08/25/2006

Sarah's entry - Friday, 25th August. At end of today - 298 miles and 199 locks.

At Lock 24. Woke early to await BW men to check in our boats. Morning was chilly. There was an air of expectation and anxiety. Dave appeared, raring to go. Momentary panic as BW man says 'Gosling' is not on their list for going through the tunnel. We knew that was rubbish, but it got our adrenalin going none the less, given our epic journey to get here, and the knowledge that no more spaces for passage were available for almost a week. One boat moored with us found themselves in just this position. We felt sorry to leave him behind as we all set off for the next nine locks before entrance to the tunnel. We were instructed to be at lock 32 by one o clock.

Dave's help was invaluable, as these locks were very heavy and slow to fill. His talking however nearly drove Penny into the ground. The climb towards the tunnel was beautiful and we recognised ourselves to be well into Yorkshire terrain by the slant of the hills and the lay of the buildings and dwellings across the landscape.

At lock 31, a boater came in the opposite direction saying that the rest of the convoy were all ready to go and intending to leave without us. I borrowed Dave's bike and dashed up to check out the situation. They were expecting us and it seems the boater had been either a windup artist or somewhat of a fibber. Anyway, with second adrenalin rush of the day in action, we finally made it to the tunnel entrance on time.

Once there,'Gosling' was measured up and covered in black rubber sheeting. She was shackled up to a convoy of four narrow boats, with the fifth at the front being the tow boat in which all passengers would sit. We dressed ourselves up warmly, and brought a packed lunch (well put together by Penny at the last minute), whilst Sarah signed forms, turned off gas and electric, and removed all items from the roof which might get damaged in the journey.

Once in the tunnel on the tug boat at the front, it was a merry escape from the responsibilities of boat handling. In the capable hands of our guide, Terry, our two drivers (Fred) at the back and (?) at the front, we slowly slowly made our way through the chamber. It felt a bit like a ghost chamber. Terry our guide was fantastically full of knowledge about the history of the tunnel. It was fascinating to look down the intermittent shafts at either side, on the left - to get a view of the parallel railway tunnel, to the right -our shadow van who checked at each passageway that we were passing through alright. A man stood on the back of each boat, responsible for making sure it didn't bang too much against the sides, and stayed attached to the convoy! We met a lovely group of people from the other boats - Pam and Derek, Chris, Paul and his wife.

As we emerged at the end of the tunnel, we checked our progress - showing the whole passage had taken two and three quarter hours. I spotted Dave - who had travelled by bike by road, to meet us on the other side.

That evening, we went shopping in Marsden, the lovely village at the North end of Standedge tunnel. We went to pub with the other boaters, and were visited by Amy! It was so lovely to see her face. We had dinner together and showed her some of the photos. Amazing that she drove to us from her home in half an hour, yet our journey there was to take another three or four days. Penny went home from the pub before Sarah, and ended up without a torch going in the wrong direction. But she made it back to 'Gosling' in the end.