The 50th Anniversary Trip Day O

 

The modern "Grebe"

In 1971 I organised a hire-boat trip for members of Salford University Inland Waterways Society, which was my first experience of boating. Such was the interest from Society members and friends of friends that we needed two boats, both 70-footers, "Grebe" and "Teal"  hired from Willow Wren in Rugby for a week over the New Year holiday.  I don't have much memory of the trip, but you can read what little I do remember here.

Grebe in 1971 at Rugby Wharf

 A boat trip became an annual event, switching in   1979 to the Spring and involving an ever   changing list of participants. I went for the last   time in 1985, but the trips carried on and, as I   found out only a week ago, only came to a   (temporary?) end in 2019 before Covid struck.

 By then, none of the original crew members had   gone along for many years, but we still   reminisced about them and, this year, we were   persuaded by Mark, who was a regular, to do it   "one more time". In a nod to our fast   approaching old age and increasing eccentricity   (and our beverage of choice)  he dubbed it "The   First of the Autumn Ale Trips"

 Recreating the full winter experience by hiring in   January was deemed a step too far, so we   settled for April, although that had to be   postponed to October due to Covid. We did,   however, follow (most of) the original route, omitting only the Coventry Arm and the "false start" to Brinklow, to do what is now referred to as the "Warwickshire Ring", which Willow Wren describe as an "energetic" one-week cruise, even more so when the youngest of the crew is in his late 60s and the eldest just shy of 80!   

From my own point of view I thought it would be interesting to see that being a hirer was like, after many years of owing my own boat.

When it came to a choice of boat, we couldn't resist "Grebe" as this was the name of the boat we had back in 1971.  With 12 berths in its 65ft length, Grebe is described as "perfect for larger groups". Fortunately there were only seven of us to share the space. Lack of WiFi and only 12-volt electrics made "real time" blogging impossible, so this account is being written retrospectively, as and when time permits.

Stay tuned for "Day One"....