Ada Brimble
Canal carrier, with the narrow boat Patience and a grey mare called Marigold.
Look closer at the illustration ↗Ada Brimble works the narrow boat Patience with her mare Marigold. For six years she has carried the Hobday foundry's crates from the Brindlecombe trains without a scratch, which is why Obadiah Hobday trusts her with his granddaughter and a new church bell.
Her tiller is long and smooth as a banister where her hand has been on it for years, and she moves it hardly at all. She talks to Marigold conversationally on the bends. One winter she crocheted the mare a cream cap with holes for the ears and small red tassels along the brow.
When Pip asks whether she may help push a lock beam, Ada says, “That's why I said it.”
People they know
Pip Hobday · From the illustrated world of Candlebury Pip Hobday
Her passenger with the bell
Pip's grandfather entrusts her and the church bell to Ada. Pip travels aboard Patience and tells the bell the names of the places they pass.
Ruth Coker holds a lantern beside her black-and-white collie at Fallow Hill Tunnel. Josiah is partly visible at the left. Ruth Coker
She leads Marigold over the hill
Ruth takes Marigold over Fallow Hill and has her waiting when Ada's boat emerges from the tunnel.
Josiah Coker, with a black beard and knitted cap, holds his lantern beside the tunnel. Josiah Coker
He helps her leg the boat through
Ada and Josiah lie on planks and push against the tunnel walls with their feet to move Patience through Fallow Hill.
Mr Gedge, in round spectacles, holds his striped gauging rod beside the toll office. Mr Gedge
The clerk who collects her toll
Mr Gedge gauges Patience, classifies the church bell and gives Ada a ticket when she pays the toll.
Dorothea · From the illustrated world of Candlebury Dorothea
Her breakfast host
Ada brings Pip to Dorothea at the wharf and says she will come up for breakfast in the morning.
Places in their stories
Along the canal
Locks, towpaths and the quieter journey to Little Tallowmere.
Coldharbour Lock
The lock on the journey to Little Tallowmere, seven feet up, with a keeper who comes out in his slippers.
Brindlecombe
The railway brings you here. There is more than one way to leave.
Little Tallowmere
A village green, pale stone, and an inn just beyond.
St Hilda’s above the orchard.
St Hilda’s church
The square tower on Little Tallowmere’s green, waiting for its new bell.
Patience arrives at Little Tallowmere Wharf.
Little Tallowmere wharf
A stone landing below the orchard, with a crane like a heron.
Customs & details
Stories
The Narrow Boat to Little Tallowmere
Travel with Ada Brimble, Pip and a new church bell aboard Patience, along the canal to Little Tallowmere.
With Ada Brimble, Pip Hobday, Dorothea, Ruth Coker, Josiah Coker, Mr Gedge