We took the shortcut over Cracks Hill to Crick Boat Show on Saturday. I made a bee line for the Cotswold Canal Trust stall as I had brought some old canal books for them to sell. Great progress is being made with several new bridges being installed in the Stroud and Stonehouse areas. Three new lock gates have been generously donated and await installation at Ryeford Double Lock and the canal is being dredged thereabouts. The band of volunteers are always beavering away clearing towpaths of vegetation and some have already been resurfaced. To mark the 100 year anniversary of the last boat to navigate the Stroudwater, Thames and Severn Canal and to raise funds, some boaters are making the trip from Saul to Lechlade the long way round. Half will go North via the Severn to Tewksbury, onto the Avon to Stratford, then Stratford Canal to Kingswood, Grand Union to Napton Junction, then down to Oxford. The Southbound group will go down to Sharpness onto the Severn to Avonmouth via Bristol and Bath along the Kennet and Avon Canal to Reading, up the Thames to meet with the other group to travel in convoy from Oxford to Lechlade. So if you are free between Aug 12 and the September 4 e-mail for details from info@saultolechlade100.co.uk
Some filming was going on aboard the William Piper boat, which we heard from a boater later, won the Best in Show title. Laplander was hidden behind President and Kildare letting off steam.
We made our way over to the new Fernwood boat for a look round. We liked the sound of the engine and the engine room layout. Then we went up the bank to met up with friends old and new at the Fernwood tent enjoying the buffet with wine while we chatted. It was a bring and share affair as usual, very nice it was too, as we sat enjoying the view over the showground!
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