The 1st of Toukokuu

In 2006 on our first trip north, people kept telling me we needed a hand spike.

Eventually I called at Apperley marina and paid £14 for one.

The man took my cash and returned with a piece of wood !

He must have seen me coming.

It was a nicely shaped piece of wood......but £14!

I warned my mate who was a month behind me.

He picked up a piece of timber in the canal and used that

Rog

Yes, that worked perfectly Jim, thanks. As I came out of the last lock which needed a handspike I met a crew coming the other way so I gave it to them, and asked them to pass it on when they had finished with it, so who knows, perhaps it is still in use today.

I imagine any builders merchant would have a few in their skip which they would be glad to give a boater, possibly in exchange for a beer, among other things concrete lintels are delivered to them  loaded on 3" x 2" wooden bearers which they invariably throw away.

Having seen someone hurt themselves trying to use a bit of old pine instead of a hardwood handspike, I'd be very cautious about doing that. Lad faceplanted pretty hard, nearly impaled himself! Pull, don't push, and think about where you're going to fall if the wood breaks.

I randomly found a brand new unused hand spike laying by the roadside a couple of weeks ago, pressed into the grass verge at least 15 miles from the nearest place I know of that uses one and a good 1/2 mile from the nearest functional canal (A638 out of Wakefield, bottom of Heath Common where the old Barnsley canal used to cross, not somewhere a boat has been in the last 60+ years). Left me wondering if it had fallen out of an EA van or something like that as there's some sort of pumping station at that location which has EA vans attending every time it rains heavy.