Just Chillin’ – June 23rd

The “Buckingham” coming into Scottsville.

I get home from work, I go to bed & the phone rings at 11:15am.  Seems I had brought a piece of equipment home from work, so I got up, got dressed, drove to work, turned in the item in question & then drove back home.  What a great way to start the day.  I looked at my To-Do list, said “Phooey”, & decided to treat myself to  “Just-For-Me” time.  So I grabbed a camera & headed off for the James River Batteau Festival stop at Scottsville.

There were 28 batteaux in this year’s fleet, plus various canoes & kayaks escorting them as they drift down the James River.  All the boats have names but I wasn’t always able to see & read the wooden name plates.  Some where quite faded.

This is the “Maple Run”.  It is one of the shorter batteau.  It steers quicker than the longer batteau but obviously can’t carry as much.   The Batteau Fest starts in Lynchburg and floats its way to Richmond in 8 days with various pre-arranged overnight stops with camping..

This is the Rose of Nelson.  The batteau vary somewhat in length and just how they’re set up.  Not all the boats have awnings although they all have steering oars fore & aft.   Basically these craft float or are poled downstream, although it is possible to pole one upstream if the current is modest.

Most batteau have a short pointed stern & prow on them, but some are flat at both ends rather like a barge.  The wooden boxey things in the center are for gear storage on the reproduction boats.  The originals would have had hogsheads or other freight filling most of the batteau.

This is the ‘Spirit of New London” steered here by none other than Dulcimer Dave McNew of OVPR fame.  He was singing a chantey as the batteau drifted into the landing. 

The day was very hot & humid when I first got to Scottsville but a line of squalls cooled things off nicely without actually raining on the festival.   There were various food & craft vendors available, nice food, decent modern crafts. 

This fellow was snitching food from various folks, I caught him at 560mm.  Isn’t Image Stabilization nice !  I also lost my camera lens cap somewhere at the Fest.  Bummer.