From mwickett@decisionsolutions.com Mon May 3 21:41:41 1999 Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 11:27:42 +0100 From: Mark Wickett Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: Canals Mailing List Subject: TRIP REPORT: Out and About on the Cut: Day 6 [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] OUT AND ABOUT ON THE CUT - day 6 Recap: Despite the best efforts of the wind, the n.b. "Ruddy Duck" is keeping to schedule on it's "out and back" trip from Apperley Bridge with Catherine and myself. Friday: Another grey and blustery day greeted us when at last, we braved the outside to chop some wood to boost our rapidly diminishing supply of ready-to-use fire wood. An elderly lady walking her sheepdogs stopped for a while to relate the sad tale of her new-born lamb that died the previous night. She seemed remarkably positive to us city-dwellers - does the countryside harden you to this sort of tragedy? The wind reinforced our trepidation for the journey ahead of us - today we would be accompanied by some friends Graham and Heidi, together with their children Tim (aged 9) and Sarah (6 I think!). This would be their first time on a narrow boat and when we met them at the Anchor pub they were obviously excited but they too had an air of apprehension about them. I know, it's only a day out in a narrow boat - how bad can it be? The trip would be eventful to say the least... We started out good enough - making swift progress through the remaining locks at Gargrave with our enthusiastic crew. Once beyond the safety of the Aire-side village and out into open countryside, we experienced the worst of the wind. Coming through a swing bridge, we saw a Shire Cruisers hire boat coming the other way - but struggling to get off the side. We offered our help which was politely refused as they thought they'd be there some time and didn't want to delay us. Then we suddenly realised why they were stuck: not because they'd left it too late to turn into the sharp corner - rather the wind had blown them onto the bank and refused to let them off! Unfortunately, we realised a little too late and we too, went hurtling sideways into the bank just beyond their stern. "Are you stopping there?" they shouted indignantly above the howling gusts "No, we're stuck like you!" we replied and struggled like them for about half an hour, before the cold wind numbed our limbs and we decided to retire inside for a welcome slice of pizza. Meanwhile, the crew of the hire boat had come up with the brilliant idea of reversing back round the corner and taking another run up. Brilliant except for the fact they neglected to tell us. The first time they hit us, it was just a rapid turn of the tiller as our fenders sustained the impact. The second time made the glasses on the draining board rattle dangerously. The third time, with their engine in full reverse, they struck us a glancing blow, taking off a considerable amount of paint right down to the bare steel and pretended to ignore our profanity-littered cries which basically asked them if they were going to touch up our paintwork... perhaps if they had come and told us what they intended to do, we might have been able to help them. Fortunately for the crew of the hire boat, we didn't see the name of the boat - else they might have got an earful from their hire company, but if anyone from Shire Cruisers is reading this, it's the boat with a large amount of cream paint on its stern... Now it was our turn to try and get off the bank, and using poles, long arms and the power of the engine, we eventually - after an hour or so - got the boat clear of the shallows next to the bank and it continued - minus a few crew - down the choppy channel at an angle of around 30 degrees in both the horizontal and vertical planes... At last, we were on our way - only an hour or so behind schedule and fortunately, well-stocked up on child-friendly supplies to keep them entertained. If we were lucky, we could catch up our lost time by not stopping in Skipton as we'd planned. Niffany Swing Bridge had other ideas. When we got to the bridge, we were surprised to see a large number of BW men in green overalls and fluorescent coats standing around watching this obstacle across the water. The obstacle was, of course, the swing bridge - which on its final swing, had sheared one of the bolts and decided to tilt vertically as well as horizontally. Fortunately, the farm that lay the other side of the bridge had a suitably equipped tractor and using a similar machine on the road side, the bridge was lifted and placed horizontally on its remaining bolts. Two hours and a couple of tea breaks later, after a replacement bolt had been found, resized in the farm's workshop to fit the bridge and then fitted to the bridge, we were once again, on our way. We might have been seriously delayed now, but all credit to the BW men who resolved the problem in a couple of hours on a bank holiday! Finally, we got to Skipton and the troublesome swing bridges seemed to swing easily as if being forgiving for our earlier adventures. Both Tim and Sarah ably steered the boat around the canal, regularly visiting both banks to further explore the wildlife :-) but a careful hand on the tiller from either Catherine or me averted further incidents. At least, until we let Graham have a go. He started well - so well, that I left him to it for a few seconds. He was trying to pass moored boats on both sides whilst another one came towards him. Perhaps that wasn't the ideal testing ground for his skill - but a quick flick of the tiller and we were back on track - after a hasty apology to the oncoming boat who was distinctly not amused - but at least there were no impacts! Finally, as the evening weather improved, we approached Kildwick which was to be our destination for the night. It was getting dark when we arrived and Graham and Heidi disappeared with their kids to find a chip shop in Silsden whilst Catherine and I tried to moor up avoiding the plentiful piles of gifts from the neighbourhood dogs. I'd hoped that a village that appeared to take considerable pride in the appearance of its buildings might have some left for the towpath of the pretty canal that passes through it - clearly this is not the case. All six of us consumed our chips with passion - glad of the hot food at the end of a cold and blustery day. Our crew left for the comfort of their own home, and Catherine and I retired for the night, listening to the chiming of the church bells... Tomorrow: Sunshine, snow and stone throwing. Mark Wickett n.b. Ruddy Duck