Friday 21st October 2005

The plan was to leave Hempholme (River Hull, East Yorkshire) at midday. I managed to get my Dad out of bed early, and we weren't really late leaving the house either. Shopping at Tesco did take awhile, and the traffic was terrible mostly down to several slow moving vehicles on the roads, be a mobile crane, or a tractor. Dad even managed to get caught by Weel Lift bridge when he tried the back route to Tickton.

The rain had started at 10:30am, and it was still raining when we reached the boat just before midday. It did let up a couple of times, when we managed to get the boat ready. We then had to wait to fill the water tank, as another boat was filling up from the slipway tap, but in the end it didn't matter as we had to wait for Pete on Endurance - he was running late, and needed water as well, which was dribbling out his pipe since we were using all the pressure!

Dad was driving Rose of Yorkshire, and Kismet was in my charge. We and 3 other boats from above the bridge finally set off at 1pm. Chris on Summer Breeze, and Toby on Blue Rendezvous followed our two narrowboats, and Pete in his home built plywood narrow cruiser.

Once the narrow craft were through the lock, Chris told us to leave them to it, as in their faster boats they could catch us up. By now the weather had cleared up, but it was still cloudy, and windy. We had a good run down, straight to Weel Bridge, and arrived at exactly 3pm, when the bridge was booked for. Polly Flinders, a sailing boat from Hull Bridge, was already waiting at the bridge and after the bridge was lifted cruised slowly down the river as we followed.

Dad had to call the temporary bridge keeper to tell him there were another two boats on the way. Steve, the normal bridge keeper, was on holiday in Spain, as we and everyone else had found out by calling him there!

John Jackson, on Moonsearcher, had come down at midday, and it was his passage through the bridge that had stopped Dad earlier. He had kindly got the lock ready, but Polly Finders had made a mess of our two lock fulls arrangement. I went though with the sailing boat, Dad and Pete next, with the two wide boats following in a third locking. As it turned out Chris and Toby were about 10 minutes behind, and they had just nicely arrived at the lock as I was leaving.

Dad and Pete worked through the lock, while I continued up the beck to find a mooring. John Jackson had mentioned there was plenty of room above the barges where we normally moor, and since there were boats moored all around, I decided to go straight in, instead of turning first. Syntan, and Comrade were in the beck, along with a few from the Beck Boat Club. The Hull Bridge lot had not bothered to come after one of their members had managed to hole their boats on a wreck above Weel Bridge. It was an old wooden wreck, that was over to one side, and so quite easy for everyone to get by - the few that turned up by car over the weekend got some gip. There were 27 boats in the beck, the same number as Nelson's fleet, even if one of them was in the hold of Comrade (the cog boat).

Once we had all moored up, we got out the bunting, and set up some illuminations. Pete had made a 'cannon' which used a smoke machine to add extra ambiance. Julie (my sister) had joined us after finishing work (less than 5 minutes drive away), and Mum arrived shortly after. Soon after that, the rain started again.

Since there was nothing in the cupboards suitable to eat with the cooked chicken we had bought, Julie and I went to the Beverley Tesco's to get some oven ready roasted potatoes, Yorkshire puds, veg, and some plonk.

After tea, Dad set up the PA system to play out some music, and I had made a 'Sea Battle' sound effect (which had to be produced from seperate elements as there seams to be none available pre-made). It was still raining, when after about 5 minutes of making lots of noise, someone from one of the houses opposite came out, and asked to stop noise - "I've just put the kids to bed!" she said, but it was only 6:30pm.

The rain continued, and so we were going to head towards Syntan, a restored barge originally operated by the tannery on the beck, as there was a show of some sort. Just before we were going to go, everyone else came by saying it had all ended so there was only one thing to do. We got drunk!

At about 11pm, after a jolly night, it was decided to go to the pub before last orders. I was sensible, and went to bed. Last orders was not called till late, and the pub finally chucked them out at midnight.

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Mum was sick over night, and yet again said she would never touch another drop, and most other people were a little worse for wear. The bridge was booked for sometime around midday for Trevor on Summerville, who had to work yesterday. We drove down in Mums car through the rain, but we passed him on the way down to the lock - too late! We chatted to one of the blokes from the Beverley Beck Boat Club, and found out that the situation was a complicated one, involving the Beverley Council, Steve (the normal bridge keeper) and the EA. The gates were leaking badly, and so a temporary pump was installed to keep the water levels up.

It was another rainy day, I did however manage to get some pictures taken while it was dry, and the lady from Hull Daily Mail was taking shot too. I had a look around Syntan which had a good set of pictures from the area when it was still industrial rather than the residential it is now, and of the river Hull when it was still busy with barges. I bought an interesting video about the finding and restoration of the boat - it was only a fiver.

We had a meal in the Forrester's Arm at the end of the beck, and a good night of singing (well I didn't sing, but at lot of others did). It's a live version of karaoke, with a pianist (who my Dad knows), a drummer, and a compare who warms up the audience by doing some singing. My Aunt and Uncle, and some friends of the family came along as well.

Video: Irene Skelton performs Ride Sally Ride
Broadband Video: Irene Skelton performs Ride Sally Ride

After the pub the p*ss heads went to Summer Breeze for more booze, not turning in until 3am!

Sunday 23rd October 2005

We needed to be at Weel Bridge for a lift booked at 11:30am. Today there was a fishing match, which is not good when there are two narrowboats that need to reverse, and turn around. I decided to be nice to the fisherman who had choosen the only place to turn around at the top end, and continue to reverse up the beck. John, and his brother-in-law Ashley, had already got through the lock, and were getting worried we would not all get through the lock in time.

As it happened we had over ten minutes to spare, which was just as well as Rose of Yorkshire had over heated while running at tickover - it tends to get an airlock running slowly. I noticed it, when steam was coming out of the raw water cooling pipe (which is only used when we need the extra cooling). I tried to take the boat under tow, but the tide, and the wrecks along that part of the river got in the way, but in the end there was no problems and we were soon underway.

We had discussed stopping at the pub for lunch, and so all 8 boats piled into Hull Bridge. The only problem is mooring there... The old wharf is supposedly private, and so that only left the 35ft berth that Polly Finders came out of. Thankfully a boat moored outside the pub (Artic something) was moving back to the Hull Bridge barge, Enid, and so Trevor moored there, and I pulled back from my temporary mooring, Dad and Pete moored on the outside. I'm not sure where Ashley, Chris, and Toby moored, but we all flooded into the pub. John left before we actually got into the pub saying there was a long queue, so he continued up the river as we'd had a call saying there was a load of floating weed blocking the channel above the lock.

We had a nice meal in the pub, and left at around 1:30pm. We reached the lock about 2 hours later, having to push the tide all the way as it had turned during our meal. The water authority was just finishing clearing the weed when we arrived, and we were soon through the lock and on our way back to Hempholme after setting the lock for Trevor, who had not left the pub until later.