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One reason we shouldn’t talk of “crap areas” is because it creates reputations that stick and the reality of urban towpath improvements and the increase in liveaboards is that it opens up areas that once were considered risky. We still get the odd person asking if Birmingham is safe. Yet had the OP asked on the best route from Sharpness to York I’d have been inclined to say “one that goes through Brum”.

Also, quibbling about a cranage charge of probably £250 to £500 suggests a degree of naïvity about the coming onslaught of expenses of fitting the thing out, and of licencing/insuring/using/fuelling/maintaining it once in use. This cranage charge will pale into insignificance, I'd suggest.

When he gets there they'll ask "Have you wheelie bin across the the Atlantic in that?"

Hello everyone A rather long post but I hope you enjoy it. Well, we have returned from our trip, and what a blast. We sailed south from Silsden and stopped at a pub called the Marquis Of Grandby in Riddlesden. The Landlady did us proud making us really welcome and even going as far as cooking Scampi and chips. Later that evening we went to Ishys Kitchen, An Indian takeaway. Next day we let go, sailed on towards the 5 Rise locks, and got there about 12 midday. The CRT guys were terrific although they did warn us that the return journey would be harder and it wasn't unknown for boats to sink! So we descended the 5 and 3 rises and went on our merry way. Further down we came across a pub called the Fisherman Inn and we decided to have a bite to eat and it's here we came unstuck. The pub is right on the winding hole and we couldn't moor there so we decided to go under a tunnel we could see ahead and moor there. Unbeknown to us there was a double lock right in front of us. We knew one was coming up but were surprised to find it right on top of us. So as we had already passed the winding hole we knew we had to descend the 2 locks to the next winding hole. Our very first go at doing it ourselves. After a quick debate we decided to forgo dinner, descend the 2 locks, turn around at the next winding hole, ascend the 2 locks and then have dinner. That's when we got into trouble. We descended the first lock ok but when we tried to descend the 2nd one to reach the canal, the first lock kept sending too much water into the 2nd lock thereby stopping us from descending to the canal. Despite our best efforts we couldn't equalize the water in the 2nd lock to the canal water and we had to go to a boat moored up to ask for help. I don't know what he did but it got sorted and we descended to the canal and sailed onto the winding hole by Hirst lock. (My first attempt at turning the boat around...and I did it!) But our troubles hadn't finished yet. We sailed back to the 2 locks we had just left, navigated the bottom one ok and while moving the boat forwards for the upper lock we grounded the boat! We hadn't realized that we should have refilled the first lock on our descent so that we would have enough water to equalize the locks on the way back up. The lockkeeper was on hand to help and he sorted it out for us. Many, many thanks to the two gentlemen who came to our aid. So we finally moored up and had our tea in the Fishermans Inn. (Liver and mash for me) Then we called it a night and had a few beers on the boat before lights out totally knackered from our fright. Next day, no more mishaps and we got through the 5 and 3 rises and decided to sail right past Silsden boat yard to a pub called The White Lion at Cross Hills (Where I turned the boat around again...yay!). Moored up, had our tea and made our way back to Silsden the next morning. Unbelievable weekend and one I would do again. The people all along the canal were incredibly friendly and have made a lasting impression on our group. Anyway, I just wanted to share our experience and hope that telling you guys of our mishaps will help in some small way to someone who wants to do the same. You can view a quick video I took when our group reached the bottom of the 5 Rise. Sorry for the bad camera work.

https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/daredevil-lancashire-dad-sail-three-26817467?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target This chap is sailing the Atlantic in a homemade craft. He described it will be like being in a wheelie bin on a rollercoaster for 90 days. Incredibly it also has edible walls! Hopefully he doesn’t have any accidents on said walls - considering what happens on rollercoasters alot. If this is possible to cross the Atlantic in a craft resembling a dust bin, surely it’s possible in a narrow boat? Few modifications, some outriggers and the walls plastered in porridge oats and peas!

All that's needed is to make the Severn navigable up to Pool Quay, put a link in to the Montgomery Canal and reopen the closed bits of that, then you could get that way to Llangollen. And while you're at it, put in a link to the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal as well.

Another unsusual type was the replica Bridgewater canal tugs put together by John Rickaby in the 80's. They had Kelvin engines in a front engine room with hyrdaulic drive. I was offered one of the boats (wooden cabin steel hull) complete with Kelvin for a very good price but the cabin seemed to dodgy. Someone bought it and tidied it up, tool the Kelvin out and I think it has a Beta Marine or something in it now. Quite nice I think there were possibly three of them built. Frodsham was the one for sale on the Wey a few yars ago for a very attractive price. [img]https://boats-from.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/large2/public/products-images/2017-10/103307/103307-92924.jpg[img]

Hope he arrives in the right week. Fortnightly collections and all that nonsense.

Tied with two lines as you describe, when a boat passes you surge forward. This means the stern lines comes tight and holds the back in, but the fore line slacks slightly allowing the bow to move out. As the surge reverses you get the opposite reaction. With springs, although you still surge forwards the bow and stern still remain tight to the bank, and as you surge back the same reaction. To explain further, as you surge forwards the stern line will tighten, but so will the forward spring, and then the converse. So although the boat will still move slightly forwards and backwards you will no longer have one end or the other swinging out and bouncing back in. Although you may think your two lines are as tight as they can possibly be, the water level will change slightly as a boat passes which will immediately mean they are less tight (or more, depending upon the relative levels) Tam

Did they make it further than you’ve ever been and if so does that mean you’ve got to back for another try? 😂

Have CaRT replaced this with sign with something easier to read? 😄

How about this

Yes, well I did set off , purposefully, with windlass in hand only to find Fernando had decided to come with me, so I had to take him back! I"ll try to walk back to the river lock. I know the lock ahead of me has got problems with one of its paddles, but as that is uphill, I'd imagine it s not causing the problem. Seems this is normal on the Huddersfield Broad not far from Lock 1.

All the contemporary books on canals I have read suggest that one of the reasons for investing in canals was to reduce the number of horses and men then in use on road transport. This would allow them to be used in agriculture and thus improve the food supply to the growing population living in towns. As one horse could easily pull 50 tons on inland waterways, while they would be lucky to move one ton by road, canals could have been the cause of fewer horses being required, though the increase in tonnages being carried has to be set against this. Most railway expansion also took place at least 25 years after the Napoleonic wars had ended, by which time I would have thought the horse population would be well on the way to recovery. After the 1st WW it does not seem to have been worthwhile returning many army horses to Britain, and they were left for the French to eat. (That's a joke, honest)

Ours is up the top and is a lot longer than usual ones and reaches the bottom (27" ?).... i suppose advantage is i can change ours without draining the tank..

I blame Findus.

Well I don't think the OP is expecting anything to be free. She's talking about what's expected to be included in what she's paying for. And as we've all said, that depends on what was agreed (or not in this case). It sounds like the OPs sailaway cost included delivery under the agreed payments, it just wasn't craned off the lorry as part of that. My sailaway was delivered and craned in without any additional payments. That was 18 years ago. I might be wrong but from memory I can't recall reading anything in the terms and conditions about cranage into the water being included, so I guess the same thing could easily have happened to me and like the OP I wouldn't have been happy. One assumes delivery means delivery to the water or land, but this broker could just add easily argue that it doesn't. I think I'd be asking to see the relevant terms and conditions in the contract that the broker is basing this additional charge on. I'd just be pointing out that perhaps in the context of the tens of thousands of pounds being paid to the broker for the boat & delivery, the additional charge for cranage is a bit unreasonable. You can only ask - without becoming confrontational.

I can't think of any boatyards that don't charge for craning onto or off a trailer. I don't think you've been scammed, and it's still going to be a lot cheaper than leaving it on the trailer and parking that on the hardstanding!

We carried our own air horn but fortunately never had to use it. We did break down in Harecastle Tunnel once but that was on a hire boat. Luckily we were not too far inside the tunnel. We had run out of diesel and the hire company wanted to know if we had been to Timbuktu with the boat. They did not admit that they had not filled up after the previous hirers. We managed to get to David Pipers? Yard and get a couple of jerry cans of diesel but had to use a traffic cone as a funnel.

I'm with @cuthound on the subject of beers that aren't what they once were. Simply because there are a number of beers that literally aren't the same despite the fact they carry the same basic branding. Principal among these are Ruddles County and Bass. Both these days brewed in a different brewery to the original to a different recipe, and both much the worse for it. Some of the best beer I ever tasted was when we could knock on the door to the get the landlord of the Station Inn in Derby to open up whenever we had finished work and he'd bring a jug of Bass up from the cellar, accompanied by complementary bowls of heavily salted peanuts. Doubtless being a resident of the Midlands @cuthound also suffers the annoyance that every pub in some villages is a Marston's house which will offer you the same choice of no less than four average-at-best-on-a-good-day brews, at least two of which will have once been a regional favourite - albeit possibly good, bad or indifferent - that is now homogenised and blandised* for national consumption. At least in my part of the Midlands the Marston's houses tend to sell Banks's products amongst their offerings. Young's beers are different from how they were, but I think also branded slightly differently although they still carry the Young's name. Realistically they are now Charles Wells beers brewed in Bedford rather than Wandsworth and I'd say that back in the day the stuff that came out of the Ram brewery was nicer than what came out of the Eagle brewery. But overall yes there are lots of good beers available today - just not in some Midlands villages - and no one should bemoan the loss of some long established brewers. I think Sheffield had five breweries when I lived there over 30 years ago and they're all gone. Replaced by a much better smaller enterprise or two. * - I'm aware that I've almost certainly made this word up but correcting posters that write things that while erroneous make perfect sense is really bad form.

There was a pub boat a year or so back. I saw it moored in Hungerford . Customers weren't allowed on board...they set up on the tow path.

Curious, I can only find references to the valve clearance being 7 to 9 thou on that engine. Run the engine with the rocker cover off and try sliding a 3 thou feeler between each rocker and valve in turn to see if the noise reduces.