Our plan was to take delivery of the boat further north nearer the boat-builders, and cruise down to Cropredy, but we are right in the middle of all the winter maintenance stoppages which means that our bit of the canal system is cut off from everywhere else until mid/late March. We ended up having the boat delivered by low-loader to a canal wharf about 10 miles south of Cropredy.
The transport company were very good at keeping us informed and we arrived at Aynho Wharf a few minutes before the 'first lorry' arrived. This lorry was a small flat-bed and had a very small crane on-board. For a while, we were a bit concerned, but it was shortly followed by a much, much larger crane. The first lorry was only delivering the steel pads that the main crane's outriggers rest on.
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| Crane with wheels off the ground |
After a few minutes the boat arrived on its transport. It was carefully reversed down the access road and driven forward next to the crane.
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| First visit to the pub! |
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| Ready for the lift |
Starting the swing
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| Gently does it! |
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| Nearly there |
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| Just a little more |
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| Floating is a good sign! |
One of the boat-builders experts had driven down with the boat and set about setting everything up and giving us a run through of all the controls. We now have lots of equipment manuals and leaflets to read!
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| The saloon and bathroon |
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| The Galley |
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| The Saloon and Galley |
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| The Bedroom |
Of course, we just had to set up the timelapse camera to record the 'launch'!
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