60 January 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk
NARROWBOAT TRUST
Andrew and Helen got the pair round
the hairpin at Hawkesbury in grand style
in front of a pub garden full of
gongoozlers. From there I took over the
motor past Charity Wharf, with its weird
mannequins and chaotic boats (very
distracting!), and round Marston Junction,
and we moored just before the motor’s
namesake town of Nuneaton. Dinner was
in the butty cabin as the nearest pub
didn’t serve food. The one disadvantage
of sleeping in the butty is that you can’t go
to bed until everyone else has gone; I
chucked them out at 10.45 as we were due
to leave again at 6.30 the next morning.
Helen received her first boating injury
the following day, half-way down
Atherstone locks, when her windlass got
out of control and smashed into the back
of her hand. She had to have her ring cut
off that evening due to the swelling. It was
the only injury of the trip, apart from a few
cuts and bruises. No one fell in, even.
We were helped down Atherstone by a
CRT volunteer, Roger, who’s also a
member of the Trust – they popped up all
over the place. Roger doesn’t come on the
boats any more but he turns out at the
locks every time the boats go through,
whatever day or time that is. There’s more
than one way to volunteer.
We finally reached Alvecote just after
3pm, in time to join the tail-end of the
historic boat parade. What a guddle! I’d
never been to one of these rallies before,
let alone taken part in one, and we novices
left Andrew and Ray to control the boats.
We had enough to do, breasting the boats
up for the winding and singling them out
to weave through all the others. We finally
made it to our home mooring in time for a
wash before Sunday roast dinner in a
packed Samuel Barlow. The jollifications
continued into the night. I didn’t. Call me
a wimp, but I was in bed by 9.30.
Monday brought us a fitting piece of
history, as Alice Lapworth, one of the last
of the working-boat families and a Trust
member, steered Brighton in the historic
boat parade. It also brought a final
personal challenge. The top-planks had
been lying on the cross-beams up ‘til now,
level with the gunwales, so they weren’t
too scary to walk along. Being a bit old
and nervous, Helen and I had climbed
onto the roof of the cratch and crawled
along it on hands and knees; Andrew
always walked it but then he’s 19 and
therefore invincible. Now, with the boats
about to be left for a week, we tied on the
side-cloths and raised the top planks to
protect the coal. With the cloths on, the
planks started in the bottom position by
the cabins but sloped up to the roof of thecratch. Then, just like the beginning of the
trip, Ray, Andrew, Helen and I and all our
luggage squeezed into my car and headed
to Napton where Ray and Andrew had left
theirs. A day and a half’s trip by water
reduced to an hour and a half’s by road.
But that’s not really the point, is it?
So why would anyone want to volunteer
to work on the boats? It certainly ain’t for
the glamour. For us, it was partly
admiration of the Idle Women and wanting
to understand first-hand something of the
life they led; partly enjoying Britain’s
industrial heritage and doing something to
help keep it alive; but mainly we love
boats and anything to do with water. And
we learnt a huge amount.
We learnt several ways of getting a boat
off the mud – and you never know when
that might come in handy. We learnt a lot
about controlling boats, how to tow safely
and how to pass a rope so someone can
take a snatch off your boat. We learnt how
to steer a boat with no engine (it would
have been useful to know that when my
brother’s old Lister blew up on our very
first trip, stranding us in the middle of the
Avon). We learnt that there’s more than
one use for a windlass and a cabin shaft
and that the person who said “never push
the boat with the shaft; you could hurt
yourself” was over-cautious. We learnt to
give working boats plenty of space,
especially when they’re towing.
Above all, we met some really
interesting people, made friends and had a
fun. What more could you ask of a holiday?
The Trust welcomes new members. Visit
http://www.narrowboattrust.org.uk to find out
more information. CBAlvecote get-togetherHelen, Andrew, Brighton and Nuneaton