Crick Show 2010

We decided to make a weekend of Crick, even though I was at work on Saturday.  Adrian came up to London on the train and met me at work.  We were on the road as soon as the 1700 news was out of the way, and arrived at our hotel on the outskirts of Northampton a couple of hours later.

Saturday had been a rainy day, so we weren't too disappointed not to have been at the show, and the forecast for Sunday was much better.  Sure enough, although it was breezy, Sunday was bright and sunny.  Our media passes let us into the show before the doors were open, so we were able to start talking to builders and looking at boats before the crowds built up.  Several firms said that although the number of visitors to the show on Saturday had been lower than usual, the people who had braved the rain were serious buyers.  Among the boats we looked at during the day were the Fernwood, William Piper, and Stoke on Trent Boats.  We also had a chat with Bruce Napier and Sheila and had a guided tour round Sanity Again, their new Braidbar.

As we were waiting to look at the Barnowl boat, Oakapple, the editor of Canal Boat, Nick, came along with a camera man.  They're making a DVD of Crick boats.  We had a look round the boat, then kept the crowds at bay while Nick did an interview with Stuart, the boat builder.  Oakapple went on to be voted the best boat at the show.

The show seemed a lot smaller this year.  The number of boat builders was down, but the biggest change was in the land based area.  There was only one big marquee, and the stalls outside also seemed a lot smaller.  We chatted to Paul from Waterway Routes, and later in the day went to find Fiona and John from Epiphany who were on the NABO stand.  During the afternoon, we also went for a walk along the towpath, spotting such boats as Alnwick and Derwent6, although both had no-one at home.

By late afternoon it was obvious that many people had already headed home.  We went for a drink in the sunshine, amazed to find it was nearly 6 o'clock, then headed back to the hotel.  On the way, we formulated a plan which resulted in a lovely evening ... of which more later.