Lock wheeling EA-style and two insects to identify

On the canals lock-wheeling is the practice of cycling ahead to set a lock, especially in a flight of locks. But not here. On the Environment Agency rivers a lock wheel is a means of raising or lowering a guillotine gate by hand.

The wheel at this lock, between Irthlingborough and Thrapston, started off being easy to turn, but gradually got heavier.

I needn't have bothered raising a paddle on the top gates to fill the lock.

We travelled through more picturesque Northamptonshire countryside ...

… and under the A14. We have crossed this many times by car, noticing the old railway viaduct alongside, and at last we have done it by boat. This will make this part of the A14 more interesting.

We tied up at the EA mooring just before the Nine Arch Bridge at Thrapston and went for a walk. We followed a footpath from Thrapston to Islip, crossing the river on a footbridge.

Islip

To conclude this post, here are a couple of insects. The first landed on my binoculars.

This stopped just long enough on the edge of a solar panel for me to grab a photo.

I call these helicopter flies as they look like miniature helicopters in flight. Can anyone identify it and the stripy one above?

The eyes are huge compared to everything else (sorry about the quality).

Somehow I managed not to take a photo of us at this good mooring; I'll try to rectify that tomorrow.