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For the record, we had five boats out prior to this weekend, all sent out before any boating restrictions or even pub closures were in place. Two of those have now returned. A third (out since the beginning of February) was at Cropredy this morning and will be back by Thursday evening. The remaining two are crewed by entirely unrelated couples from New Zealand who currently have nowhere else to go. As of this morning they are mulling over whether to return to base and live here for the next few months or hunker down where they are (one of which is a fair way north having already been out for a while), which will depend on the likelihood of continued availability of essential services where they are vs. how much grief they will get from people jumping to conclusions if they boat back. I note that here today there are still a number of private boats moving too but no one complaining about that, and forgive me if this sounds bitter, but I expect there'll be a thread on here soon complaining that all the boatyards are shut and how dare we as we're an essential service, probably started by the same people who normally post advice on avoiding boatyards at all costs as they're too expensive. Rant over Incidentally, if anyone needs fuel round here, I spoke with Rue at Armada Boat Hire this morning and he's going to stay open for fuel for the foreseeable, and if it gets to a point where he's unable to continue we'll pick up the baton.

Sorry to be harsh but this proposal is utterly selfish, I would have thought better from the OP. Lots of us would love to go cruising but we aren't. Non-essential travel has been ruled out by the government - this is quite clearly non-essential travel. This is a classic case of entitlement and 'the rules don't apply to me'. And you say you're an expert in disease control??? So let presume you already have the virus but don't know it - how do you propose to get yourself from Goole to Ripon without touching anything on the way or once you get there? Using the excuse that we've been told to stay at home and therefore you can move about like this because your boat is your home is appaling pedantry. You know damn well that's not what the advice means and you're using a technicality to try and dodge round the rules. The 14 day rule has been relaxed for a reason - it's to try and prevent all non-essential boat movements, but allow boaters to still access vital services. People are dying because of selfish attitudes like yours. I'm frankly disgusted.

Even without covid-19 restrictions, I would suggest more experimenting before venturing onto rivers to be confident nothing will fail. I understand you have 40+ boaty years but not with your current boat, which isn't new and hasn't been moving. I'm still not confident everything on our boat is up to extended cruising after 9 months. On the face of it, it should have been fine but now have a growing list of repairs that, had they happened on a river, could have been a lot more serious. Little used boats give reassurance on short runs but as soon as something more demanding comes along, things start failing. If your boat has been doing this kind of work, then it may well be OK but a change in usage pattern (from nothing to full-on) is asking for trouble. Have you checked what's in your fuel tank as well as the 100lt of fuel? If driven hard, does the cooling system cope? Oil leaks, water leaks, throttle and gear cables? Any remaining dodgy electrics? This has got to be a consideration as well as health, because a breakdown in the middle of nowhere will surely involve a 3rd party? /G

Hi Folks.. here's my Tonic .. AQUATONIC = Viking 32 foot river cruiser

Apparently it is only going to those they want to save.

There is an article todays Leicester Mercury which talks about the timber trade to Leicester. I've copied the photo to post here it shows a pair of boats unloading at William Gimsons timber yard. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/common-view-leicestershires-waterways-3980636?fbclid=IwAR0wJE4itDtsNTjWEvwzgxEvXPyxXWfeoEL6hplye8RHvS1VcRwzkMrO8qE Has anyone got any idea of which boats they may be? They look like they may be in an early BW colours. The photo is undated but the Mercury suggest 1940s I think its later than that.

Well Torksey Lock is in Europe, as I said.

There has been panic use Dont you know there is an emergency on.

Ive met some grown ups over the years and vowed never to become one as they all seem miserable to me most of the time. I am sure you for one firmly understand what I mean innitt.

Absolute nonsense. How do you intend to get to Ripon without exposing yourself of others to risk? What is your expertise, are you a professor of epidemiology or public health who somehow knows better than anyone else. I suspect I am FAR more qualified in this area than you, and would happily show you a copy of my MSc in this particular area, but I'm not moving anywhere, so I can't. You are being selfish, it's as simple as that.

Ahh, so an early Santa Cruise then....

I think one of the reasons I wanted to get out of here is to reduce my chance of infection from nearby folks who mix with many others, it was like a bank holiday here on Monday! This was before the official "stay in house" warning, or The Big CRT Decision, but after a series of Boris Broadcasts. If I now get the disease from them it will be most unpleasant, to some extent life-threatening, and really infuriating. I've been taking precautions but there is not much more I can do, without becoming a hermit, which would not really help me, long term. There are visitor moorings just 50 metres from here, but they have been occupied by the same c/moorers for the last three weeks, and presumably now permanently. All we are doing is flattening the disease curve to allow the NHS to catch up, I don't think much more can be done if tubes and trains are still rammed with people. People who have seen images from Italy and other places realised things were out of control and rushed out to buy bog rolls, I bought some yesterday, but just a few, rather thin ones!

If we stick together.... we'll beat this nightmare! Waitrose are opening their supermarket especially for NHS workers.

And, should you already happen to have the virus, and it causes you to need to be hospitalised - what then? Richard

What did the other two clocks say?

I also find my vision is not as sharp as it was 20 years ago ?

FYI. Stay safe everyone.

If you get them in your tissue you HAVEN'T got C19

Dear Customer These are unprecedented times and here at the Environment Agency we have been working hard to make sure our response to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic follows Government advice, in the best interests of the health of our staff and customers. We have done our best to maintain our sites and services as close as possible to business as usual, keeping waterways and facilities open for everyone to enjoy afloat and on foot, subject to following Government guidance. Following Monday’s announcement from the Prime Minister about the UK’s heightened response to the Coronavirus emergency, we have taken the difficult decision to introduce limits to the use of our waterways to stop all non-essential travel. This means: • We are asking the owners of all boats kept or used on our managed waterways not to make any journeys on their boats, other than to access essential services and facilities. • We will not provide ‘assisted passage’ (staff to operate locks) at any of our lock sites but locks will remain open for self-service use where possible. This will allow those living aboard their boats to reach essential services if they need to. • At the few locks where self-service is not possible, our local teams will put special temporary operating arrangements in place to allow boats to return to their home moorings. • We will lift time restrictions on the short stay moorings we own or manage, to assist those who live aboard their boats so they can access essential services. • We will do the very best we can to keep open the essential facilities we provide (e.g. water supply, sewage pump-out and chemical toilet disposal), for those who need them. However our staff will not be able to offer the sale of keys, cards or tokens. These essential services will not include the provision of shower and toilet facilities. • We advise our customers to stay at home rather than self-isolating aboard, unless your boat is your primary residence. This is so you do not put yourself at increased risk or place additional burden upon our facilities. • The river conditions on our waterways are starting to improve and in some places our Strong Stream Advice will be updated in the coming days. However, any travel on our waterways should still be minimised to the essential movement outlined above. We will keep these restrictions under constant review in the light of the developing situation and advice from Government, but we expect them to be in place until at least 14 April 2020. It goes without saying that our priority is to keep our staff and customers safe, and we will be working to make sure that everybody can get back to enjoying everything our waterways have to offer as soon as it is possible. You will appreciate our National Customer Contact Centre is very busy at this time, please help us by getting in touch only if it’s essential. If you do need to contact us, we encourage you to email us at enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk For the full Government guidance on coronavirus go to www.gov.uk/coronavirus Thank you all for your co-operation during these very challenging times for everyone. Best wishes Alice Mayne Deputy Director for Navigation and Commercial Development Environment Agency

The world is full of inefficient ‘experts’. Yesterday I waited 3.5 hours past the allotted time for a lorry to turn up to collect three heavy pallets. We have no loading equipment ourselves so require the lorry to have a pallet truck and tail lift. When the 3.5 hour late lorry turn up it wasn’t a lorry at all but a small curtain-sided van with a friendly lady driver who explained she had neither a pallet truck nor a tail lift. While I was seeing if I could sort anything out I received a phone call from “... the driver, I have to pick up three pallets?” I asked what he had and he replied “A 40 ton truck, tail lift and electric pallet truck”. He had no idea what the lady was doing there and she had no idea why he was coming too. So I sent the lady away and waited another 40 minutes for the suitable truck. During all this time I was exchanging emails with the very nice lady at head office who was supposedly sorting this out. Her last email included “I’m in Glasgow, so it’s just as frustrating for me as it is for you.”

From having built floors in sheds and a conservatory I’d offer ‘does it bounce’? If not then I don’t see what you’d gain by upping the thickness to 18mm.

So my better arf is Nurse working in GP surgery, sadly smarter than Moi, we were discussing the social distancing ting and she ended my disouse with, "Its not the Virus that moves, it's people that move the virus" end of. My only recourse was to use physical superiority, needs must. Stay safe all

just don't be tempted by one of those cheapy mitre boxes/guides from DIY stores, so much play in them that you'll never get the same angle twice!

It would be tricky - Parkside is Lidl's brand!

You don’t need to see anything relating to canal boats. The rules are the same for every person in the country, but it does seem that a lot of people are deciding that those rules do not apply to them. It is all rather sad.