Black Country Boating Festival 2013

Hello! Yes, I'm back. I've been crewing for David and Mary on their blue top "river class" Kew to and from the Black Country Boating Festival at Windmill End. It was my first time at the BCBF, and I enjoyed it hugely.

Kew had a good mooring under one of the towpath bridges, and we took many visitors on guided tours of the boat.

The Saturday was mostly warm and sunny, and the locals from Netherton and surrounding areas flocked in to see the boats, sample the ales, buy from the stands and listen to the bands in the beer tent.

At lunchtime we took part in a parade of boats. I'll show more photos of this in a subsequent post; for now I'll mention that we passed Captain Ahab.

He and Belle were selling their Wildside Preserves from Wand'ring Bark.

On Sunday they decided to leave early as the weather forecast wasn't too good. Perhaps they shouldn't have done: it wasn't nearly as bad as they had feared. It hardly rained at all. Wand'ring Bark was escorted by three swans as they headed towards Netherton Tunnel.

Good bye, Captain; it was good to see you and Belle.