The mechanism which allows the Sluice, paddles, to be lifted (opened) or lowered (closed). Windlass - Also know as the lock handle or iron it is a spanner like tool used for opening and closing locks.

Narrow and Broad Locks- These locks are very common and were built to two sizes a narrow locks which can accommodate one canal boat and a broad lock that can fit two canal boats side by side.

Duplicate Locks - As the canals became busier many locks created bottlenecks so to speed up the canal boats the more profitable canal companies built a duplicate lock alongside the existing one. Canal boats were then worked in pairs so that two boats could pass in the locks side by side.

Stop Locks - Water was a very valuable commodity so Stop Locks were built where canals joined to keep the water belonging to the two canal companies separate.

Guillotine Lock -- A lock where the gate is wound upwards like the blade of a guillotine.

Lock Flights - A series of locks in close proximity with a short pound in between.

Staircase Lock - Used when a very steep gradient has to be climbed and where the bottom gate of one is the top gate of the next.

Lock Keepers - Some locks are operated or supervised by professional Lock Keepers, in particularly where locks are large or have complicated features.