Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 12:24:14 +0100 From: Bruce Peckett Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Cavalcade trip report part 1 Been a while since I posted a trip report. Come to think of it, it's been a while since I did any serious boating! There follows, for your amusement (I hope) an account of Badger's movements over the last two or three weeks Steve & Mandy Morley undertook the first part of the trip from Gayton to Uxbridge (via Little Venice, they must have got lost!) at Easter so on the Thursday evening before Canalway Cavalcade Glen and I drove down to Uxbridge in the Landy (avoiding even most 'B' roads until forced onto the A143 for the last couple of miles!) to load up and set off from Hillingdon Canal Club's moorings, the boats temporary hosts for a couple of weeks either side of the main event Buz Collins on Maid in England was, we knew, just down the cut at Cowley Peachey so having loaded up our two bags of kit, the guitar and accordion and the Morley's gear (tons of it!) we pootled down to meet up with him for a couple of beers in the Paddington Packet Boat and several more cans back on board Maid in England Friday morning we set off to Little Venice, a trip which took somewhat longer than it might have 'cos Buz dived into every DIY store (of which there must have been half a dozen) in an eventually sucessful search for a certain type of low wattage lamp and Badger's steering decided to resume it's recent aberations resulting in us covering rather more distance than would otherwise have been the case had we been able to proceed in a straight line Arriving at Little Venice in mid-afternoon we promptly did what we didn't ought to have done and moored up in the Pool (someone having failed to read the destructions in the advance info for attending boats). Never mind, we were tied on the outside of the boat belonging to the chairman of the organising committee so we got away with it! It was a little disconcerting when Glen jumped off the boat and was promptly cuddled by a nice young lady (those of you that know Glen personally will undertand why this was disconcerting!). Turns out she's a fellow crew member of the National Festival lavender boat. At Cavalcade she had the somewhat cleaner but perhaps less thankful task of sorting out the moorings and we duly discovered that we were to be moored just past the bridge in the arm down to Paddington Basin right on the Stone Wharf where the beer and entertainment tents were situated. Perfect! At that point, there were other boats on those moorings waiting to come out into the pool where no boats could be moored until the waterbuses had completed their last run so we sat around chatting for a while. The rest of the Maid in England crew arrived and time marched on. We started to get concerned about whether we'd get onto the moorings with enough time to set up the PA and made plans for Buz and I to get on with that leaving Glen and Sam to move the boats when the time came. As it was now heading towards evening I made myself some grub and sure enough I'd only eaten two thirds of it when the word came to shift onto our proper moorings! Just as we were about to let go a working boat tied onto the spot we were supposed to be on! Glen promptly hared off down the towpath .... well ambled, he can go all day but only at one pace ... to "sort him out". Turned out he'd dropped in briefly whilst the boats where he was supposed to be came out. It then transpired that the hole into which he was supposed to go was literally right behind the ents marquee and he suggested he stay put and we go there which suited us even better No sooner were we moored than Buz and I were off-loading the PA and getting set up for my spot in the ents marguee (Buz having agreed to my using his PA for the night and then kindly offering to set it up and run it). Steve and Mandy arrived having come down by train and then it was tiem for me to go to work Some damn fine ale from the excellent beer tent run by KESCRG volunteers was partaken with odd interludes of strumming, squeezing and singing to entertain the punters in the bar. Not the wildest gig I've ever done but it seemed to be appreciated Off to bed but not, in my case, to sleep much. Our mooring was just to one side of the A40M Westway flyover and with my bunk seperated from the outside world by the thickness of a sheet of plywood the endless traffic noise kept me awake most of the night Saturday seemed to come and go in a flash. Glen and the Morley's went for a walk to do some shopping etc. I wandered around the site stopping for conversations (mostly about IWA politics!) with various people. Lunch was of the liquid variety and it seemed like no time at all before it was time for dinner, an excellent stew and dumplings prepared by Mandy. Then it was a round of the Great Game of Britain before Steve and Mandy decided to retire to bed. Glen too declined to come out to play so I was left to my own devices at the bar for a couple of pints before also retiring this time equipped with some earplugs procurred from the chemists earlier by the shopping party. The ear plugs did the trick and I slept solidly all night (a rare occurence for me in any case). Sunday was more of the same, wandering around, chatting, drinking beer, until it was time for Buz to set up for his and Sam's spot in the ents marquee Sunday evening. As always, the Collins' were excellent entertainment and yet more of the excellent ale was consumed. After closing time, we loaded the gear back onto Maid in England, the rest of the Badger crew went to bed and I collared a four pack and joined Buz and Sam on Maid for a nightcap Monday arrived, as it usually does, and due to work commitments Badger needed to be off reasonably early. To avoid the boat handling competition we had to be away by 10-o-clock but since we were pointing in the direction of Paddington Basin and the opportunity might be a long time coming again we determined to sneak down to the end to see how far it goes! This we did although the very end of the basin was blocked off with a wire fence. Back up to Uxbridge we went without incident and tied up again at Hillingdon Canal Club before departing northwards once more by Landrover once again avoiding major roads like the plague -- Regards Bruce Email: brucep@ukwaterways.net Web: http://www.ukwaterways.net/ ---