World Heritage Site Discovery Weekend - 28th 29thOctober 2006

 

 

Over the weekend of 28th and 29th October 2006, the Friends joined in with many other bodies in staging events along the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site. This is our record of the event.

Pictures from the Heavy Horse crew can be found HERE

It all started off with fetching the boat from High Peak Junction.............
(picture Pat Morriss)

............ with a fairly motley crew on the horse............
(picture Pat Morriss)

............ and Dave Tinkler on the tiller.
(picture Pat Morriss)

We were fortunate in having Sue to decorate some canal ware...............

.......... which attracted some attention..................

.......... and a willing volunteer!

Most of the time, however, she just got on with it.

We were visited by an "Art Event"................

.......... which the horse (and most of the people) studiously ignored!

The refurbished boat ready for off.

As always, the horses attracted a lot of interest

The Ambreys had a good day making ropes................

Graham demonstrating how to reverse a dray.............

............. and ready to set off with the coal loaded.
(picture Pat Morriss)

photos of the occasion..............
(picture Pat Morriss)

A fine sight out on the road.
(picture Pat Morriss)

........heading off for Cromford - what better way for the Webmaster to get his fish & chips?

Posing outside The Greyhound...........

............. before doing battle with modern traffic back to the Wharf.

"We need to head over there!" The Webmaster directing the dray.
(picture Pat Morriss)

Having got the coal on the boat..................

............ the dray was parked up and de-horsed.

There were good crowds out to see the boat in progress.

A view from the front of the boat...........
(picture Pat Morriss)

......... and on the way back, passing High Peak Junction, which these days looks distinctly park-like.
(picture Pat Morriss)

The Bridge Crew had done their stuff.....................
(picture Pat Morriss)

........... just before the horse gets detached and we come to a halt.
(picture Pat Morriss)

Boat's eye view of the horse.
(picture Pat Morriss)

Approaching Bridge 1.
(picture Pat Morriss)

It was nice to see the roller on the swing bridge being used correctly.

It was "All Hands" to unload the coal............

..............but some went straight into the firebox.....................

............ and out of the smoke stack! "Smoke From Cromford!"

Ready to wind, which is much easier when you have a 4 ton thrust "bow thruster" (AKA Leawood Pump) to push your boat around!

Peter brought two organs to entertain us........

Back at the Wharf for the last time............

..... with our VIP Steerer.

Sunday morning saw us erecting the SuperGazebO, which had a tendancy to blow away whist we were getting the roof on.

It was then a case of working out what went where, and how.

"Which way round does THIS go??"

"I dunno, but we've got to get THIS sorted, too..........."

Eventually, all was sorted and it all looked well by the time the GBP arrived.

Sue came outdoors for Sunday.....

..... Attracted much interest from all...........

.....and pronounced herself well satisfied.

Peter also came "out of the shadows" with his organs.

The boat horse attracted much attention at Leawood Pump.....

.....and there was always a good crowd at Cromford Wharf when we got back there.

This picture illustrates one problem with steering this horse boat, which wasn't designed for the job: you have to keep her pointing away from the towing path, like this, in order to steer anything like straight, because of the pull that the horse exerts.

 

 

Page Updated on 2nd November, 2006