Trent & Mersey and Bridgewater 1986
The first trip. Who would have thought then, certainly three of the six in the picture did not, that in 2008 we would still be doing this?We did have one hell of an adventure, for most of the crew it was a first time on the inland waterways and those doing the 2008 trip weren't put off that much were they.
CREW left to right
David King, Martin Cranage, Ted Chapman, John Parmenter (Captain), Brian Wilson, Mike Newport.
Sorry about the boat Simolda!
Only kidding, here is the certificate saying we did look after the boat - Honest.
We all remember a lot about the first trip, we did have a lot of trouble identifying the year mind you. The plan was to attempt the Four Counties ring but on arrival at the tunnel at Kidsgrove the tunnel was closed. The reason is not clear or recorded and since we have changed the year of this first trip (more than once) the very helpful advice I have received from Clive on Canals and waterways is no longer valid.
A big thank you to Clive and Dan Horner of Canals and waterways and Johnny B of Boats and Canals for all their help with dates and events which has certainly help me get to the right answers in the end as well as the copy of Knave that dates the trip exactly (well done Martin).
It is also time for me to own up to a cock up that I have never been allowed to forget. It is referred to by Simon as the Corgi anecdote. We had a lot of problems with the gas on the boat, often failing to light and so on. I was at the time a Corgi registered repairer and set about stripping down,cleaning and setting up the boiler and fires. I did actually improve things a bit but the real problem was that the gas was Butane which stops boiling at low temperatures. Had we dunked the cylinders in the canal we would have raised the pressure a bit. I should have known this being an out of season camper, the morning cup of tea takes a long time in October with frost on the ground.
OK, I have broadcast this to the world now so no more mention of it, else I will embarrass the person who spent an hour trying to get the generator going on one of our radio weekends when the oil alert had cut the ignition because the oil was very low.
The crew have also been invited to put pen to paper. Watch this space.