OFF WE JOLLY WELL

Well here we are finally on our way. Tyseley looks beautiful in her new paint and we have two shows under our belts – Fair Trade at the Wharf Inn Welford and Tales of the Thames at Foxton Locks Inn. Welford is very much the old style Mikron, with great support from Neil at the Welford Marina and Alex at the Wharf Inn that is very much geared to the local boating community. We have equally great support from Stephanie and Bob at Foxton Locks Inn who are catering for a much more touristy and ‘fair weather’ crowd.
A great day’s boating today. George and Rachel are natural boaters and have no trouble in bending Tyseley into (and out) of the many beautiful curves the canal makes on our journey from Foxton up to Badsey’s . Some of the canal is very shallow and there is plenty of poling off, reversing off mud banks and a useful tow from a couple from Yorkshire who come to the rescue of their fellow countrymen when they see we are from Marsden.
We have decided on key roles in the company already – George is Music Captain (as he has to whisper the chords to me during the show as I invariably forget them), Rachel is Cleaning Captain, Gemma is Bosun, food and fire captain and I am boat captain and general dogsbody. Apologies to our friend the lock keeper at Watford locks for knocking the metal top off the lock gates AGAIN this year. He was still fuming about it from last year. Sincere apologies (and humble advice to re drill them and put some carriage bolts in instead of gluing them on with shower sealant before the next 72 foot coal boat comes along and sits on top of them ;-).