Propelled by a Plaque
After six years, Hope and Polly Talbot Waller (aka the Windlasses) finally achieved Silver Propeller success. They relate their adventures, from becoming continuous-cruisers to visiting remote canal locations after they sold their boat
The Windlasses with one of their precious plaques.
In June 2018 we spent our second date on Polly’s boat Sue Perb at its mooring just outside of Bristol, making pinhole cameras. It was one of the hottest days of summer and we’d planned a picnic. Polly trilled as she produced a box of chocolate caramel shortbread from her bag, though we were both so nervous we struggled to eat. We crouched in the aft cabin, where she’d set up a makeshift darkroom, and developed blurry pictures of ourselves laughing onto scraps of paper. Polly, in a deeply characteristic move, made her camera out of a hollowed-out potato, calling it ‘the photato’.
Precisely six months later, we were climbing the longest flight of locks in the UK together, sporting matching waterproof trousers and dreaming of a plaque. Rising to the challenge
Following a week on Sue Perb at the end of October 2018, in which we broke down twice and got stranded for three days without hot water, we were to determined to take on a much longer trip. When we learned of the Inland Waterways Association’s Silver Propeller scheme – whereby points are awarded for visiting under-boated parts of the network – we had our perfect challenge. Once 20 Silver Propeller points are attained, you submit your evidence to IWA and are awarded a plaque. And, boy, did we want that plaque.
Setting out in winter, we made our way up the beautiful Kennet & Avon, onto the tidal Thames, and then the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union where we got iced in. In fact, it wasn’t until three months into our trip that we achieved any Silver Propeller points at all.
On the Oxford Canal at Marston Doles.
Adventures on the BCN
Our time on the BCN was, in retrospect, one of our favourite parts of the trip. It was freezing cold and every day was a challenge, full of broken and rubbish-filled locks. But it felt like such an adventure, weaving our way through different parts of the city, under and over the motorways. The water clings to the edges of long-abandoned factories, the brickwork dotted with boarded-up holes and mooring rings.
Our first Silver Propeller location was Titford Pools. It was a real boost to cruise around such an unusual area, and we felt like we were finally getting somewhere. The very next day, we headed back down the locks and past the lovely café at Bumble Hole Nature Reserve, towards Gosty Hill. This was our first really tight tunnel. With its Dracula-themed signage and ‘scrapingly’ low ceiling (it gets lower on the way through – we still have the stalactite that fell off onto our bow!) it was one to remember for our second point: Coombeswood Basin, right on the other side.
From then on, despite the increasing need for hand-numbing plunges through the weed hatch to untangle plastic bags, we were on a bit of a BCN high...
