We were awake at 7am this morning debating the bridge issue and whether we should attempt it- my view is that we have come all this way and we therefore had to give it a go. It -the cratch and top box had to come down and be stored inside. The matter was finally confirmed when two lovely tugs arrived as we started on the work- they were returning from the Magna Carta weekend held at King John's castle just past Odiham. They looked at the boat and said that the top line of the cratch would catch probably the last of the four bridges. Our old friends who we have known for over 30 years Judith and Matthew arrived at 10am to provide moral and supportive humour to the events of the day. We set of at 10.30 in trepidation and made our way to the first obstacle Wharf Bridge 5ft 10inch but higher on the left- we would have made it with about 2/3 inches to spare. The next two at Pondtail Bridge both OK and then the final one Reading Road South Bridge which is the lowest and it would have hit the cratch if we had not taken it down- the top box is a bit lower than the cratch but would not have gone through the last bridge. We then stopped for lunch at the Wharf to celebrate and put the boat back together. Out for a meal tonight at El Castello as a final well deserved celebration. Now to the end!
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| Mr Christmas without helpers-checking things out at the Mytchett Canal Centre |
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A Barry Hawkins tug |
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| Stewarts & Lloyd tug of about 1912 |
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| He said we don't pass many boats- I said we rarely pass a steam narrowboat |
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| The flashes of wide open water are very impressive!!!! |
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| The animal thing continues |
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| As we approached Farnborough Airfield all I saw was a low flying "jumbo" swan |
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| The plaque on the aqueduct over the Blackwater Valley Road |
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| The aqueduct- I waved as we went over and a lot of people in the slow moving traffic below waved back-I wonder how many didn't know this bridge was a canal and therefore very surprised to see a bloke in a boat waving!!!!! |
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| This was the first bridge which is higher on the left and which we cleared by about 3 inches |
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| More random animals |
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| Our mooring tonight at Fleet Wharf |
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| An Odiham based hire boat just squeezing under Reading Road South Bridge |
