Our final full day in the narrowboat. Our goal was to get pretty close to the marina in Whitchurch, where we had to return the boat at around 9 am the next morning.
We had a couple of locks to navigate, meaning Cherryl got to work all the lock gate settings while I just drove the long skinny boat through.
Sometimes I would just hold the boat on the towpath while the bridge or lock was getting set.
Here’s a little video of some locking (sped up 7X)… and some cheerleaders!
Approaching another lock:
I have no comments on the following pictures, but just that the whole place was beautiful!
It was always nice to see the end of a tunnel, to be confident another boat wasn’t headed towards us!
Canal Crisis!
We were flagged down by some boats moored at the side of the canal, who told us a tree had fallen over the canal ahead. Impassible. Workers would soon arrive to rectify the situation. So we moored up too, and walked up to see the spectacle.
A very large tree was indeed lying right across the canal.
A boat, headed towards the tree from the other side, was trying to cut their way through. (Since I’ve said these boats were narrow, notice that a normal sized human, lying across the bow, covers most of the width of the boat.)
They were able to cut away a lot of the smaller branches near the surface, and they pulled their boat through the rest. No engine running, to be sure not to catch something in the prop.
The CRT (Canal and River Trust) is responsible for maintaining the canals, and they sent some folks to clean this mess up. The tree fell about 9 am, and the workers were not able to come till after 4. I think they had worked at “normal” jobs all day, and now were doing this after work.
They arrived in a canoe, and attached a line fairly high “up” in the tree.
They then cut the trunk from the stump on the other side of the canal.
The idea was to winch the tree top back to the far side, and lift the whole thing onto the bank. And go home.
That’s pretty much what they did, but it wasn’t as easy as they had hoped. Note the guy in full wader suit in the water. (The canals aren’t deep. While there are life rings on the boats, we were told if someone fell in the canal, don’t bother with the rings, tell the person to just stand up!)
Pretty soon the canal was clear and the first boat was able to pass.
While we were watching the adventure, we spent a little time chatting with the beautiful Dutch family we’d seen a few times before. I’m hoping we can stay in touch with them!
Here’s the man in the full wader suit, having survived the work in the water.
And we are on the way again!
We checked out a little side canal, the Prees Branch canal, that just goes a mile or so to a marina. But it passes a cute campground, with little camper vans all lined up waiting for renters!
A few Mandarin Ducks meandered our way…
We finally found a peaceful place to spend our last night aboard.
In the morning, Cherryl gets to lift her last lift bridge.
Just before Christmas last year, the canal just east of Whitchurch had a breach. An easy word to say, but it was a huge deal! The canal wall broke while the canal was a ways above the surrounding fields, and a tremendous amount of water flooded the field. Worse, three boats were stuck in the now empty canal at the huge sinkhole, and many others rested on the bottom further up the canal.
The CRT (remember them?) quickly put temporary dams across the ends of the canal on each side of the sinkhole. Then within 48 hours, they set up this network of pumps and pipes in “our” marina, to pump water from upstream into the downstream portion. It turns out this water is not just for pleasure craft – it is part of the water supply for several towns downstream. The plumbing is huge and complex looking. I’m sure the marina will be happy when the canal is repaired and they can get all this extra equipment out of their workspace!
So we left the boat in the morning, took a taxi to the train station, then train to London. Arriving mid-afternoon, we checked into our room. The smallest room ever to hold a queen bed! The bed was up against the wall on three sides! A small glassed in bathroom finished out our room. Really clever use of space; important because London real estate is ridiculously expensive.
The hotel was right near Trafalgar Square. We walked around for a while – to Leicester Square and all the shops near there.
A whole store for M&M’s! Two stories!
I’m quite sure this is Admiral Nelson standing tall in Trafalgar Square. I think he’s so high up there so he can avoid talking to all the crowds below.
Of course, we had to walk to Buckingham Palace. The Queen King wasn’t there or we’d have gone in to visit. (He was in the States visiting our president.)
We found a wonderful restaurant and retired after a great meal. We were tired!
The next morning we taxied to Heathrow. It’s an amazing, huge airport.
I guess keeping a huge airport clean has its challenges, so they have a little Air Floorce One on the team! It was just driving around, dodging people, and sweeping the floor.
The high point of our return home was getting to hear Dayna at the Lincoln Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast! Several weeks ago, our granddaughter entered a contest for young people to write and essay on “Who is your neighbor?” She didn’t let anyone see it, even her parents, so they were pleasantly surprised when they got notified that she won first prize! I think she was awarded some significant cash, and the privilege of reading her essay at the Prayer Breakfast. She read very well in the crowded room. Maybe if you’re good, I’ll include her beautiful essay at the end of this blog!
Meeting with Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird:
Posing with Mayor Baird and Jewel Rodgers, the Nebraska State Poet. (Who knew we had a State poet?)
Watering Flowers
by Dayna Nelson
Who is my neighbor?
The person next door?
The kids at school?
Family?
Friends?
I believe we’re all neighbors,
And should act that way.
I’ll tell you a story,
of a someone I think
is a very good neighbor
to me,
and inspired me
to be a neighbor to others.
Her care was like water, which grew flowers in my heart,
so I could plant them in someone else’s.
I got out of bed,
a tired, tangled mess.
Had a bad hair day.
Felt lonely and left out.
The flowers in my heart were wilting,
I couldn’t help it.
Then, in the hallway,
for no reason at all,
she walked up to me:
“You sang very well at church yesterday!”
I smiled
for the first time that day.
I thanked her,
then we both walked away.
The flowers,
so wilted and dead,
blossomed once more.
Another day,
I was feeling bad.
I couldn’t seem to do anything right.
The flowers,
so newly restored,
Were dying.
But,
during recess,
she came up to me again.
I was playing with a volleyball,
hitting it around in a circle with my friends.
She joined us,
bumping,
setting,
spiking,
until she said,
“You’re a great setter.”
The smallest of compliments.
Nothing big,
but sometimes,
water is all the flowers need
to grow.
A while passed,
I was feeling good.
The flowers blossomed,
flourished,
dug deep roots.
Then again,
a barrage of problems
diseased the flowers’ blooms.
One day,
just for fun,
I curled my hair for school.
She was the first one to tell me,
“I love your hair!”
And that little drop of water,
nothing, in the grand scheme of things,
made the flowers live once more.
So,
what this story tells,
Is that neighbors help their neighbors,
everyone, when they can.
And just a little bit of watering,
can grow flowers in a barren heart,
so that that heart can share its blossoms.