Day 2 “It’s not at all what we expected!!!”
That was the comment from all of my travelling companions as we stood close to midnight cases in hand and viewed our accommodation.
I need to back up a little, we did not leave the gathering until after 11 pm which was ok we were all enjoying ourselves and the noise was dying down as one by one the children fell asleep mainly through the exhaustion of running around and laughing all day took its toll. The adults gaining the vocal initiative and the conversation drifting backward and forwards through all the different methodologies of fixing the world (Judi would have made a matrix I’m sure).
Philomena who is my Godmother decided we wanted to go for a walk around 8, I hadn’t realized I felt the need but one does not resist such edicts one just follows the process. Out across fields and through such delightful places such as Fairy Woods, Church corner, the hollow, the gully, the cluff etc. We stopped so I could be shown the “new” houses the village. These had been built 40 years ago so you can imagine the place is a little sleepy if these are still considered “new”. Back from our ramble across fields and dales we emerge close to where we started an hour or so later.
My travelling companions at this point asked where our overnight hotel was. During our planning meeting held over a 2 way Skype and Google talk conference the week before I had said I would look after accommodation (now they really should know better than to leave it to me). True to my word it was booked and they were ok to take “willow” (the dog). The fact that I was not entirely sure where the accommodation was should have been taken as a minor detail and nothing more. I had GPS and a map printed off the internet so how difficult could it be.
I had not actually disclosed either the location or the type of hotel it was. This shows either a great deal of faith in me or a naivety on their part. Around 11 pm we set off and the navigation system instructs us to head East towards the bright lights of the city of Sheffield. Once famous for steel production I am not sure exactly what they do these days. We start to descend off the tree less hills and see the town stretched out before us. Sheffield boasts an urban area covering 7 hills just the same as Rome although of course not the same at all although you might remember it was the setting for “The Full Monty” that cultural phenomenon or 1997 www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA3W36JVnRc . Decending into the town we go past the lines of people waiting to get into night clubs and the rows of taxis waiting to take people to various as yet unannounced places.
Down down into the city center with its new flyovers and overhead tram system its renovated factories which proudly announce their new industry as “Executive Loft Apartments”. Shiny steel and glass shopping precincts not longer called “Arndale” (the designer of the originals) but by more poetic titles such as “Meadow Hall (boasts as being the largest in Europe, god help us), Orchard, The Moor, etc” they still compete against each other to be both modern but retaining a hint of tradition.
I am scanning the bright lights for the Hilton Hotel not that we are staying there but because it is next to where we are heading. I can see it sometimes and once even got within 300 yards but the one way road system sucked me of down a side street as the GPS struggled to keep up with me.
One slightly dodgy (Google it) maneuver later and we were heading right towards it, my compatriots must have wondered “what the ……” as we drove straight pass and into the Quays Car Park lower down. I was now following Barbara’s specific instruction (which was difficult with my fingers crossed). She said park on the middle floor and take a specific exit on that level. I thought for a moment the exit was locked as the sign firmly stated it would be. So there we were in the middle of a strange town in the middle of a car park 4 people and a dog wheelie suit cases and plastic bags in attendance heading through a door to who knows where. My family must have either a lot of faith or patience in me.
Outside our accommodation was there exactly as Barbara has predicted. I had hired a couple of Canal boat for the night. Technically they are known as Narrow boats as they are 7 foot wide and up to 70 foot long. They were used in the golden age of the canal to ferry everything back and forth across the country.
UK Canals quick facts the Golden age was 1770 to 1830 (overtaken by railways) there are around 4000 miles of them. Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice (but I know where I would chose to holiday). Drawn along by large horses along a Tow path alongside the canal, size 7ft wide and up to 70ft long limitations due to the size of the locks (a means to raise or lower vessels (how else would they get them over hills)). The craft is called a narrowboat one word and never a barge or longboat or a ship.
Now over the initial shock my siblings and associates are eager to get settled all we have to do is get into them. We have the codes for the stout locks but it seems not the expertise to transfer the knowledge into actually opening them. Gaining assistance from a passing “narrowboatman” we manage to crack open the hatches and settle down.
Tomorrow Breakfast alfresco