With our Olympians doing so well at rowing and sailing, and with the games coming to London in 2012, I'm thinking that we ought to instigate some events for narrowboaters. Here are a few ideas:
Gymnastics - take a boat through Pyrford lock on the Wey. This requires balancing on one leg on a narrow beam performing complex arm movements requiring great strength. Marks for agility and not falling in.
White water narrowboating - negotiating through the dangling sticks below Coppermill Lock on the GU where the river belts across the canal.
Weight lifting (well, weight moving) opening or closing one of a selection of the heaviest lock gates on, say, the Regent's canal.
Towpath cycling - marks for the number of pedestrians you knock into the cut
Towpath steeple chase. Running up the Tardebigge flight, jumping over the balance beams and a water jump over every fourth lock.
Equestrianism - taking a horse drawn boat through an obstacle course
Rope throwing, diving in to retrieve your hat, high jump off boat roof to lockside, hammering the stake - the list of possibilities is endless. And think of the lottery money we could get!
All suggestions welcome
HERBIE! Journeys on our narrowboat and the trials and tribulations of maintaining her.
2 comments:
How about 'Weed Triathlon'
As in Cruising the Slough arm between bridge 6 & 7.....trial 1 is standing on the Bow, using the Pole to divert weed away from the channel followed by trial 2, diving into the weed hatch several times to clear 3 ton of weed and finally trial 3, Poleing the boat or Bow Hauling her back to the mooring......Time penalties are awarded for being towed backwards
I think I may have just identified the reason or the new bollards lockside on narrow locks - rhythmic gymnastics! you contort yourself appropriately (foot behind back, overshoulder and under chin, for example) then throw the centre rope high to land wrapped around the bollard. Clearly BW were thinking ahead to 2012!!!
Ann
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