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I will admit my second foray into this (and I had a permanent mooring) ended when I got skin cancer - I woke up one morning in my lodgings, the wound from the op had become infected and I both looked and felt like a mouldy potato, suddenly all those needless luxuries of houses, toilets connected to mains sewerage, taps that never needed their tank filling, endless hot water etc - weren't luxuries any more. I was reminded of this last week when we took Juno out for the day - I was recovering from a COVID type bug and found everything hard work, the deft step on and off became a major climb, pulling the ropes (on a Viking 23!) felt like mooring a container ship. I watch Canal Boat Diaries with a nostalgic pain for the great journeys I have made, and I will go boating again, especially as SWMBO is keen for us to do this in retirement (for once it's not me suggesting a two-three month summer voyage) but I will always have a land base with mains services to retreat to!

You really should do some research on CRT finances. Boaters contribute only around a third of CRT's income -- and it doesn't even cover the cost of maintenance. A third comes from the government grant, so the walkers, paddle boarders etc are paying through their taxes. The final third comes from property, utilities etc

Me too, and lest anyone get gloomy over how illness might affect canal exploration, here's a pic of me on the towpath of the long disused Horncastle Canal - and that thing running to my nose is portable oxygen... I'm not going to let a little thing like chronic illness get in the way! (For those wondering - i stay in hotels with creature comforts)

hey if it weren’t for the boats passing fast I’d never get outta bed in the afternoon 😃

I'm not getting into that old argument - you pay for a home mooring and have the comfort, security and more often than not a range of facilities providing at said mooring be it canal side or marina, I'm just highlighting CRTs reasoning for charging CCers more. Yes, clearly it's to raise revenue but they've been very open at laying the claim that CCing involves providing year round facilities. All fine if they were *just* for boaters and not anyone who has a key. Like anything else, if you're paying for something exclusive, you want to ensure that *you're* the one gaining the benefit.

At least your addiction seems limited to boats. Mine is boats and the waterways they float on. Yes I'm a canalcoholic...

I sing back to them ‘you move too fast , you gotta make the morning last’ in a Simon and Garfunkle stylee 👍

I completely agree that it is addictive. We sold out boat last year (reluctantly) and won't be able to get another for the foreseeable. But I am still compelled to spend hours a week reading every thread about what size nut to use on an engine I've never even seen etc etc. I just can't stop. My name is Marianne and I'm a narrowboataholic 😫

I think some miserable old gits just can't go to bed until they've had a good moan about something! 😄

I was rather mortified to be sent this photo a few years ago... My excuse was that the previous day was a 14 hour cruise..

They really do make a big difference, it's almost as though they're designed for the job 🤔.

This surely is the crux of my point. There are 2 choices, one being to tie your boat up sloppily and expect everyone else to compensate for that by passing at a crawl. The other is to spend an extra 2 minutes tying your boat up properly and then not expect everyone else to pass at a crawl. Personally I think that following a strategy which doesn’t place a burden on other people is the better one, but other opinions are available!

I've often wondered about the people who shout 'slow down' at passing boats. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's cruised in tick-over by a long line of moored boats (Golden Nook being one such place where this happened) chatting happily to occupants, exchanging salutations etc., to be then confronted by a resident bellowing 'slow down'. Firstly, I can't actually slow down ... I can stop, but tick-over is the slowest I can travel. Secondly, the other two hundred boats I've JUST passed by were quite happy with my speed ... how can it be that only one out of several hundred (at Golden Nook) thinks I'm too fast ? I suspect the shouters have unhappy lives and need to vent in some way to release pent up anxiety and it's nothing to do with speed. Either that or the penny hasn't yet dropped about how how water moves in and around boats, and that the movement is actually what makes boating different from camping , and why most of us love it so much 😁 Rog

Me too. I actually like to feel my boat moving when boats go past. I was moored on a bit of bankside on the Thames near Boveney once, when a big trip boat came past very fast and that was a bit scary. I realised I needed to set up some springs and once I did that the next time it came past it was fine. Yours are in an open and obvious position which everyone can see and they have other options rather than walking on the gunwale. The ones that are trip hazards are next to cabin sides where people will be walking along looking at the handrail rather than the gunwale.

It may look that way but remember that towpath resurfacing etc is funded separately from outside sources specifically for the work in question. So these funds can't be used to fix leaky gates and faulty paddles etc.

My youngest daughter works for a conservation organisation in Scotland. They are dealing with hundreds of Giant Hogweed plants and those doing the work are wearing full protective suits with no skin exposed. I often use nappy pins and have never had a sound from them. Just make sure the rope is taught and if not using springs they run away from the boat foe and aft at 45 degrees.

It may not be important to you but it's very important to those that live and travel there, and is truly beautiful so important in its own right.

Well I have 820ws Well I have 820ws off solar panels and I only be using the inverter for tv charging phones and a microwave

Poly V belts should always be tightened with a positive movement device- usually based on a screw thread. For the long term benefit of the belt and the TP bearings it would be worth trying to replace the slotted alternator adjusting bar with a proper tensioner. Suitable eye÷ends and threaded rod (aka allthread or studding)can be found on e-bay and other websites. 8mm or 10mm rod should be suitable. N

The campsite at Pinewoods is very very nice but very very expensive. Still the most expensive we have stayed at. It was £51 a night when we went earlier in the year and although a bank holiday it wasn't the height of the season! (Just worth noting that they insist that vans must be registered as motor caravans on the log book as well. Not sure how they check this) There is a smaller private site called Mill Farm Holidays which is much cheaper. It's a working stables though so not really an option for us and our idiot dog!

I cannot understand your logic of saving money by buying several 240v to 12v converter bricks. So you have 12v battery bank charged how? You then run an inverter 24/7 with its inerrant standing losses and efficiency reduction to provide 240v so you can use thinner cable to feed several bricks with their efficiency losses to power 12v appliances? To save running some decent sized cables directly from the battery. Sorry, but I think that is a crazy way of powering 12v pumps etc. How are you going to make up the charge back to the batteries after you have wasted a load as heat doing 2 unnecessary voltage conversions?

This afternoon 2024 Bingley 5-rise L+L awaiting the last up-lock group of boats at 4pm - and the cafe above the locks Compare ##1971 5Jan1974 28Apr2004 (#2) 2May2004 20Jun2007 (#2) #Dec2008 28Jan2012 (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5) (#6) 3Apr2014 31Dec2018 8Jul2019 23Mar2023 30Jul2023 14Oct2023

And they use single mooring spikes in soft ground, often knocked in vertically or even leaning towards the boat, practically guaranteeing they'll pull out. And if they don't do this, they put them in with the loop towards the boat with the rope through it (instead of behind the spike) so the loop can get pulled off when the weak weld breaks... 😞 Maybe a condition of the license should be they attend a "mooring for dummies" class?