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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/06/19 in all areas

  1. Yeah, health problems will do that! Between my brain haemorrhage in 2017 and the workplace stress that was really beginning to take its toll on my wife around the same time, we quickly gained all the perspective we needed to sell up, move aboard and get cruising. Nine months in now and loving it. Enjoy your travels!
    5 points
  2. We are a small and close community and just like in everyday conversation topics tend to meander off topic. It's just how we are. There are some who make assumptions, sometimes those assumptions are helpful sometimes not; You can take what you like and leave what you don't like, and you're right you don't have to explain your self but sometimes it helps. We're not complicated though. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your adventure.
    4 points
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  5. canals are for navigation. they are not for mooring. please remember those thousands of navvies who sweated blood and tears to build the canals - they did not do it to provide you with a nice spot to moor up your boat, either for a weekend or permanently. whilst it is reasonable to have to slow down for the occasional moored boat, as others have said if you want to navigate, for example, from Bath to Bradford-on-Avon and beyond, you will never get there if you slow to tick-over every time you pass each boat in the endless line of moored up boats (many of which are little more than floating rubbish skips) unless the wind is behind you.
    2 points
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  8. The OP made no mention of continuous cruising, perhaps they have already secured a fully residential mooring in their preferred location or maybe they don't have a clue about living on a boat.
    2 points
  9. Athy, a similar thing happened in Kidderminster a few years ago. A pub properly called the Grand Turk, closed, was rebranded the Rank Turd by someone with a wicked sense of humour. If only I’d kept the photo......
    2 points
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  11. Just to close this thread out, I have donated £2.00 per boat for 12 and a half boats (Richard Parry counted as half a boat!) disallowing Carrie-Lou to the specific Python fund at the Chesterfield Canal Trust donations page. That means these bloody noodles have cost me £23 in the auction and £25 for delivery - for instant noodles that I could have bought in Asda for 75p ... In the meantime, I have met quite a few new friends, I have both joined and helped raise the profile of the Chesterfield Canal Trust and I consider it £48 well spent. I burned more than that in diesel this week! If you want this saga to continue, I suggest you switch to this new thread:
    2 points
  12. How the results are sometimes discussed
    2 points
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  14. It's called Challenge for a reason. The explorer cruises are offered for those who don't want to be challenged. Last year I reckon 4 of us had 2 bottles of malt and 2 and a half hours sleep in our 6 hour overnight break. Made day 2 interesting, especially with the thunder and lightning early Sunday morning. Down and back up including repairing Walsall locks before breakfast is not for the faint hearted. Others take the challenge in a different way, LaurieB will be along shortly to share his methods.
    2 points
  15. Yes. Get rid of the caravan abomination and put a nice widebeam on that mooring instead. My God did I really just type that??!! ?
    2 points
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  19. My thoughts exactly. Why I've always gone for using lots of water and having clean clothes, rather than trying to minimise this. The minimal electricity usage is more important to me when away from the shore line. Water I can (almost) always get. If water is a problem, say with everything frozen up, then I can make other arrangements, or just be very smelly! Jen
    1 point
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  22. 1 point
  23. Hi, Amused loon! Apparently there are 53,291 anagrams of Mondial House! https://new.wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=mondialhouse&t=1000&a=n
    1 point
  24. I certainly don't-I'm lovely.?
    1 point
  25. Is that a what a member of Thunderboat looks like?
    1 point
  26. And all to pay attention with no arseing about on smart phones whilst locking, which I reckon have something to do with these accidents.
    1 point
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  28. Ours used to do that, but a new door seal sorted it.
    1 point
  29. Installation of a 2g compatible SIM card from GiffGaff seems to have solved the problem and the boat sends me a text when it is being burgled! I'm now paying 5p per text but, hopefully, I won't have a compulsory top-up until credit runs low (we'll wait and see - the advertising is deliberately obscure). This is what I always understood PAYG to be but nowadays there seems to be little difference between PAYG offerings and contracts. Another example of phone companies attempting to maximise income at the expense of customers. I suppose I was expecting the 1pmobile SIM card to work because that's what I used in an EnviroTxt device I use to monitor boat temperature where it works fine. Now I'll try to rewrite the Chingish manual and make myself a list of programming instructions, codes, etc., in English which any fool (that'll be me) can understand.
    1 point
  30. D’oh! At least you’ll get your cert pdq once you replace them
    1 point
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  32. Ask the other half to get in the tank and hold a nut underneath whilst you tighten it.
    1 point
  33. Walked is no problem This years 'cycle' was as much a bit of fun as anything. Dave had been cycling for his own reasons, photographing and tweeting #BCNchallenge. He turned up Sunday, so because we could, we scored him. Interestingly he cycled a bit of filled in canal that cannot be boated. Otherwise, organising a 'canal bike race' is fraught with danger and would need a very carefully constructed set of rules Canoes are interesting. They cannot go through Netherton or Dudley and would probably need overnight camping spots. Likewise they would portage around locks Richard
    1 point
  34. There have been changes to the bonus factors and sections on which scores can be obtained in both directions over the years which is a good way of shifting the balance of what becomes the highest scoring route without upsetting the fundamental purpose of the event. Here’s a few thoughts and observations;- - This year scores could be obtained in both directions between Spon Lane and Brades Hall. I think this was introduced for the two years when the finish was at Titford so that there was a scoring route home without being penalised if it had been covered earlier in the event. This facility could be removed and potentially shifted to wherever next year’s finish is located. - The Walsall scored in both directions which was used to good effect by Good Times in compiling a winning score. Perhaps now that’s been done the Walsall could revert to scoring in one direction only (but retaining both ways down Walsall flight and into the town basin to break up the 40 mile pound from Longwood to Smethwick). (Please note @system 4-50 that you can boat for 24 hours on the BCN and barely do a lock). - The Walsall between Tame Valley (Ocker Hill) and Walsall Jn is easily the most difficult cruising of the Challenge so maybe that could be reflected in a x3 bonus factor, possibly in combination with other sections of the northern reaches being a x2 factor rather than x2.5 to encourage usage of the Walsall - If Pudding Green to Tame Valley scored in both directions it would encourage a circuit that includes both Walsall and Rushall/Daw End legs without then having to commit to Aston/Farmer’s Bridge or a start at either Tame Valley or Rushall Jn. - If Factory to Deepfields scored in both directions it may encourage more use of the Bradley Arm - The scores for Dudley Tunnel don’t seem to take into account that you have to do three x2 bonus factor locks to get there. The scores are shown as Parkhead Jn to Tipton Jn and you’d almost score more for going up and down Parkhead locks and cruising round to Tipton via Netherton than legging the tunnel. - The Birmingham & Fazeley north of Salford Jn should only score x0.5 bonus factor - The Digbeth arm of the B&F from Aston to Typhoo basin could be an out and back score so it can be done in combination with the Aston and Farmers’ Bridge flights. This could be an alternative to allowing both Aston and Garrison as interchangeable routes. Has anyone used the Garrison route since the year when the Aston flight was closed? This would directly reflect what is technically BCN and what isn’t. - Include a 0.5 mile trip into the BCLM moorings and back from Tipton as it’s a good stopping point. JP
    1 point
  35. I think it's good to inject a bit of reality into the discussion. The OP needs to consider these things if he hasn't already. It's fine to throw oneself into a new and untested lifestyle, but I'm not sure it's fair to impose that on kids who haven't really had an informed choice.
    1 point
  36. Clarrie started at John the Lock moorings as we held them up at Factory locks on the Friday whilst we cleared rubbish from behind the gates to get Scorpio in to the top lock so they did a short stint on the old line.
    1 point
  37. This one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNI-T-UT203-Digital-Voltmeter-Ammeter-Ohmmeter-Clamp-Meter-Frequency-Tester-C5K8/113200368380?epid=20021354043&hash=item1a5b448afc:g:gzYAAOSwsndbbnnF&frcectupt=true
    1 point
  38. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  39. We got caught up with the Avon River Festival at Stratford last year on our route out onto the Avon and onto the Severn. We did not realise it was on until we got the Lapworth where another boater asked us if we were attending it. By this time is was a bit late to change our plans so we just carried on and hoped for the best finding a mooring. Well it was not a problem, we arrived on the Friday afternoon by which time most of the festival boats were moored up very neatly on the river. There were at least 3 moorings free on the pontoons in the Bancroft Basin. We dropped down onto the river on the Saturday morning quite late but did not get caught in any festival activities and went through the first lock ( Colin P Witter ) with out any delays.
    1 point
  40. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  41. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  42. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  43. Some I have come across have been oval in section, not round
    1 point
  44. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  45. Shouldn't take long ...
    1 point
  46. On the long term storage issue, I once put a load of stuff into storage on the basis it would go back into a house when the time came. In the end I paid for about 3 years storage, then disposed of most of the stuff either to the tip, or for very little money. If moving onto a boat, treat the storage as short term. If it isn’t on the boat within, say, 6 months, you almost certainly neither need nor want it. Dispose of everything after 6 months and get rid of the storage costs. If you find there was something you needed, you can buy it with the saved money
    1 point
  47. I very much doubt that. The insulation on the other hand, tends to expand with age and bulges spontaneously occur to accommodate the increased size. I bet this is what is happening to yours. Take a small blunt screwdriver and push it through the insulation bulge until you feel the copper beneath. Mark the depth of penetration with your thumbnail then push it again through the insulation where there is no bulge. I expect you will be able to demonstrate to yourself the bulge only exists in the insulation. If so, you have a 'non-problem'. Just get on with enjoying having hot water and spend the £600 on more beer.
    1 point
  48. The Noodle was finally delivered last night. I would like to say The Biscuits was really happy about receiving his noodle but he told me he has tried one before and doesn't like them very much so we were unsure what he might do with such a famous and well traveled noodle He certainly doesn't look too happy in the presentation photo but perhaps The Duck is nagging in his ear about not being into bondage? Then some beer was consumed and little Bob (aged 2) wanted to play with The Duck but The Duck didn't want to be played with and so Little Bob decided to play with a noodle and in the swiftest moment you could ever comprehend little Bob had whipped off the top of the noodle and tipped the contents on the picnic bench We threw some noodles to a pigeon that came close by and it promptly flew off never to be seen again!
    1 point
  49. The noodle has arrived safely back at Old Turn. Time for one last photo perhaps?
    1 point
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