When I was a much younger man (about 17) myself and 3 school friends decided to hire a barge for a week on the Birmingham to Worcester canal. Absolute mayhem ruled for that week and I am sure none of us were ever the same again.
Firstly, none of us had a clue how to steer the barge, even after our instructions so we were a danger to ourselves and everybody on the waterway including the wildlife. It rained for days on end which made driving the boat a 'draw lots' type of task and soon none of us had any dry clothes left. We also discovered that emptying a chemical toilet is not for the faint hearted and after the first time (by me) we never used it again! Thank goodness for pubs!
We all, at some point ended up in the canal after pushing the barge off the bank for a bit too long and at one point I remember we were trying to avoid an oncoming boat when one of my pals fell in, I went to help him and went in too. I still remember the look of pity and the shake of the head from the driver of the very posh boat going past us! We had many 'fights' with the locks and I lost one of these when the key span round and nearly broke my leg; it took ages to sort out once I got back to civilisation.
We seemed to find places on the canal that had not seen a barge for years; one landlord was amazed when we told him where we had come from, he didn't think it was possible anymore! Our propellor was always getting fouled with weeds and the bravest one of us, with the longest arms was volunteered to clear it out.
I dread to think what we looked like and even worse what we smelled like on the return journey back home crammed in one of our parents cars!
For all the mishaps though, it is still one of my most memorable holidays and I learnt alot about myself and my friends and what we were capable of.
Keith Chadwick