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There is no priority for anyone, I suppose it could be considered polite to let a fuel boat get a head if they wanted, and I probably would, but beyond that nope. What you have encountered is a species called idiotus foolious, they exist everywhere in relatively small numbers, unfortunately their impact on those around them can be out of proportion to any real authority they have (which is generally none), best ignored. Occasionally one can encounter idiotus foolious spp.clipbordiois these generally have a much higher opinion of themselves and feel they do have some authority, again best ignored occasionally a wave and a gentle smile helps, as a last resort cup your ear and shout loudly "sorry I'm a little deaf, but I think it's half 2" this seems to clear most problems

There's a trad boat rally at Ellesmere Port, and it may have been one of them - some of them (not all of them) do tend to think they have some sort of entitlement as they consider themselves "heritage". They are, of course, just delayed adolescents playing with their toys and should be slapped down. You can spot the worst offenders by the leather jerkin and red bandanna. There again, you may have met the Australian couple who, ignoring me completely, filled a lock just as I reached the beam to open the bottom gates. It happens, but it doesn't happen often.

I do pull over to let fuel boats past and once let Roger Fuller's boat go past at a lock cos they were going to an event and were much faster than us. It's the self entitled in waistcoats and neckerchiefs playing work boats that get nowhere with me when they claim priority.

The infrastructure remains as it always has, old and in need of constant maintenance. It's the management of it that's in steep decline. Mr Parry's C&RT is not fit for purpose and certainly don't see navigation as a high priority. 15 - 10 years ago we would leave our mooring at Ripon for 3 week holidays without any thought of closures. When things did go wrong they were fixed pretty promptly by local BW staff. Now we are based on the Calder and can cruise all summer but are constantly worrying if we can get out and get back. The Yorkshire and North West is a shambles with stoppage after stoppage. Many of those would have been fixed quickly under BW. Now it's days or even weeks and months. But there are lots of nice cycle paths and loads of pretty blue signs proclaiming it's better by water. Shame it isn't better on the water.

Hi, I’ve just completed the Four Counties Ring in a hire boat. We had a fantastic week, with just one day of bad weather really, we saw some lovely wildlife, some great canal architecture and met some amazing people. this was our fifth time doing the four counties, but our first time doing it clockwise, and probably our 23rd or 24th time hiring a narrow boat. I don’t consider myself experienced, because 2 or 3 weeks a year isn’t enough to call yourself such, but I do know how to moor a boat, I can successfully spring on and off the bank, I can safely negotiate locks and I slow down well before moored boats. we had a peculiar thing happen this year though - twice we had boat owners tell us they had priority over hire boats - one at a lock who demanded we let him past (a CRT volunteer put him right) and one at a lock we were descending which was set in our favour - as my wife went to open the gate, a woman ran up and told her to shut it so they could empty it for them to ascend - because they had priority over hirers!! Am I missing something here, or is there an elitist belief amongst owners over hirers? I hope not, because I’m a few years when I retire I hope to become an owner myself. on a positive note, I did have half a day of single handling up locks, and I met a fantastic chap (an owner!) who gave me a whole load of tips about single handling. Brilliant. I’ll put a write up of the four counties in the trip reports soon.

I don’t subscribe to the view that any survey is a waste of money on the grounds that there is probably no comeback on the surveyor. That only holds if you view a survey as a purely commercial consideration related to the sale. The fundamental point of any survey is to establish and describe the configuration and condition of the asset concerned. That’s simply useful information to hold for anybody who owns an asset of significant value. It may be that you can glean this information from other sources - particularly if the boat is relatively new and/or you have a high degree of relevant expertise and experience with boats - in which case a survey may not be of great value. In my case I own an aged and idiosyncratic boat and the survey information has been valuable to me in understanding my boat and it’s systems, and particularly so in relation to routine maintenance and when making alterations.

If you need a survey to provide to an insurer, but are of the view any survey is ultimately a waste of money, one that’s bought from the seller’s surveyor is going to be a whole lot better value than one you commission yourself.

Thanks for all the responses It works out that an inverter (£200) plus 240v fridge (£100+) is cheaper than a 12v fridge ( £500+). So going to stay with this option, yes the inverter will use some power, but I am a leisure boater and will likely only be on the boat when the sun is shining to power the solar. Thanks for the link PaulJ, will get one of those, and will try MtB's wiring work around.

That's what I did with the turned lock. I just put the kettle and waited. Normally I'd have gone up and helped open gates.

To be honest, it was two boats out of loads we saw - it seemed to be a busy week! The rest were absolutely lovely, helpful and chatty. 4 counties remains my favourite ring - we moored in new places , and it does seem so rural, with the exception of Stoke and Stone. Absolutely lovely.

That is the case with hirers, but as anyone will tell you, who has had the job of instruction hirers. You can explain, but you can not make them listen, they more concerned with setting off. Which why some hirers get a bad name.

I've had the opposite. Going downhill I arrived at a lock that was empty with the bottom gates wide open. A boat was a couple of hundred yards away coming uphill so I hung around by the gate waiting for him to arrive and come into the lock. To my amazement and vague irritation he actually slowed right down then stopped on the lock landing. After a bit he then tied up so being more irritated by now I walked down to ask WTF he was up to. I'm SO pleased I didn't put it like that but politely enquired if he was staying there or coming into the lock. His reply was they saw me there and as we were there first it was obviously our lock so he decided to tie up an wait while we transited, and why weren't we getting on with it?! Turned out this was his first time on a canal boat. It was a hire boat, and a Steve Hudson hire boat to boot. No signwriting to give a clue, and the only Hudson hire boat I've ever knowingly encountered.

I think you're doing yourself a disservice - I'd call you 'experienced' (for what it's worth). There are plenty of boat owners who haven't got as much experience as you. I think you were unlucky -in 45 years boating (many of those in hire boats) I've never come across an owner who claimed priority over a hire boat.

There are about three hundred lambs in the fields which I walk through most days, with about another hundred due in the next week or so. They started arriving about a month ago And if we were all vegetarians, there would be no lambs to see!

Saw the first hireboat steerer wearing a captain's hat yesterday. Spring has spung. MP.

I saw my first ducklings this afternoon, 8 of them🦆It was a delight to see as the mother seemed to bring them up to the boat for me to admire

well remember the beach party , load of sharp sand delivered and spread round, we were all dressed to suit. Happy times.

Well yes but it's Alan De E proposing this, and he likes being strange! Unlike you and me who are not even just a little bit strange at all, obvs.....

Some is better (eg many parts of the BCN), some is worse. But a big factor is that the number of boats is massively increased and quite often populated by idiots. So the infrastructure gets a much harder time and many people are clueless if things aren’t quite right (but could be worked around). IMO the biggest threat to my enjoyment of the canals is not the infrastructure or CRT, it is the entitled selfish, clueless, discourteous (delete as appropriate) idiots on many boats, both shiny and scruffy (and all shades in between)

Yes I was thinking this too. I think the state of the system is much the same as in the 80s only bigger. The main difference is people's expectations. They think by spending £1k a year on a license entitles them to expect everything to work like clockwork like on The Thames. The Thames however is significantly simpler to run as there are more or less only the locks and weirs to deal with. No embankments to collapse, no legal issues over bridges, no reservoirs or water supplies to maintain, no tunnels or ducts under the river to maintain, and probably a really substantial grant form the guvvermint. What IS the status of the EA? I guess it is a guvvermint-funded quango and the Thames is just a minor/trivial part of its responsibility. Might be really good news for us boaters if they took over the canals and CRT was wound up. Especially as the license fee would start being charged by deck area so fatties paid their fair share.

If I had a Radio Times. ??

I went down that route a few years ago, boat out for blacking, hull survey at the same time, was not selling the boat but it seems a logical thing to do. Have not sold the boat, but at least I know my maintenance works are good.

This is rubbish. No one pays on the basis of how many goes they have on the canal. Some people never have a go, but pay licence fees. They don't get a rebate or any consideration, based on use.

Thanks all. I will contact GJW.

Not quite at the point of selling but I fear it may be on the horizon (knees, back etc,etc,etc) note this is NOT an attempt to sell. The boat's out for blacking in September and I intend to get a hull survey. That way, come the inevitable day I will have an idea whether I'm trying to sell a boat or a colander and pitch my approach accordingly. Just my view.