Penny's entry
Tuesday, 15th and Wednesday, 16th August Here we go again – very late in the day at 4.30pm! There was so much to do on the boat before we could leave – including taking delivery of a tiny vacuum cleaner from Molly and Peter (parents of Penny’s boyfriend). Gosling brought back memories of numerous boating holidays in the past for them, so being intrepid adventurers, they insisted on coming on to view the boat despite their advanced years and several hip replacements! We cruised for four hours and moored at Hawkesbury Junction, just before the Coventry Canal. Lovely to be back on Gosling and into the swing of life on board again. Huge relief to be travelling at three and half mph on the waterways rather then 70 mph on the motorways. Today, Wednesday, has been a very hard day. We cruised for nine and half hours and we’re completely shattered. We have, however, had our first adventure. As we went through the lock at Hawkesbury, we were approached by a man from A.B. Tuckey – a transport company. They asked us if we would be prepared to tow a 60’ Hopper for 6 miles!! Well! It was a challenge not to be turned down! They paid us £25 which is a further inching towards the £1,000 for Trees for Life. When we rounded the corner to see what was in store for us, we saw a huge, rusty, but sturdy ‘thing’! (See photos) Apparently it had to be towed to Nuneaton where it would be craned out of the canal and taken to Bristol. The customer was then going to have it built and fitted out as a narrowboat. George and Ian, who were moving the hopper, had a spare day and wanted to move it before their own boat was available to do the towing. The hopper was tied on by a Waterways man, but it swung alarmingly all over the canal and there were boats moored on either side! Eventually, a lady called out that she’d been towing for 30 years and the way the hopper was tied to our boat was a disgrace! She told us to moor up and she and her husband re-tied it so that it was safe. Phew! We then continued at 2 miles an hour for another two and a half hours until we reached Nuneaton. Had a thought that this could be a new and alternative means of income in the future! We continued on our way for another five hours – all a bit of a blur, apart from avoiding a narrowboat filled with inebriates. They were meandering along the canal and as we passed (with caution), one of them read out our banner ‘Trees for Life’, looked nonplussed, searched for something to say, suddenly shouted out ‘Peace!’ and made the victory sign! At Glascote Locks, in Tamworth, Sarah spotted Rosie and Jim propped up in the window of the Lock keeper’s cottage. As Gosling looks so like Rag Doll, a photo seemed appropriate. A family was chatting to us about boating as we negotiated these locks, and the children were looking longingly at our boat! Zoe and Dean (see photo) became Gosling's second guests of honour and seemed to enjoy the experience! We have now done 195 miles of the whole journey, so 125 to go! We’ve been through 92 locks and have 148 left to conquer! |