Canal Boat — January 2018

58 January 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk

Ladies who launch

Charlotte comntinues her boating adventures

WORDS BY CHARLOTTE FLEMING, PICTURES BY

CHARLOTTE FLEMING AND HELEN MACGREGOR

PART 2

W

e had a much better day
with only two groundings,
one before and one after
we swapped crews at
Lower Heyford (there’s a handy railway
station there – changing crews requires
much forward planning). Barry, Setareh
and Mark left, Steve and Chris came on
board. Steve referred to Helen and me as
the “novice ladies”; I replied that we’d
been ladies for a very long time, thanks –
but novice Trust boaters, yes.
During the changeover we filled the
water cans. We did use the pretty painted
ones, but most of our water was carried in
five 5-gallon plastic jerrycans. There’s no
running water on the boats, though there’s
a cassette loo in the butty and a “bucket
and chuck it” in the engine room on the
motor. Apparently one new recruit asked
where the shower was... It’s a bit primitive
but it’s how working boats were, and the
lack of facilities is all part of the – er –

charm. We got through a lot of wet-wipes!

The lack of facilities doesn’t extend to

the cabins, incidentally, which are

brilliantly designed to maximise storage

and living space. The one-inch thick

food-cupboard door is also the table,

which makes sitting the whole crew down

to eat a bit awkward, as the door sits

across the cabin and the seating goes

lengthways (though a plank can be slotted

in crossways to make a bench). If you’re

sleeping on the cross-bed your bedding

rolls up into a cupboard during the day;

the door of the cupboard becomes the

centre section of the bed at night and you

sleep with your feet or head inside the

cupboard.

If you’re on the side bed, which forms

an L with the cross bed, your bedding

goes in a drawer during the day and at

night you push your feet into a cubby-hole

under the cupboard where the plates live.

Alternatively, you can sleep with your

head by the door and your feet on the

edge of the cross-bed.

The cabin of Brighton, the butty, is not

original, and was built with a bit more

headroom than there is in Nuneaton’s. I’m

5’8” and could stand in the butty but

Helen, who’s 5’2”, could only just stand in

the motor. Brighton’s cabin also has an

extension for the galley and cassette loo;

originally all the cooking would have been

done on the range in the cabin. At the

time of our trip, Brighton’s range had been

condemned and removed, so we were glad

of the gas cooker. The men of the party

slept in the two cratches; one has a tent

with camp-bed and the other is a plywood

pod with sleeping platforms.

Back to the run... Moving on from

Heyford, I was steering the butty when we

came to Neil Bridge Lock. Normally the

butty is bowhauled into locks, which

requires direct access along the towpath.

At Neil Bridge the new road bridge has