The odd boat

When it comes to boats, man's ingenuity seems to hold no bounds. We see some really weird concoctions on our travels, and our recent trip added a few to our list.

First a boat we had seen before, both canalside and on TV, but this time it was moving at Cowley lock. The rather wonderful Savernake paddle powered narrowboat. From what I could see it went quite well.

Then up at Cassiobury this very special old boat Elizabeth. I believe it has a bit of history to it, but I don't know why it has this strange two tier roof.

And how about this, moored at Uxbridge -a DIY marvel
Believe it or not there is a narrow boat hull under there. What the carpentry lacks in finesse it more than makes up for in panache don't you think.

Then a more normal boat, but far from its proper place. This punt wove its way through the rally at Braunston whilst en route from Cambridge to Oxford, all in the cause of the Help the Heroes charity. Believe you me this is no easy trip, although I have it on good authority that they weren't required to punt the dangerous tidal stretch from Denver to Salters Lode in order to reach the Middle Levels.

Lastly, I couldn't leave this one out. Not odd, but special

One of only three existing steel narrowbaits called Herbie, and now I've seen 'em all. Jim Shead also lists a couple of plastic cruisers and a wide beam boat with the name.

P.S. re the ducks on the last post. As Carrie rightly guessed, they are female (or perhaps juvenile) mandarins