The Big Cruise Day 26: One way to stop the traffic

Several canals feature lift bridges or swing bridges. Mostly they just need manual effort - either pushing and shoving or winding a handle. But where there is a road crossing with significant traffic the bridge is usually operated elecrically, as here at Wrenbury.

The crew has to get off the boat, cross the bridge, insert a special key and press buttons, in accordance with the written instructions. The process then happens automatically. Traffic lights show flashing red to the road traffic, barriers come down across the road, slowly the bridge rises.

Then the boat(s) slowly pass through and the whole process is reversed.

The fun happens either when the crew is of a nervous disposition and goes into panic mode at the thought of their responsibility for holding up all that traffic. Or when the boater is single-handed ... that's when the fun begins!

[Explanation: Big Cruise Blips begin on 9th April [u](where there's an introduction)[/u] and last nearly 8 weeks with a break in the middle. I am catching up with the back-blipping]