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Our boat has been at Glascote Basin since last November where it is being repainted to a very high standard by the team at Norton Canes Boatbuilders with experienced supervision provided by Sarah Edgson. There is more information on our website here. We did start repainting 'Alnwick' in 2005 but for many reasons, progress slowed when we had completed the outside of the back cabin. By 2016, we decided that the paint we had purchased more than ten years earlier was by then too old to use!

As one of those young whippersnapper new liveaboards people love to moan about, I'd say we've done pretty OK over the last 90 days...

Only because after Terry Darlington made it sound dangerous in his book (it wasn't), no-one would insure narrowboats crossing the Channel any more. We did take Snail out to sea in Europe a few times where she behaved very well, even in chop. Unlike Chris Coburn who has achieved all kinds of exploits in his very ordinary nb, we had ours especially made with a 15mm bottom plate, ballast cut to fit so they couldn't slide, 67hp engine, PRM260 gear box, large prop (22x22), double sized skin tanks, all portholes, trad stern, tender that was always available for use if needed, easy to tow along behind on the big European waterways. Snail easily makes 10 kts, (we tested this on the Gent-Terneuzen Canal,built in 1823 which is 200m wide and capable of accomodating ships up to 125,000 tons, with a draught of up to 12.5 m) not a lot of use now we've come back to the UK canals. My blog and book illustrates what's achievable.

Ah, almost every sensible contribution to a debate needs a bit of racism to spice it up, doesn't it?

As did ours. I would absolutely say that a sacrificial link (cable tie) saved us from a potentially serious incident.

This is not a description of the canal, no more than of its history - those you can find easily elsewhere. It is an indication of the vessels you could have expected to meet on a transit of it during August 1990. It is about boats and ships, with the waterway in the background. Most of the vessels I will describe have gone. Since I have no idea whether it will be of interest I will start with just a couple. If there is interest I will go on. If not, no great harm done. We start at the sea lock at Corpach on the West side. Just around the corner, beyond the lighthouse, ships would come into the loch to load timber from the forests nearby. But in this case it is a fishing boat, the Smallwood, which is coming into the lock. Looking for lobsters, and having gone aground, she is going across to the East coast, for better luck. In her bridge, the skipper has a print out of his sonar, which shows a large dark shape far below on Loch Ness. Was it Nessie? or a shoal of fish? He thinks it is Nessie. He says he thinks it is Nessie.The Smallwood, a trawler built of steel in Ramsey, Isle of Man in 1966 had had successful days -" in 1984 Smallwood and Bahati hauled 1800 boxes of cod. They had to tow the net into Stonehaven and it took 30 men 3 days to gut them all." By 1991 she no longer appeared in the registers. Locking up with Smallwood in the Corpach flight, the Vic 32. Built in 1943 by Dunstans of Thorne, one of the 63 VIC type puffers built for the Ministry of War Transport on the lines of the Lascar of 1939. A steam lighter powered by a water tube boiler, she is thought to have worked out of Corpach for a while, taking ammunition from barges and supplying the Atlantic fleet at St Christopher's naval base. Also at Scapa Flow delivering aviation spirit, and as a day boat at Rosyth until sent to Inverkeithing in the 1960s for scrapping. Bought by Keith Schellenberg to serve his private island, and then by Nick Walker who operated her from 1975 to 2002. With a crew of mate, cook, engineer and general help, he took hundreds of people, steam enthusiasts and some not quite enthusiasts, all around the Western Isles and up and down the Caledonian Canal in clouds of sooty black smoke. A master at melding people together, he had to be. In 2002 he gave the Vic 32 to the Puffer Preservation Trust and I believe she is still operational as the last steam puffer. And passing along the canal, just after the last castiron swing bridge in its two halves, a bright red hulled fishing boat the Green Brea. Built in 1973 as the Laurisa BA145 by Herd & McKenzie at Buckie for one Jimmy Gibson, a herring trawler of 54 feet, powered by a 230 hp Gardner diesel, of wood. Of her, said that we can now put a man on the moon but we cannot make the likes of her. A photo of her launch. She lasted in to this century and to I think 2010. Right, that will do for now. If there is interest, I will go on a bit further.

I didn't carefully avoid your question I meticulously ignored it.

That's not really a useful thing to say. The fuel itself is carbon neutral. It's a wholly unreasonable standard to state that the entirety of the energy grid and transportation needs to be carbon neutral before any of the products it touch can be carbon neutral. I consider all biofuels to be effectively carbon neutral, because they are part of a closed loop carbon cycle. Grow plants - absorb carbon - burn plants - release carbon. The truth is a little more complicated than that, but that's the basic principle. Possibly there was biomass growing before the biofuel plants, and possibly that was slightly higher in carbon content (e.g. rainforests). Possibly the biofuel was created with energy derived from fossil sources. Possibly it was transported with fossil fuels. But all of those things serve to muddy the waters. The problem with your objection is that it equates HVO and mineral diesel as "both not carbon neutral", but the difference is that while both diesel and biofuel takes energy to produce and transport, burning the diesel itself is the primary source of carbon in the one, and burning the HVO does not itself contribute carbon. This is exactly the type of obfuscation that is employed by the oil companies and others with a vested interest in fossil fuels, which is why I must protest. THIS IS DONE DELIBERATELY in order to try to distract people from the basics, which is that growing and consuming biomass is ultimately carbon neutral. There's only one major contributor to carbon, and that's the mining of fossil fuels and other carbon-containing minerals (for example limestone for cement). If we ceased the mining of carbon containing minerals, carbon neutrality would naturally follow, because all other carbon is part of the carbon cycle. It's really as simple as that, so whenever I find someone talking about farming or burning wood or anything else being "bad for the environment", I try to point out that these issues are trivial in comparison to the biggest problem - that humans are increasing atmospheric carbon concentration to prehistoric levels through the release of prehistoric carbon.

Mine attached itself to a bolt sticking out so I don’t think it could have rolled out of the way.

Plenty of water in the Huddersfield narrow 💦😁

My perspective, and that's all it is. We are leisure boaters with a home mooring. We boat within the rules, so that defines a range, particularly since a lot of our boating is limited to a weekend at a time.We have had our mooring for nearly three years. In that time, I have become aware of three boats operating outside the rules. I have spoken to the owners of two of them (not about the rules, just a general conversation). One has not moved in the time we have had our mooring. It has holes in the hull and is on the edge of complete collapse. I do not know specifically whether it is licenced or insured, but it looks likely that it is not. The owner has no particular means of financial support, and upgraded to this from living under a tarpaulin in the woods. If you were to pass the boat, you would identify its condition, but there are no other signs of how long it may have been there. The boat is in an isolated spot, well away from amenities and is in no way causing an obstruction or adversely affecting other users. There is nothing on the towpath and the area is neat and tidy. The owner is likely to be seen outside the boat and give you a cheerful wave. In a purely commercial sense there is non-payment of a fee due but practically speaking the fee would be derived from the government (ie taxpayer) and there is no use of resources or observable negative impact on either other users or the surrounding environment, so I feel that pragmatically there is no advantage to be gained in changing the status quo. The second is a grp cabin cruiser. It would not particularly catch anyone's attention on passing - a bit patched up on the plastic windows and it must be very cold. It moves (the outboard is fitted) but definitely not far enough to 'satisfy the board' although it does not overstay at any particular location. Again, the choice of moorings is rural locations, mainly near bridges, because the owner has a child at primary school (who does not live with them) and stays close enough to regularly see them. They are not compliant, but they are doing the best they can and again are not having a negative impact on other users or the surrounding environment, and I cannot see another reasonable option so again, pragmatically I see no advantage in changing the status quo. I have not met the owner of the third boat. This is moored much closer to amenities and is occupying a location where visiting boats moor adjacent to it or a regular basis, although the area is not so heavily occupied that a visiting boat could not find a mooring. The boat is newer and in better condition. The owner has begun to fill the towpath adjacent to their boat with sacks of coal, a large cargo bike etc. This boat is just beginning to annoy me because its owner appears to have a sense of entitlement to behave in this way. Another boat in the area creates a similar general impression but is on a residential mooring on the offside bank where they have permission from the owner to store coal etc. and I compare what these two boats are contributing/taking. The first two boats do not create the same impression as the third. I don't think this is because I have had conversations with their owners, I think it is because the first two owners have taken a conscious choice to minimise the impact on others of the situation which has been imposed on them and the latter has not. I have had no personal dealings with NBTA, but the press content they issue has this similar sense of entitlement which is what grates with me. Alec

The term "CMers" is applied to rather more than the relatively small band of boaters who have no intention of moving in accordance with their licence. I've also never known anybody on CWDF - even in the days when it had a far larger and more diverse representation of boaters than it now does - support blatant overstaying. The vast majority of liveaboard boaters without a home mooring operate in a manner that CRT deem sufficient to fulfil licensing requirements. If you are spotted in the same location on two consecutive occasions more than 14 days apart you will receive a reminder of your obligation to keep moving. The entry level of the enforcement regime does work and it serves to keep boaters moving, because ultimately the majority want to renew their licence. A lot of folk would do well to leave CRT to go about their business and work on the assumption that if boats are on the water they are licensed and compliant. The lack of an up to date licence displayed on a boat is not an indicator that a boat isn't licensed. Nor does a boat that gives the the appearance of looking well settled in, or with a rear deck from which it might look impossible to steer - mean the boat never moves. As someone that cruises long distances on a near weekly basis and uses visitor moorings as my preferred option for mooring I can say I rarely find it difficult to moor and if I do it will be because boats have occupied the site, not any particular sort of boat or boater. In any case how do you know which boats on a visitor mooring have a home mooring and which ones don't? My experience of boating in the Home Counties is that liveaboard boaters tend to avoid visitor moorings. Something I see another boater has also mentioned. Of course it's perfectly acceptable to argue that the rules - or the enforcement - should require more movement than they do, but that does not make it OK to apply a derogatory term to those who would be impacted by such. It's a complex subject that involves outside influence and agencies and any serious debate should treat the affected persons with respect - a mark of tolerance in itself - and that means using the correct terminology. I don't like the term "CCers", it has no legal basis and misleads folk as to what they think is required of others. Unfortunately CRT use it themsleves. The use of the term "CMer" belies prejudice and undermines the point of view of the person using it.

If you think the UK can do anything whatsoever to prevent wars, especially after doing its best to bust a local alliance, declaring its willingness to break international law and its opposition to any general definition of human rights, you really need help. We'd be a lot better off having a nice well kept water park to play on while the rest of the fools play games.

And best of all, mebbe we'd have fewer of Higgs' half-baked arguments about it! On reflection, probably not.

We tried out the boat last weekend, it worked well but was uncomfortable with the fixed seating. Also the bathroom doesn't have a shower and is very dated. So yesterday I removed the bathroom and part of a wall to make it 1300mm square, I will install a shower tray but make the whole floor waterproof. The sea toilet is removed and will be planted over. Some wiring needs sorting in there as it's to thin. I am removing a small porthole and fitting a 12 volts extractor fan. Also some more insulation will be installed as its 1 inch polystyrene currently! The walls will be wall board the plastic stuff, its 2 layers so provides some insulation. The toilet will be a composting one again as mine has been extremely successful in the big boat. She also passed BSS on Wednesday and will be getting pulled out on Thursday next week for hull painting etc and survey. I also bought 3 x 410 watt solar panels from City plumbing 60 squids each, so the windscreen will be removed and they will be fitted on the wheelhouse roof after its painted of course. I have also opened up the water tank to check it out, its actually in good condition. I have ordered paint and will be sorting it out this week. The boat also is due out on Thursday for hull painting and a survey so things are moving on. I think this brings us up to date? I have a video of us cruising but cant post it which is a shame

Since we have relocated our "winter canal" from the K&A to the Rochdale I have very much changed my thinking about "short distance CC'ing. Canals need boats, amd especially they need good boaters. A good boater is anyone that adds a bit of life to te canals and does not antagonise the locals. The only real issue is massive overcrowding that prevent other boates from visiting the area, and even this is a relative sort of thing. Trying to encourage or even force boats to move a longer distance is not a good way to tackle congestion. CRT are a bit limited by the waterway act but with a bit of thought and luck there are probably better approaches. Some places are popular and will always be busy even without over stayers. Stone springs to mind. I am with Goliath on this, its ok if its difficult to find a mooring, or a long walk to the pub, its only a real problem if you go somewhere and there is just nowhere to moor. Visiting places that are popular and rammed, and then moving to the lonely widerness, is all part of the fun.