Saturday 31 August 2024
It had been arranged, a while back, that a couple of friends of ours, Sue and myself would spend a day cruising along the canal network on a narrowboat.
Today was the day.
We picked up our crew mates, Linda and Pete and followed Google to Alvechurch Marina.
We arrived a bit early so diverted to the nearby railway station I the hope of finding the Alvchurch SideTracked cache. Unfortunately, I could find no sign of it but did manage to answer the question of a Adventure Lab location.
Nearer the time to get the boat, we moved next door where I grabbed another AdLab before going into the office to get the boat hire sorted.
Following the statutory safety video, were were taken to our craft and shown what things were and what they did.
Satisfied with our competency, a member of the hire company took us out of the marina and pointed us south. We would be going as far as the Tardebigge flight of locks but not down them.
A short way along the cut, we dropped off the hire company guy and were on our own.
As this was a belated birthday pressie for Pete, he was elected Captain and took the first stint at the wheel.
The galley slaves beavered away below deck making coffee and, for those who wanted them, bacon sandwiches.
After about a mile, we came to the mouth of the Shortwood tunnel, at six hundred and fourteen yards long, which Pete masterfully steered us through. The tunnel was mainly dry but we did get dripped on the further we went in.
After our first tunnel, Pete handed over the tiller to me so that he could devour his breakfast butty.
This was my first time steering a boat and unsurprisingly, we did veer from bank to bank (without making contact) a few time before I sort of got the hang of it and got the vessel going roughly where I wanted it to.
I successfully negotiated Tardebigge tunnel (only five hundred and eighty yards) before having to do a one-eighty.
It was around this juncture, that I realised that Pete and Linda had transformed into pirates.
At risk of being keel-hauled, I handed over the ship to Linda who expertly steered us back towards and into the Tardebigge tunnel.
Out of the tree of us who had a go at steering (Sue declined) Linda was the best as she and Pete used to own a boat so have had some practice before.
Not wanting to be wetted by the drip drip form th tunnel roof, Pete ingeniously employed an umbrella to shield them as we slid on through the tunnel.
The pirate garb elicited a fair few smiles from other crews and land-lubbers alike as we made our merry way.
As we approached the marina and for about a half mile beyond, I was alighting and boarding to grab a few geocaches as we passed.
We continued for another mile or so past the marina eventually passing the Hopwas House public house.
We did not have to go much past the boozer before reaching our turning point where Linda reversed direction and we moored up near to the pub.
Linda and Pete have driven past this establishment many time and have always said that it would be nice to visit by water, moor up and have a drink.
Their dream came true today.
After a swift pint, and conscious of the time (we had to be back by half four) we cast off with yours truly back at the helm.
My boat handling was much better this time around as I took us at least half way back before having to answer a call of nature, handing over to Pete for the final leg.
We arrived back in plenty of time and after docking and unloading we were back on terra firma.
Once all the paperwork had been sorted, it was back into the car stopping off at Sheldon Harvester for a bite to eat before heading home.
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kevbaldry