Hail To the Hive!

We recently broke down on the Coventry Canal and even after trying to fix Narrowboat Badger and calling out the River & Canal Rescue we were still stranded six days later. We were starting to wonder if we would make it to Streethay in time to make our booking to have the boat out of the water to black the hull.

And then a miracle.....

I was exchanging the usual good mornings with a passing boat and the man asked how we were. I said "broken down days ago" in a light hearted way with a smile and a shrug of my shoulders as if to say' it is what it is'

He asked what the problem was as he got further away and I shoted it was the lift pump but he had now gone past the bridge on his way.

A few minutes later as I busied myself with my boat chores a voice behind me said " Do you need a tow?" and it was the same guy. He'd stopped and walked back to see if we needed help.

"YES!" I said.

"I can tow you as far as Fazeley " he said. I thought that's half way I'll have that.

So we tied our boat to the stern of his and off we chugged , my mood now much better as we were finally making progress after nearly a week of going nowhere.

It was a little odd being towed but the experience was actually very pleasant and a new adventure as well. The passing scenes like the pink house reflected my now happier mood.

And it was a very pink house.

We were making good progress and as we passed over the aqueduct i realised we weren't all that far now from Fazely and i may need to think about how we make it the rest of the way.

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It srill feels weird being on a bridge full of water going over more water.

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Weird but cool.

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We reached Fazely junction and we stopped and as we tied up Keith, the man who was towing us, said "I've just spoke to the missus and we said we might as well take you the rest of the way to Streethay as we were going to go in a few days anyway"

WOW! i couldn't believe it. After 6 days we were going to get all the way there in one day. What a legend !

So off we went. I was getting used to being towed now.

In fact I was really enjoying it.

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We had broken down only 20km away from Streethay and that was the frustrating part, so near yet so agonisngly far.

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But we were getting closer and closer with each passing moment.

Destination reached!

This is where we will be taking the boat out next week. I can hardly believe we made it. It was starting to look like we wouldn't and therefore lose our deposit. But we are here with plenty of days to spare.