Interrupted Journey

Chapter 4 - The Canal

From the end of their little close, they could see up towards the station and the local shops. There were fires up there and, by the flickering light, they could see groups of people moving about. It was an eerie, menacing scene and as they stood and watched, it was clear that a large group was heading their way. They were glad to turn their backs and head towards the country park and then the canal.

Though it was still hours before dawn, there was some moonlight fighting it's way between the broken clouds and the fires, though disconcerting, provided more light. After a few minutes their eyes grew used to the darkness and they could travel the familiar paths with relative ease. The trolley moved quite comfortably on level ground though it was hard to control both up and down hill and, when they came to the steps down to the canal towpath, Andrew needed David's help.

Walking along the towpath had an unanticipated advantage. The few scraps of light were reflected off the water, marking a clear boundary for the path. The world and its problems seemed far away as they trudged along until it was brought suddenly and sharply back by half a dozen shots with associated shouts and screams. The action was not very close but closer than they would have liked.

They paused a couple of times for a brief rest and a snack. The standard hiking rations were saved for later in the journey. Instead they ate things that had been hauled out of the freezer and wouldn't keep. At the first stop, Elizabeth shared out lamb chops, perversely enough, from the farm, and, at the second, some spicy Indonesian dumplings.

As they were getting ready to leave at the end of their second stop, they were surprised when a large group, maybe twenty people, appeared behind them. They were moving in a military style formation with what looked like armed soldiers at the front and rear and civilians in the middle. They nodded a greeting as they passed but were making no unnecessary noise.

As the rearguard moved passed, Andrew quietly warned them that they were heading north too. This did not look like a group that would take kindly to being followed.

At last, at long last, dawn began to break over the canal. Birds were singing and strands of wispy grey mist clung to the surface of the water. As it became lighter, it became clear that poor Martin was out on his feet, stumbling along, more asleep than awake.

Andrew was proud of the uncomplaining efforts but keen to keep moving when the world was so quiet. He handed over trolley towing duty to David and hoiked Martin's pack up on top of his own. Though not too heavy it was quite cumbersome and he was pleased that the towpath was so sound underfoot.

Even so, after another hour, it was clear that he couldn't go on for much longer. Even with Elizabeth steering him, Martin was becoming clumsy. They passed their first 'locals' a few minutes later - an elderly couple walking two bouncy Alsatian puppies. If they were perturbed to see the strange group they did not mention it and passed on their way with a cheerful 'Good morning'. Andrew couldn't help wondering how long they - and particularly the puppies - would remain so cheerful.

As they were starting to look for somewhere to spend the day, they passed the large military group who were down in a field, just off the path. They, too, were presumably looking for somewhere to rest but it didn't seem prudent to investigate too closely. Again, the most cursory of acknowledgements were exchanged.

A short time later Elizabeth spotted a place. An old swing bridge led across the canal but didn't seem to go anywhere. There wasn't even a path on the other side. There was, however, a small wood and within a couple of minutes, they had found a grassy clearing. Not many seconds later, they had unpacked their bedrolls and collapsed on the grass.

After a couple of minutes Andrew hauled himself to his feet to go and thank David and, particularly, Martin for their efforts in the night but they were both fast asleep. Martin had not even managed to take off his trainers.

Elizabeth had volunteered to take the first watch. Ever since the children had been small, she had been able to get by on little or broken sleep. Andrew handed her the watch with instructions to wake him after four hours or when she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore then collapsed into his sleeping bag.

It must have been nearly four hours later that Andrew was woken by a strange noise.. It sounded like a steam engine and was getting closer.

They watched in fascination as an ancient, steam powered canal boat chugged past them. It was towing a string of three more modern narrowboats behind it.

"That's one way of dealing with no electricity," Andrew observed. He hauled himself to his feet and, with a kiss, sent Elizabeth off to get some sleep.

He managed another couple of hours sleep late in the afternoon when David had woken and was standing watch. He awoke to find a small fire with stew warming over it.

"I know it's a bit of a risk," Elizabeth said as she handed him a bowl, "but I think it's worth it to get some warm food in us,"

As he savoured the warm stew, he couldn't disagree.

Then, as the evening shadows started to lengthen, they prepared to move on. As they were packing up, the military group that had passed the previous night passed again. In the evening light they could see that there were several small children at the centre of the group.

This set the pattern for the next few days, walking through the night and sleeping through the days. As they kept playing leapfrog with the military group, they became slightly less reserved. They described themselves jokingly as the 'Stoke-Newington Militia' and, while several members were military, most were not.

One evening he awoke to find a tremendously proud David with a quite neatly prepared rabbit hanging from a tree. He had shot it with his bow.

"How did you know how to gut it?" Andrew asked.

"What do you think the Internet was for?" David answered.

The next day, they had a slightly longer rest than usual, and Elizabeth made a delicious rabbit stew. It was a wonderful change to have plenty to eat.

They thought they were getting used to the travel - the constant tension and mild exhaustion and the broken and uncomfortable sleep.

Then it started to rain.

Everything became more difficult. Walking was uncomfortable, stopping was cold, The packs and the elven cloaks were heavy and seemed to drag at any obstacle.

Everyone was trying hard but tempers were getting frayed and, though it was still early, Andrew was relieved when David spotted a dry, quiet place to spend the day. A main road crossed the canal and a river with a series of arches. The next arch over was low and had a concrete ledge, slightly above ground level making a low cave. Though it was something of a scramble to get over the fence and up there it was flat and, most important, it was wonderfully dry.

For the first time they undressed down to their underclothes before collapsing into their sleeping bags and Andrew even took the tarp off the trolley to provide a little extra warmth for the sleepers. When Elizabeth woke him for the second watch, he found she had taken one of the tarp ropes off and hung up their soaking clothes.

It wasn't the most comfortable of watches. His clothes were still damp and the roof was too low to stand up properly. Several groups passed over the bridge and, though they were invisible in their little cave, he wasn't comfortable with having so many people so close.

It was a couple of hours into the watch when his attention was caught by some sort of disturbance at the far end of the bridge. He could hear shouting so, being careful to stay in the shadows, he cautiously moved towards the mouth of their little cave to hear what was being said

He was just in time to see something large and body-shaped tumbling from the bridge into the river. The screaming started almost immediately. It didn't stop for a long time.

As he crouched and sat in his damp clothes in the low concrete tunnel, he had plenty of time to think about how right they had been to stay off the roads.

Setting off the next evening was unpleasant. They hadn't dared to make their normal warm meal, instead they ate the last of the cold rabbit stew with some almost uneatably stale bread. They then had to reverse their scramble of a few hours before, this time, however, they knew that any noise could attract dangerous attention.

Once back on the path, Andrew carried the trolley, stepping with great care, until they rounded the first bend and the shadow of that road bridge disappeared from view.