By Nick Wall
For once there were three glorious days of sunshine at Crick, allowing more than 26,000 people to enjoy pretty much everything to do with inland waterways boating.
And with such great weather there was a bustling, carnival atmosphere and plenty for visitors to see and do. As well as a good display of new boats both on the water and on land to look over, the crowds enjoyed a packed weekend of boats, gear and entertainment.
London Narrowboat Project organised regular free boat trips, taking aboard some 1,147 passengers (and 36 dogs!). On the water a there was wide range of craft and a number of boat-builders and other exhibitors reported good levels of serious enquiries on all three days.
Favourite Boat in Show, voted for by showgoers, was Navigation Narrowboat Co’s Emily, with Midnight Trace, by Heyford Fields Boatbuilders coming second and Li’l Possum, a widebeam by Burscough Boat Trading, coming third. There was a wide range of boating gear on offer, too, with everything from new windows through to mops, cloths and dusters.
There’s a full review of boats at the show in the August issue of Canal Boat magazine, on sale from July 3 and available to purchase online at buyamag.co.uk/canalboat.
