Marathon Day 33, Sunday 17th April - St Davids

Judging by Nikki's photo of the Mayoral line up, St Davids seems to be a fun place, particularly so as Andy appears to be well on the way to recovery with a finish time of 7hrs 11mins today.

Would you believe . . . . . . The Lord Mayor!!!

In the event, we had several small challenges of our own today:
In no particular order - we negotiated 24 locks,  navigated through the industrial "wasteland" of Birmingham City Canals but most interesting was our little sojourn up the Grand Union Canal at Salford Junction.

Salford Junction with Mel ready to lassoo any passing graphiti artists!

We turned left at the first (particularly acute) left hand turn and travelled about 2k to our first lock (No 63) only to find that the canal on the far side of the lock was literally without water and it was impossible to progress further. So what to do?  Actually, we were left with little choice - we had to reverse our route back to Salford Junction. However, there was no turning point (or "winding hole" as we nautical types like to call it) in the locality  so our only recourse was to reverse the boat all the way back to the junction.
Let me tell you that it's impossible to steer this boat in reverse! So the 2k back was completed with Ellie at the helm, gently applying the power with Mel & I hooked up to the rope at each end  trying to keep it on the straight and narrow. I now know how the tow path horses must have felt before boats had engines! lol.

Heave Ho!!!

However, much relieved we made it back to the junction and continued on our way - what a hoot!!
Despite our diversion, we made it to our targetted destination of Catherine de Barnes where Mel instructed Benji in the rudiments of fishing.

This is how you do it!

Boys together!

The evening finished with a lovely meal at the Boat Inn where I can tell you they also serve excellent draught Guinness!

Cheers!