I could scarcely believe it. A boat had been following me for a mile or so, keeping his distance. Then, suddenly, a blast of a horn behind me, and a hand signal that indicated that the boat wanted to overtake. I was doing 3 mph on the north Oxford Canal having just entered the Barby Straight, so I wasn't exactly hanging around.
OK, I thought, I'll move off the centre line and let him pass. Up he came, but the channel was neither wide nor deep enough. He revved up and came alongside, but, of course, his speed dropped as the water was so shallow. I had gone to not much more than tickover, but had to increase revs once or twice as I was being pushed into the shallows - and the offside trees - myself. "Why won't you let me pass, then?" he demanded angrily. I told him I had slowed down, and tried to explain about the limitations of the channel. Then I virtually came to a standstill to let the ignorant man through.
In half an hour or so we were at Hillmorton Locks, and there he was, just entering a lock as we approached. At the bottom of the locks he tied up. So what did he gain? Five minutes. And an increase in blood pressure, no doubt.
As you will have gathered, we have embarked upon our pre-Easter cruise. We got to Shadow at its new mooring at Wigram's Turn Marina on Friday evening and loaded our things in the dark. The next day we drove to Sheffield to see Andrew and Bekka, having lunch at the café where Bekka works. Then it was back down the M1 and onto Shadow, with just enough time for getting half way to Braunston.
Which brings us to today. We set off at 0900 and had lunch on the move. We are now moored at Sutton Stop. We had hoped that the Greyhound would still be serving food, but they stop at 1700 on Sundays. Oh well, at least we had emergency rations on board (a tin of beef stew).
Tomorrow we head down the Coventry Canal, destination Fazeley Junction.
Photos will follow.
1 day ago
2 comments:
Ah, a common problem, especially on roads, occasionally on canals (I've had it myself - I'm still proud of being shouted at for going too slowly).
Entirely your fault- you failed to realise just how much more important they are than you. Once you know that, it all makes perfect sense. ;-)
I had a similar incident once on a section of the Peak Forest that was clearly too narrow even for the noddy boat that was following me to pass. As he squeezed alongside he hit the bottom - as did his prop, which stopped the engine. I just looked at him and said "That's why I'm in the middle."
Jim
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