Yarwoods Dinghy Dawdle
I caught the train over to the boat straight after finishing work on Friday. After arriving in Northwich and getting a bite to eat I headed over to Ariel at Yarwoods. Later that evening I took a drive over to the Hollybush at Acton Bridge to meet up with a few friends for a couple of drinks with Mike. Saturday started quite grey and rainy but soon cleared up for a while during the day. After dinner Ric and Will launched their Rib, and after a few initial teething troubles with the engine, finally got it started and we set off for a run out.

 

Whilst playing around down the back water of Hunt's lock, we came across a rather sorry looking dinghy which was upside down, with only the bows sticking out of the mud. Between the Rib and Mike and Reuben's dinghy, we managed to get it rolled over and a rope around it and then towed it back to Yarwoods. Once we arrived back, it was removed from the water and both Mike and Ric ran off to get random tools and odd bits of plywood to start the rebuild. Nearly the whole right hand side of the dinghy had been lost, with the left hand side not being much better, along with a hole and a big crack in the bottom... even so, it was decided that the dinghy would take part in the Dawdle the following day.

Later on in the evening, the Gazebo was errected and the fancy Wheelbarrow barbeque was lit, with the help of Ric and Alison's new hair dryer! There was plenty to eat and drink for everbody and a good night was had. Mike and Ric continued to work on the Dinghy with a bit of help from everyone.

On Sunday, after everybody had arrived, launched their boats and gave them a quick check over, we set off out of Yarwoods Basin, and up under the low bridge on to the River Dane. The Dane was found to be relatively deep for the outboard powered craft but further up there were a few shallow spots where rocks were found to be across the river. I usually went ahead to check and clear the road with being in a small and light kayak, and after an hour or so we stopped for lunch where we had a quick debate on whether we should carry on further up the Dane or not.

The majority of us planned to carry on, and with us all back in the boats we set off where it was found to get narrower and even shallower. The group ended up turning round after I got carried away. I went to shoot a weir but unfortunately ended up capsizing, along with my phone and my camera so no more pictures were taken of the Dawdle or the Sunday night BBQ!