Etruria Canals Festival 5.

Saturday, the first day of the festival dawned bright and sunny and we were hoping for a good crowd to visit the butty cabin. John and I still had to cloth up the cratch on the butty and string the side cloths as well as try and insert the uprights, which make the top planks far more rigid to walk on.

Ray and John Mills sorting cloths.

Tightening the side cloth strings.

With top planks on, that is the quickest way to get from one end of the boat to the other, even though it takes some nerve to walk along a 9 inch wide board eight feet above an empty hold, let alone the water on either side!

John Stevens walks the top planks.(photos by Lynne Cannon)

Once done, we were open for viewing and had a steady, but thin stream of visitors to the butty cabin all day. At midday, the parade of boats began and despite me having been too busy to the briefing earlier, we decided to take the motor only, as the butty would not only delay us, but the other boats when it came to winding at each end. Stephanie Goodacre had joined us by now and was happy to take the tiller for the event.  It has become feature of The Narrow Boat Trust of late, to allow visiting members to take either the butty tiller or motor tiller, as and if they wish when visiting for a short period, thus giving them the opportunity to keep in practice. As previously, winding in the muddy edged basin with wind on the beam, caused difficulty yet again, but by using the power of the engine to gain enough speed to counteract it, we were soon moored back alongside Brighton. The afternoon sped pleasantly by with visitors wanting to know about the boats, until it was time for the Curry Night in the beer tent, which seemed to be enjoyed by all those there. A perfect end to another perfect and busy day.