In which Sid and Doris sally froth.
Sally Boat Hire is near Bradford on Avon. The boat yard is immediately appealing, harbouring both a Reliant Scimitar and a Bedford CA Dormobile. Already we have contenders for conveyance of the day.
Our Monday afternoon date is with Lydia who is narrow and a friendly 54′ long. The briefing is thorough and friendly, majoring on where to find extra coal for the stove. There is not much maintenance to do. There is a stern gland to grease, which pleases both beavers and Mr Bat.
Our host does the fiddly bit of steering us out of the marina and onto the canal proper, and Sid drops him at a convenient bridge. And we’re off. Lydia is about twice as long as our old Eric, but after that it’s just a boat albeit with not much dirigibility in reverse. Even so passing boats feels quite tight.
Communication from the helm to the crew member on the foredeck is a bit of a one-way affair as the helm is also standing on top of the engine. Quicker to run through the inside of the boat and pop your head out of the rear hatch. If you zoom in to the photo on the left you can see the foredeck crew member in the distance.
Bradford-on-Avon seems nerve-wrackingly full of boats and we are very glad to find Canal and River Trust volunteers running the lock. Knocking-off time is usually 17:00 but out of pity for us (and the other river traffic) they twirl their lock keys for one last time, which means we can both stay aboard Lydia while we go through the lock. The volunteers are cheerful but the lock is deep and greasy and malevolent. It is possible that we are not entirely in a relaxed holiday mood yet.
To get the canal over the river and railway at Avoncliff, the engineers put in a sharp right-hand turn, then the narrow aqueduct, then a sharp left hand turn. Narrowboats pivot around their central point when you steer, which means that you have to sort of overshoot the aqueduct a bit and then pray that you have got it right. Doris does the praying and Sid gets it right.
Everyone is exhausted at this point, so we find a very pretty mooring with an old ash wood on the right and the deep valley with the railway in it on the left. Fortunately it’s not the main line, so the sound of passing trains is occasionally pleasant.
No damage, no shouting and nobody has fallen in yet. Time to break out the beers.