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Of the house, not the boat. This is in Arts and Crafts not because it's Art, but because the dog is crafty - she got her modelling fee.

What we do is to pull a loop of rope through the eye-splice, then put the loop we've just made over the bollard on the stern, and then give it a sharp tug before throwing the rope onto the lock-landing for someone to loop over the bollard there. works for us.

Berrichon Sirdar again, in the lower chamber at Le Guetin. Also the tractor, on which I have no further information, except that the group of Dutch and Belgian mariniers around were gnashing their teeth at the way the staircase was adminstered (uphill travellers would not not allowed to progress the following morning, even when there were no downhill boats left, because that was not their specified time of day) Peter Zivy, who started Saint Line, had previously based his fleet of six on the Marne, but moved to Baye on the Nivernais having discovered the canal and been appalled that it was up for closure. He spent a good deal of money in doing so and subsquently moved to Englnad, but by then others were getting established. Prominent amongst them was Michael Street, who became the first hire boat operator on the Midi (encountering concerted hostility from the French tax authorities, to whom anything new must be suspect. Michael did win through in the end, but the process exhausted him;he subsequently sold out to Guinness, who weredeciding on "leisure" at the time).

More on the berrichons. In 1968 I travelled with a group of friends on a hire cruiser from Saint Line on the Nivernais. Even then, this was the only hire company in France, and by being based at Baye, on the summit, and lobbying hard, it thereby saved the Nivernais from closure. On an ambitious circuit we passed, at Marseilles-les-Aubigny, the blocked-off entrance to the Canal de Berry, with several of its tradional craft moored out in the main canal. Then, at Le Guetin, there had been a stoppage of some kind, and in thequeue, was the berrichon Sirdar, the family on board certainly eating under an awning at the stern, though possibly sleeping somewhere underneath. The mule/horse combination that towed the vessel was stabled centrally on board, that being the regulation (the animals were not allowed to graze on shore either, though some surely did). I shall post a couple of further photos on a following entry, asap.

Its the bit on the end of its leg. Or if you want to be clever :

As a professional boat signwriter and decorator, I recycle and re-use white spirit constantly. Left overnight in small tins, the pigment sinks to the bottom and the amber coloured spirit is ready to go again once decanted off, perfectly adequate for washing brushes and wiping palettes etc.

The simplest things that anglers can do to be helpful to boaters are to be visible (to boats, even if not to fish!), and to acknowledge your approach in some way. Then both parties know that the rod will be lifted out of the way at the last minute, and perhaps a few friendly words exchanged. It avoids the uncertainty that can lead to horns / emergency slowing down / lines being caught etc.

I thought he was going through his Dame Edna phase and was expecting the next avatar change to be to a muppet carrying a bunch of gladioli...

A chap I used to moor next to got one, after about the 3rd time he rang me to bring a hammer and chisel to help open his door, worked well until he used the spare emergency key and didn't replace it

'Cause some bright spark (who cant be mentioned but their name starts with Jen i* *** ) couldnt see the black mask so didnt get the joke with my strap line. Thought I better change it so it was a bit more visible.

The Peniche in Athy’s photo looks like it should be a automotor so it suggest that it is being towed into a tunnel. So not the St Quentin or Marne Rhin as these have electric tugs. The summit tunnel on the Marne Saone canal has a towpath which I believe was used by tractors but I have in my mind that the entrance canal was narrow for some distance.

That's a lovely hat you're wearing in your avatar Tim. You look like a properly nice bloke.

Never realised that was an avatar, thought it was a self portrait. Whens the new cruiser hit the cut?

I know! Tell me about it! If Jen hadnt posted, I would have been none the wiser. I always view it on a laptop where the black mask was perfectly clear....if you knew to look at it. Prolly best to go back to fish jokes.

The strap line says "....always wear a mask to avoid the virus". For the last month I have been sporting a 'lone ranger' type mask on my avatar but it was coloured black (to be accurate to the lone ranger) but looks like no one could see it ?. The red jobby is a bit more visible.

Too late for you now Ange, but it might help someone else. You can buy magnetic car key boxes, and leave a spare key attached but hidden on tne car. https://www.amazon.co.uk/MASTER-LOCK-Magnetic-key-box/ They work on steel boats too, handy if you lose your key.

Some years ago Fulbourne was moored at Sowerby Bridge. We had arranged a trip with a load of my daughter's college friends on a Sunday afternoon from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden Bridge. But not wishing to miss an opportunity, my son and I decided we would like to head down to Salterhebble (which is as far as a full length narrow boat can go) and back in the morning. Being a Sunday morning the entire 2.5 miles was lined with fishermen. Yes - almost all men. This is the traditional North, where on a Sunday morning then men go out fishing, while the wives cook the Sunday lunch! On the way out we got mostly neutral reactions from the fishists, who just wanted us to get past as soon as possible. But on the way back we got more than a few tart comments for daring to disturb them twice on the same morning!

Well, not after magnetnan has been around...............

And there's me thinking I'm the only tight-arsed one!

Like Dav and Pen I have seen some (a very few) about on the French system. In fact IIRC there was one that used to moor at Auxonne when we were there with our barge for a few years. Like Dav and Pen I would expect them to be quite pricey. I never met an owner to be able to chat and find out about the boats though. Roger

Or Stixall from tool station, available in black, white and clear.

You will struggle to get photovoltaic cable in a larger size than 6.

This sounds familiar! The advice is good, it's nearly exactly what we do except we don't leave the car at the in-laws. The revised plan is to try and leave the car where you can easily (and cheaply) get back to it via public transport. A quick study of advance train fares helps with the cheap bit. The railway is preferred because so many lines were built to directly compete with the canals there is usually a station nearby, but that's not always possible. I haven't done the 20 mile cycle without the car keys (yet!) but I have managed a £20 taxi journey without the car keys because the next train wasn't for 2 hours ... I still get reminded about it when going to get the car.

Re the staircase locks at Le Guetin and aqueduct across the Allier, I have enduring memories of the place, having had to wait two days there on our first ever boating experience in France. The system then was for downhill travellers to pass through in the mornings, uphills in the afternoon. To add to the complication the upper chamber could not be filled if there was a vessel on the aqueduct, as they got pulled by the flow. Since it was a tight fit, loaded craft to an age to get through and the whole palava seemed to have no end.. To add further to all this, horse or mule-drawn craft had to use an ancient tractor to get across, while the animals went round by means of the local road. The main picture shows under way the last berrichon, of 90 tonnes capacity, loaded with cement, while a bigger animal drawn craft waits her turn in the queue. The larger vessels, carrying up to 200 tonnes, represented hard and horrible work for the two beasts involved, and the practice came to an end in 1970 - as represented by an earlier picture in this thread.

I always take the advice given by the fisherman in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o949IwjBsk

It is a Sealine S41, S42 or S43 all were based on the same hull. Not sure of the name of it or where it was from. Certainly not. Our boat is well afloat in Lincoln at the minute.

A few years back Andrew Dennny photographed me mid-leap: https://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/2006/08/fulbourne_at_na.html

My Dad was born inside black jacks lock 86 years ago today whilst grandparents where waiting for the gate to be re hung so it seemed only fitting some of his ashes went in there. Nan would not allow a bank person to step on her boat to help deliver so the lockies wife who was from old boating family ( Mercer ) was sent for & by the time gate was fixed & lock re filled Dad was born & grandad who was in the pub all the time was sent for ..

Why would anyone bother transporting boats here from Poland and China when we have plenty of capable boatbuilders.....