Huddersfield Ring
Burton on Trent - IWA festival
31st July 2011
I wanted to go the the IWA festival, I really did. But work and family commitments made it nearly impossible to get there. If I could have had the Friday off work, the schedule would have worked - but I couldn't and it didn't.
The tranquility of life on the cut
As things transpired we arrived at the Festival site at about 3.30pm on the Sunday - too late to pay a worthwhile visit, but early enough to pick up a bit of the atmosphere as we threaded our way through the ranks of moored craft. It will go down as the festival which got away. Maybe we could have got up three hours earlier and reached the site by lunchtime, but we were on holiday and were not sufficiently motivated.
Would you try this at more than tickover?
With the canal banks lined three deep and just a handful of passing places, this was a location to test ones boat handling skills to the limit. All those shiny shiny boats, with their owners sitting on them just daring you to cock up and bash into them! With so little room for error even tick over seemed recklessly fast.
Blog boats were much in evidence, including Briar Rose and No Direction to name but two.
No Direction
Perhaps the one which made me smile was called Ernest of the Paddington Cruising Club, its name emblazoned on its stern. There was me poking Jeff in the ribs and explaining about the Tuesday Night Club when I spotted some small lettering in the side "Not that one, another one..." Hmm - I thought it was still in Ireland and had a slipper stern.
Working boats led by President and Kildare
One of these days we will get to the festival by boat, but not next year as its off in deference to the Olympics.
That wasn't our Briar Rose. The boat at the IWA was THE Briar Rose -- we have no definite article. We were there on the Sunday, but we went by car, and I think we'd left by the time you went through.
ReplyDeleteAdam - I was rather surprised when I saw it as I normally have a reasonable idea of whee you are! But I was concentrating so hard on my steering that I didn't have an opportunity to take a second look.
ReplyDeleteAndy