To France of Course!
As Chantilly’s adventures in our hands terminated with her sale this year 2015 (to France of course!) I have elected to compile our Funnel reports of her travels, hopefully as encouragement for those contemplating similar cruises or simply to while away the odd coffee break. The articles are presented in chronological order, and some waterways were visited more than once, but as each cruise presented different aspects of the navigation, they are all included. Chantilly with John and Françoise Tilley on the river Mayenne. I WASN’T BORN A STEAM BOATER-I VOLUNTEERED! Some years before its centenary in 1986, Trent Valley Sailing Club mooted suitably colourful ways to celebrate it. I was much taken with one of the club’s old photos, reputed to be circa 1886, of a mucky, tubby steamer with a decided list coming into the landing at Trent lock bristling ladies with parasols and naughty boys with their legs over the side, prepared to disembark. So with some experience of ‘0’ gauge steam in my teens, I volunteered to replicate this aspect of the 19th century boating life, and provide a steamboat. The first stage was easy; I obtained a Stuart Turner catalogue, chose a set of engine castings, and innocently made it. It happened to be a SWAN, the biggest I could just struggle to make on my much misused 1936 3 3/8” ZYTO lathe previously used for sharpening pencils and other domestic purposes. Then I needed a boiler. I had in mind, a substantial drum, suspended over a fire. During the early work, I met up with a notorious steamboater of that time, Tony Gregory.
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