The unmistakeable sound

Last night as I walked Brian down the top few locks of the Audlem flight I could hear the distant but unmistakeable 'plop, plop, gulp, pause, plop, pause pause, plop plop' of a Bolinder - the famous single cylinder working boat engine. Or should it be infamous given its foibles - like cutting out unexpectedly, deciding to run backwards when you want it to run forwards and trying to throw its human starter out of the engine room hatch when he tries to kick start it (off the flywheel) and it kicks back. "A lovely engine – in someone else's boat!" as one historic
boat enthusiast once put it.
The boat came into view - it was the magnificent looking Thomas Clayton boat 'Spey', a now rare wooden hulled boat which originally carried tar oil down the canal from the Mersey to the Midlands. The front third of Spey had just been rebuilt, using shaped and steam bent two and a half inch thick oak planks for the sides and three inch thick elm boards for the bottom.
It was on its way to the re-opening of the Droitwich Canal and making slow progress up this part of the flight, its three feet plus draft frequently seeing it grounding. Still the back cabin stove was lit, the pies were in the oven and the three man crew was planning to keep going until darkness stopped them!