Moon on the Ashby

[davidwheeler]

We were on a dreadful hireboat, made out of flat steel plate roughly tacked together, operated by a farmer from the end of his field, with a bent skeg and a noisy smokey Lister which had certainly seen many better days. Nobody would tolerate such a boat these days but this was 1973, October. Passing us as we were going up the Ashby was this pair, loaded with coal. Moon is the butty, but I cannot remember the name of the motor. They had  loaded at Gopsall Wharf. But where were they going? Does anyone remember this traffic? As I recall it regular contract trade had ceased by then. Who were they? They seemed quite young. Does anyone recognise them? 

[Tam & Di]

George & Helen Smith on Petrel and Moon on the retail coal trade for Ashby Canal Transport (you might have seen us too, with Towcester & Bude and Stamford - here we'd loaded Towcester and Bude and are loading Stamford for 15 year old son Jason to follow us down)

Edited February 2 by Tam & Di