Stuck boat: BCF to the rescue; and a blogger visits

Jan received a text message from a friend on board Amy Em yesterday which alerted us to the fact that their boat was stuck in a winding hole above Glascote Locks. At the time we couldn't do anything to help as we were in Sheffield, so this morning I cycled along to see what was going on, fully expecting Amy Em to have already been rescued.

When I got there I found that Amy Em was still grounded, and that March Mole was trying to pull it off. March Mole wasn't quite up to the task, though, and Amy Em, in astern in the mud, had just got a builder's bag round the prop.

The winding hole is, in fact, an old wharf used to tranship between narrowboats and trains, and I was able to cycle round to the other side to lend a hand (and take some more photos).

To be fair to Amy Em, Rex and Margaret had gone to visit Alan and Joan who live by the old wharf; they weren't merely trying to wind. I think that's why they had gone in so far.

Contact had been established with another Boaters' Christian Fellowship member (all the boats involved were BCF) who came from half-an-hour away to assist.

John on Ichthus getting in on the action

Rex, meanwhile, was down the weed hatch cutting away the builder's bag.

Then Ichthus tried pulling March Mole which was attached to Amy Em. This didn't work as the boats were pulling in different directions.

When the two rescue boats started pulling together, and with me pushing/trying to rock the bow, Amy Em finally began to move.

As far as I am aware, no other boats were held up during the operation.

This afternoon Brian and Diana on Harnser called in for a cuppa and a chat. Jan had just invited Sandra from Maranatha, so there were five of us for a group photo. Now I just couldn't decide which of the two photos to put in, so here they both are.

l - r: Jan, Halfie, Diana, Sandra, Brian

In the first photo we're all smiling, but Jan and Diana are looking at the camera and the pic is slightly overexposed. In the second one we're all looking a bit serious, but it doesn't look posed. (For what it's worth, I prefer photo 1; Jan prefers photo 2. That's why you've got both of them!)