The BCNS Explorer Cruise 2009

Tuesday

By 10 o'clock all the boats had departed except us, the last boat booked out and Brenda the organiser who was going behind every one else. The only problem was the 9 30 boat was pointing the wrong way and travelled about a mile and a half to the winding hole so even after we went Brenda still had to wait for them to come back.
At minworth locks there was a gentleman waiting to assist us on our way which was a great help, We  were to see him again later in the day at Aston Flight where we got chatting to him and found out his name is Aiden and he enjoys working boats through locks. At the bottom of the flight we came up behind three other boats from our group who had left earlier than us, BW were on the top lock waiting to assist us, here we were able to top up the water tank and still not miss our place in the queue. From here it was a steady run to Salford Junction where we turned sharp left up the second arm, ready to tackle the Aston flight of 7 locks. Part way up we hit an obstruction under the bridge, I had been warned there was something there so was going very slowly. By now the boat that was following having been the extra distance to turn round had caught us as had Brenda. On this flight we had help from another gentleman called Albert as well as Aiden. Once out of the fop of the flight it was turn hard left again on the Digbeth Branch ready to head down to the Typhoo or Digbeth Basin for the night, Before we got to the Digbeth locks we came upon half our group moored on the left hand bank with stories that there was no space left at Digbeth, so we pulled in as well. Brenda was slightly perplexed to find us all moored where we were as it was her plan to completely fill the basin with boats which would have made a wonderful sight. but it would have been impossible to leave the boat and get ashore, not the best thing for the dog owners amongst us, so we spent the night as 2 groups.
Diana cooked dinner for the Jannock's and us which we ate on the towing path around Jannock's table. We were joined by Blue Moon who brought there dinner with them and Gecko joined us for after dinner drinks, just to round the evening off.

You will find our latest position at
http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route