Best pub for an evening out awarded –and best cruise on another boat nominees

The 2014 herbie Awards continue and we had quite a toughie ranking yesterday’s nominees. In the end it all came down to a nice relaxing meal at the Great Western, Aynho or a rather more hectic bite to eat and a fun show at the Bridge House at Little Venice.

After some debate in the judging committee we have a unanimous decision to award Best Pub for an Evening Out to:

The Bridge House / Canal Cafe Theatre at Little Venice

(Loud Applause)

The combination of location, food, beer and entertainment makes for such a special evening.  Kath wishes me to add that had it just ben for the meal and service, the winner would have been the Great Western.

Well done them. In fact well done to all three shortlisted. They’re all worth a night out.

And now, as they say, for something completely different.  This year we’re able to resurrect an old favourite award – Best Cruise on Someone Else’s Boat.  It’s not every year we can award this because, well you can work that one out for yourself.  So what treats did we have this year?

1. Olympic Park cruise aboard Nb Indigo Dream

The wonderful  Sue and Richard have already won this award twice for taking us on the mighty tidal Thames.  Could this be their third?  Well it was indeed special for we were privileged to join them for the very first post games cruise of the Olympic Park.  It was a grey March day as we sneaked along the concrete sided  Bow back rivers where the tides had to be just right to get through some of the locks.  The redoubtable Andrew Phasey led the St Pancras Cruising Club flotilla as we crept into the Olympic park itself, dwarfed by the huge structures which seemed t be right on top of us at times. 

Indigo Dream cruises as strongly as any boat I have steered and it didn’t take us long to get to the point where we had to turn round.  Work on a bridge there prevented us from doing a circular route, but Sue took us right beneath the mirrored underside of the bridge for some great photos.

A tough one to beat.

 

2. Brentford boating aboard CRT working boat Samson

Hardly a long cruise, but for me a special one. It was part of the RYA helmsman training I received for my CRT volunteering duties, and yet again I found myself in the company of the wonderful Andrew Phasey, this time he was the trainer.  We spent much of the day practicing manoeuvres, holding the boat against the bank at various angles to let crew on and off, reversing round corners and going through locks, all terrific sport on such a novel boat with its Archimedes screw prop and wheel steering.  To top it all, the weather was sublime – and I got a certificate too.  Absolutely brilliant.

3. Braunston Rally parade aboard NB Chertsey

Yet another treat. We are lucky bunnies. It does me good to do these awards because it reminds me of all the fun things we do. This time it was courtesy of Sarah and Jim.  Now I should say here that we did two parades at Braunston, Saturday and Sunday.  Here is a picture of us on the Saturday parade.

You might not be surprised to know that I won’t be giving a nomination to that one.  However on Sunday the sun came out and we reverted to our plan of busking aboard Chertsey while Sarah  navigated us through the chaos, unbelievable stopping en route for Jim to load a ton of coal into Chertsey (no I am not kidding)!).

It’s always a privilege to ride on a boat like Chertsey and to be given the chance to play to the crowds at the same time was brilliant.  We even got a wave from Richard Parry.  A special day indeed.

Blimey, another hard choice.  The phone lines are open if you want to vote. Well, you could send in a comment anyway.  The results show is next time, when I’ll include an intermission picture quiz.