Heartbreak Hill has a Happy Ending

One hot and lazy summer, we were cruising in our narrowboat along the Grand Union Canal north of Warwick. We were heading for Kingswood Junction having just negotiated the 21 double locks in the notorious Hatton Flight. Not for nothing is this lock-flight known as "Heartbreak Hill" and as it had been a hard drive, DB took over the helm at the top and I went down below for a well earned nap.


As the boat slowly passed the houses backing on to the canal, DB suddenly noticed a huge peg over a fence. To get my attention, she had to hoot the horn and when I emerged from the front of the boat she yelled at me with much excitement " Big Peg back there!!! ". We brought the boat to a halt and attempted to pull into the side of the canal, but it was silted up so badly that we ended up stuck fast in the mud and I threw DB off clutching a mixed bag of pegs we had recently collected from Bombay. Through the window of the house we had seen a man watching TV in his lounge. DB approached the back gate and found it locked. Somehow or other, she managed to attract the man's attention and he came out to see what her problem was. The conversation went something like this:

" Hello. Sorry to bother you, but, and I know it's strange, my partner collects clothes pegs...... " a bemused look overcame the guy's face, but she was undeterred .... " you have an unusual peg on your line and I wonder if you would swap it for these pegs here? " even more bemused, the man went to the clothesline and pointed to a very ordinary peg " Oh no! It's the other one I'm asking for. " The man returned with one big peg saying " These are my wife's blanket pegs. She only has three. " " Tell her these pretty ones are from India and you've made someone VERY happy ".

DB scampered back to the boat, which was only about 3 feet from the bank and somehow we managed to get off the mud and I jubilantly took over the helm to continue our trip.

After that, I searched the world for a copy of this peg and was rewarded two years later when I found them, in Chester of all places, in a shop called "Lakeland Plastics". Six months later, we were passing the back garden of that same house in Hatton so we stopped and I walked round to the front door and knocked. This time, the wife answered and I said " You don't know me but your husband gave me one of your blanket pegs two years ago and I have felt guilty, ever since, that he may have got into trouble. So here is a brand new replacement and thanks ".

There are now two bemused folk in Hatton, but for me Heartbreak Hill had a happy ending.