We chose to cruise in May simply because it was the cheapest time of the year. Although only costing around £40 a week for a 40' boat we deemed it relatively expensive. We booked the boat in 1969 and so our holiday began in October of that year planning where we were to go on our first canal holiday. Our plans soon involved plans about our plans so that by the time May came we had calculated every possible permutation of any route possible.
May the 9th came and we found ourselves at Penkridge Wharf, three young kids and two adults none who had no experience of boating. The boat, called Emerald, was spotless and when the maintenance procedures were explained to us we were ready to set sail. We decided to make our destination Stourport.

Leaving the wharf very slowly and heading towards the first bridge I, as skipper, was a little apprehensive. This apprehension turned to terror as just as we were about to negotiate the bridge a boat appeared and completely filled the bridge hole. The tiller immediately turned from brass to rubber. My immediate thought was to apply the non existent brake but fortunately the yard man who was to show us the first lock took over and pushed the Lister engine into reverse. By the time we got to the first lock I decided it would be better if I 'did' the locks and so delegated the steering to my wife. This was in addition to the cooking, child minding, shopping, and ensuring the dog didn't fall overboard, not to mention pushing off when we ran aground. Stopping at Otherton Lock for the night we see from the log we did 6 lock miles that day, which took us 3 hours and 15 minutes. Our very first mishap was hitting the bank outside the Anchor pub with a very large crowd in attendance. Our second mishap followed quite quickly at Compton Lock. We had never negotiated a lock going down and we left the paddle up on the top gate. This caused a rather spectacular waterfall some of which found its way onto the rear deck. At Bratch locks, which we viewed with some apprehension, a man appeared from nowhere and helped us down this formidable flight. We tipped him 4/- which we considered value for money. Our second day had seen us cover 28 lock miles. On the Monday we set off at 8.0am, lunched at the Navigation Inn and "met a boat at Stewponey Wharf" things were not very hectic in 1970! At the end of the day we had another 25 lock miles under our belt. Reaching Kidderminster on the Tuesday we couldn't see where the canal ran to after Kidderminster lock. It seemed to disappear under a factory. At Caldwall lock there was a delay as the lock cottage had recently been demolished and the local children had tipped a good portion of the stone into the lock. That evening we moored at Stourport after a modest 12 lock miles. We have it on record that we left Stourport just after dawn.(We were all very enthusiastic at that time). We ran aground at Whittington dredging was a little overdue as we remember. I was off the boat at the time and was stopped by the cry that the boat was sinking. I made the fatal mistake of saying as the stem was almost clear of the water we were probably on a sand bank. Never missing an opportunity to make a crisis out of a drama my partner then stated the sand was quick sand and I should swim out to the boat. We made Greensforge that evening after a record breaking run of 30 lock miles. We met some nice people and had a good meal, or so the log says. Some time was spent the next day looking for the Boat Inn at Compton. Unfortunately the 'Boat' had been demolished several years previously. The penultimate day of our holiday saw us 'meeting a few boats' among which were two hotel boats. We stopped that evening just short of Penkridge at the unreconstructed Crosskeys pub. The kind of pub which is rapidly disappearing. Saturday saw us running to the wharf after completing 142 lock miles. A brilliant holiday.
 

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Alan and Maggie.