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The
boats were duly taken to Braunston from Stoke
Bruerne on Friday 24th June (Midsummer Day,
which obliged by raining all the way from Blisworth
Bridge to Braunston). The water cooling on
Nuneaton failed near plate 10 in Blisworth
tunnel, but the problem (a leak somewhere in
the system) was speedily diagnosed and, once
it had cooled down and the reservoir reprimed
with water, the engine ran smoothly all the
rest of the weekend.
The boats were ultimately laid abreast of Cactus
and Success, which were loaded with
coal and solid fuel supplied by John Jackson.
of Roach fame. Transhipment began
on the Friday evening and was completed on Saturday
morning. The boats were tidied up and left the
Braunston Gathering at 15.00 on Sunday, going
to the top of Buckby that evening. Here John
Jackson loaded a final 22 bags of Phurnacite
that had been omitted.
The butty's headlamp
is suffering from some sort of connection problems
and seems to please itself whether it works
or not, which makes for interesting steering
in tunnels.
Leaving Buckby at 07.30 on Monday 27th June,
little problems were experienced down Buckby
locks and round the pound to Stoke, other than
the butty's headlamp eccentricity. They were
tied up below lock 15 (where they were left
on the upward journey) at 15.00. They are currently
half sheeted, so as to give some security to
the load, barrows, bike etc, and Doug Craigie
of BW, the local chargehand, is happy for them
to stay there for the next ten or so days.
It occurs to me that it would make a good
winter mooring for them if BW would agree. They'd
be handy to run training courses from, which
would bring in a certain amount of revenue in
the winter. I already have several inquiries
from outside with folks wanting to have a day
or two out on boats that they could get hands
on experience with and would be prepared to
pay for the privilege. We could always do a
reduced charge for members.
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