As Pip is away in Panto land this is Mick writing this post.

On 14th November 2023 a Campaign Cruise to the Palace of Westminster took place to support the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign. We had been invited to take part on this cruise and we would have loved to have taken Oleanna along. But obviously it was taking part on the Thames which was too far away for us to cruise from our current mooring in Goole. There was however an open invitation to anyone to turn up on Westminster Bridge at the appointed hour of 14:11 to shout and wave.

So I was on the 08:45 train out of Scarborough and arrived at King’s Cross station at 11:50. It was very wet and soggy in London Town. My original plan had been to catch the 91 bus to Trafalgar Square then walk down Whitehall to Westminster. But with the weather being so wet I took the Tube instead. It was still raining when I got there.

There was a handy Tesco Express where I purchased an umbrella and a sandwich and waited under cover for the rain to stop as was forecasted.

After a while the rain did stop and I headed off onto Westminster Bridge to take in the view. Many yeas ago I used to work in central London and although I became fed up with the daily commute I never did get fed up of views of the Thames. It is always good to see.

There was already a big tug towing a barge stationed outside the Palace of Westminster along with another Dutch barge type boat and a River Police launch. I was on the north side of the bridge looking out for the first glimpse of the narrowboats to appear under Hungerford Bridge. They appeared on time making their way on the right hand side of the river, avoiding the Uber Boats. They made a fine sight but it would have been better if the sun was shining.

In all there were ten narrowboats, some of which we had shared our two previous tideway trips with. Many of the boats had big banners attached: “Fund Britain’s Waterways”. I waved to the familiar faces as they passed under the bridge. Heather on NB Bleasdale shouted “What are you doing in London?” “I’ve come to see you!” was my reply.

I crossed over the bridge as the boats took up station outside the Palace and at the appointed hour of 14:11 horns were blared and flags were waved. The big barge towing tug had a VERY loud horn and we hoped that at least some of the people inside Parliament heard and took time to look out of a window.

There were about 30 or 40 other supporters on the bridge and we all waved flags and explained to passers by what was going on and why. After a while the boats turned around and started to make their way back to Docklands.

I decided to try to catch them up on an Uber Clipper boat from Westminster Pier. The fare for old fogies like me was £5.20 which I didn’t think too bad. I had to wait about 20 minutes for an eastbound boat so I never did catch up with the flotilla but it was good to see the sights from the river. The boat stopped off at various piers along the way and I was very impressed with the crew’s rope throwing skills.

I got off the boat at Canary Wharf Pier and walked up to South Quay to see if I could find the boats. They were just coming out of the West India Dock lock and pulling over to moor up for the evening. I went and said hello to them all and was offered a warming whisky. 4:30 pm, oh well, it would have been rude to refuse! I stayed there chatting for a while then headed off to catch an Elizabeth Line train to King’s Cross and then the 19:00 return back to Scarborough.

There may be plans for future campaign cruisers next year, we’re hoping that we’ll be closer with Oleanna and able to join in.