The boat was lifted out of Priory Marina on the Great Ouse at Bedford and taken to the IWA National Waterways Festival at Milton Keynes with four other boats to publicise the proposed new Milton Keynes - Bedford Waterway.

It took a while to get the lifting straps on as the boat was sitting on the mud at the back end. The little boat was used to pull us off a bit into deeper water.

There were several photographers and film crews present to record the occaision, these were from British Waterways.

The crane could calculate how much the boat weighed - it was 22.5 tonnes.

The operation went all too quickly...

... otherwise we would have taken the oppotunity to black the hull...

... although Matt and Leone did manage to get in there with the brasso and buff up the prop.

We followed the procession to Milton Keynes...

... via the M1

A surreal sight to see five narrowboats in convoy!