Braunston Historic Boat Rally

 Not really a voyage of Densie as she was not there.  However we were so....

The rally of historic boats is an annual event taking place at Braunston.  This small village in Northamptonshire is seen as the centre of the English canal system as major canals from the south, north, west, and north west meet in the area.

Commercial traffic on the canals cased in 1970 but there are dozens of boats from that era still afloat being maintained by enthisiasts.  The Braunston Rally gives them the opportunity to how off the results of a great deal of hard work and expense.

Historic boats at waiting to pake part in the twice daily parade

Twice a day at the Rally many of thehistoric boats parade along the canal. Clearly they need to turn around at the end.....

Narrowboat and Butty pair approaching Braunston Junction

Turning left at the junction

Reverse to the right and side

Reverse around corner

These pictures show how to turn a narrowboat and unpowered "butty" around at a T-junction. Each boat is 70 foot long and weighs about 30 tons.  Manoeuvering such a pair takes significant skill by the two crew, especially when as we see here there are several other moored boats around.

View of historic Braunston Boatyard

Old crane at BRaunston Boatyard

The boatyard at Braunston was once the mainentance yard for a large fleet of commercial narrowboats but is now part of Braunston Marina.

Steam narrowboat Hasty

Originally from the unception of the canals in the 1770s all narrowboats were pulled by horses.  This method of propulsion was in use right up to the end of commercial carrying.  From the early 1900s diesel engines egan to take over.

However for a short time some boats were fitted with steam engines. They were never successful for commercial carrying since the coal fuel required too much space that would otherwise be used for cargo.  However they did find a use as tugs in the docks.  Steam engines of that period, if any survived, could probably not be used now because of far more stringent safety checks.

However some boats have been reconstructed with modern steam engines.  One such seen here is "Hasty" and another "Adamant" was also at the Rally.  Steam boats unlike those with diesel engines require 2 crew, one to steer and the other to keep the boiler running. I did ask Adamant's driver how the he coukd speed up or slow down the engine.  I was told this was done "digitally" with the steerer using his index finger to push a buzzer.  Perhaps one buzz meant speed up and 2 meant slow down, I dont know.

Our first ever visit to the Historic Boat Rally was great fun and it is something we hope to do again.