tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3992602348026873746.post5928927295283322205..comments2024-03-01T17:06:16.974+00:00Comments on Harnser's Travels: Ocker HillBrian and Diana on NB Harnserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08569360123827850984noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3992602348026873746.post-44771159058437413142020-09-01T23:57:00.948+01:002020-09-01T23:57:00.948+01:00My childhood was spent in a house which backed ont...My childhood was spent in a house which backed onto the towpath almost opposite the building which intrigued you today. Naturally, the canal was our playground and that building was our background. It is part of what I now realise was quite a substantial wharf. There was a ramped access drive up to the main road by the bridge. In my time, mid 1950’s, the building was empty and the ground used as a builder’s yard. As children we were warned never to go near it as there was a lime pit, the contents of which would wreak a terrible havoc upon us if we came anywhere near it. The warning must have hit home as we never ventured down the drive, except once.<br />Sometimes, an empty joey boat would appear on our section of the cut – presumably let loose by other boys further along the canal. When this happened, a great cry went up and we set out to get hold of the runaway boat, so that we could have a sail on her. I think that the first time I was ever afloat must have been on my first such escapade. I remember that getting aboard was a challenge, the sides of the boat were so high out of the water. One evening we got our boat and drifted off our usual few yards when we had a new problem, the wind was blowing the boat to the offside and we had to get home before our parents realised we were over the canal. We had no equipment, no poles to move the boat. Pushing off from the offside trees, which was our usual method, didn’t work. Eventually we managed to grapple our way along to the wharf by the building. We leapt ashore and ran up the ramp to the road and so to home. We moved so fast that the lime didn’t get us, and nor did our parents!<br />It's good to see that it still survives. I’m astonished that so much of the wooden structure around the cat’s head survives. I’m sure that there used to be a corrugated iron canopy over the canal to protect the boats. I’ve never manged to sail along the Walsall Canal so thank you for the words and pictures.<br />Grahamnoreply@blogger.com