Friday 23 March 2007

Westport Lake




Fun at Harecastle Tunnel again. I had phoned the BW office on Tuesday, hoping to get through on Thursday. The initial reaction was "Yes!, but I'll put you through to someone who knows."



Second Girl: "The tunnel is only open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and you need to book 48 hours in advance."



Me: "But we are on a boat, we don't know where we will be in 48 hours time."



So we booked for 1130 on Friday Morning.



We got to the tunnel mouth at 0915 and I went off to Tesco for more supplies. By 1030 two other boats had joined us and there was activity in the tunnel office.



Ivor Batchelor (Tunnel Keeper) came over to explain that although we were told we would go through at 1130 it would me more like 1230 as the other side would be coming through first as they had all their boats and we were still waiting for another three boats. British Waterways at its best, run by people in an office who have no idea what a boat looks like let along run a canal system.



We eventually got into the tunnel at 1215 and two of the boats never even turned up. At the other end the weather had changed completely and instead of warm sunshine with was grey, cloudy and cold.


We are moored again at Westport Lake and the picture is of the boat coming out of the tunnel after us, but I can't get it to upload at the moment. The Vodafone signal is a bit flaky. Sorry I'll try again later.







This is a "congratulations" card for a new baby, the scan isn't too good but it is a coloured photograph of a cygnet and a soft, downy swan's feather.

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