On the gravel

I have decided to delay posting my photos until tomorrow because this is much more important, and the photos are much better.

While at Braunston I heard tell that Archimedes and Ara, and Victoria (because Mike wanted to see it loaded), were going to go on to load some gravel. It turns out that a total of seven boats were involved in this, the others being GU motors Themis and Callisto, and the more recently built gravel boat Arundel buttied with former Joey Joe.

According to the never-reliable Narrowboat World website (seven star class boats indeed!) the gravel was used to shore up the bank during building work in Paddington Basin, and they've painted themselves into a corner, leaving no way to remove it other than by water (hooray!). It's being taken to Atherstone.

Sadly, I have so far not been able to witness this but others have and the photos are breathtaking. See Alan Fincher's here, and here, and follow reports of their progress on the CWF thread here.