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Photo by
Debbi Figuieredo
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Graham Keens writes about the Saturday :-
We left home this morning with the grey skies raining upon
us and were not looking forward to a wet trip up from Bourne End. Once we were
over the Chilterns we found sunshine and blue skies and so we cheered up. Left
Bourne End at 9:15 for the run North. At lock 57 either the vandals or last
nights storm had placed about 8 metres of fencing in the cut at the entrance to
the lock. I used the boat pole to remove it onto the offside bank. As we passed
through lock 56 the weather broke and it started raining.
We met Debbi and Simon on nb Tiami at their mooring
and continued North through a local thunderstorm with added hail. Great! Just
what we needed after a week in Lanzarote, 28 degrees and lots of sunshine out
there.
Made it to Bulbourne by 2:45pm , winded and set up SOW shop.
Allan Cazally soon joined the gang by moving Pengalanty up to moor next
door.
Debbi and Simon went off to Marsworth to get signatures in
the pubs there whilst Brenda and I harassed anyone brave enough to walk past
Jannock for their signatures as well.
During this afternoon we received a phone call from No.1 son
Simon. He had gone on post graduate international students visit to Chester and
had sloped off and joined the SOW protest there.
Looking forward to the blockade here tomorrow having just
heard all about the Rickmansworth incident when our placards were delivered
this evening. We hope there are no hand grenades fished out of the cut here.
J
ust seen the weather forecast for tomorrow and it looks like
we'll get wet again on the return journey. Oh well, we've had quite a good year
so far and SOW is worth it
One of the organisers writes about the Sunday :-
There were seven boats there (it should have been nearly 20
but adverse weather conditions made it difficult for many). Let's face it, the
thunder, lightening and then the stinging hail was almost beyond the call of
duty.
We estimated the number of general supporters at 60 who had
deliberately turned up on the date to wave placards, including many boaters who
couldn't attend with their own boats for all sorts of reasons. We also had
quite a few towpath/dog walkers coming through, all of whom signed the
petition.
Notable [people who came were David Gauke, MP for South West
Herts and Dr. David Fletcher, former CEO of BW and president of the Wendover
Arm Trust.
The Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted Gazette was present at
the event. |
