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Much like some of the posters in the original thread, which I have just read, I find this type of thread rather saddening. I have a longstanding interest in the history of canals, going back over 40yrs. I had Richard Dean's map of the BCN on the wall of my room at University, rather than the standard student posters, and still really enjoy poking around the backwaters of the BCN, have worked on restoration projects and I particularly like the quirky smaller boats - the tugs and the iceboats. I was therefore absolutely delighted when Oates came up for sale at a time and a price when we could take it on. Oates is a family boat. My wife, daughters and I all enjoy boating. We have a historic licence discount and as part of that I feel an obligation to take Oates to places where it helps form part of an attraction and allows other people to enjoy seeing it. We take it to Ellesmere Port, we went to the tug gathering and after the BCN Challenge we left it on the BCN for an extra couple of weeks so that we could take it to the Bradley festival, which had asked for historic boats which were available to attend (we were one of four). For reasons of travel logistics and mooring fees, going to Bradley actually cost more than the historic boat discount, but I don't mind that, it was good to take it to a worthwhile event. I don't deny enjoying being at these gatherings, but that isn't the only reason we go. We have set up an information board and usually spend quite a few hours standing by the boat, chatting to visitors about the boat and the engine, and if it ties in I am always happy to let people see it running, show the start-up procedure etc. At Ellesmere Port we have been up to the water point and it always gets a lot of extra interest from visitors to see a boat moving through the locks. Rather like some other short boats including Sickle, many people appear to assume that because the boat is short it is easy to manoeuvre and must be shallow drafted, but it isn't on either count. Being very deep, we do tend to create movement as we pass boats, but I take it slowly, although I don't always guess how long it will take to slow down correctly as it is dependent on channel depth. Mostly I get smiles, waves, nods and thumbs up from boats we are passing so people generally seem happy to see and hear us pass (they also talk to me but it is much louder on the stern than people realise and I can't usually hear what they are saying). As anyone who read my recent comment regarding previous experience with some historic boat owners would be aware, I have also experienced unpleasant behaviour. It is definitely not universal by a very long way, but it does exist, just as it does with all types of boat owner. We sometimes need to get on but that's not about being historic - for us, boating is restricted to outside school times so if we are on the boat for the weekend then we need to get somewhere specific to pick up a car and get the children home at a reasonable hour to get ready for school on Monday. The mindset which some people without time constraints have does not quite apply to us, but that has nothing to do with being historic. We are also pretty efficient with locks and swing bridges and we often catch someone else up on a flight and give them a hand. I have done the Wolverhampton 21 in 1hr 20mins in the past, with a crew of three, so when we came down a couple of weekends ago and the queue built up to four boats with us at the back, that was not ideal and it took nearly 3hrs, but we still got home at a fairly reasonable hour so no issues, but I will admit that I wasn't hanging about on the clear bits of the Shroppie. I can empathise with @beerbeerbeerbeerbeer's observations on comments about continuous cruisers. Just because you happen to have a particular type of boat or use it in a particular way does not automatically mean you conform to someone else's stereotype. Alec

Outside the Greyhound in 1968:-

Moored at Westport Lake, just had a few boats going past and all set our boat bouncing and banging somewhat. Were they going too fast? Not really. The mooring ring spacing is sub-optimal. So I have just been out and added a spring at the stern, ie taken a line forward to the next ring, and tightened the ropes properly so the boat can’t move fore/aft. Took about 2 minutes. Now another boat has just come past, fairly fast. Our boat didn’t move at all. How often do you see boats moored with a spring? Hardly ever. So I say that every person who shouts “SLOW DOWN” or even thinks of doing so, or likes to whinge about boats passing too fast on here, only does so because they don’t know how to tie their boat up properly. (With possible dispensation for being moored on pins).

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.

I feel this comment actually highlights the problem beautifully, a nothing event happened today where a boat had a minor cock up ( I presume, I wasn’t there they could equally have picked up a blade full and lost steerage) just like probably hundreds of other boats all over the system will have had minor cock ups today. Nothing was damaged, no one was hurt and the day carried on happily, lessons will have been learnt (which is the exact purpose of this training run) but it gets commented about on here, why, purely because historic boats were involved. Rich

Just completed the Curly Wurly and have to say I really didn't expect it to be that good. There's some really nice places and moorings. Hardly a linger-longer in sight which is quite puzzling considering the number of places they could spend a uninterrupted year or so. The two pubs we stopped at were also good. The 'Manor Arms' (thanks @beerbeerbeerbeerbeer ) and 'The United Kingtom' (HPA was top notch). Both pubs have good moorings. It is a bit weedy but a bit of reverse cleared the prop most times. The Perry Barr pounds were really low some empty. A call to C&RT and thanks to Mick the lockie for advice we managed to get both boats through. Mick even came out on his way home to make sure we were okay. If only the ground staff ran the show instead of the lightweight management.

I went today and enjoyed myself, had a chat to a few people, bought a few books. Pete Boyce's Tess Wharf was also open, which was interesting. Here's some photos:

I met John when he came through Bath, I lived there then, and corresponded with him at other times. I was particularly impressed with his humanitarian activities and his down the earth attitude, given he had made a reasonable sum running a logistics business he was always looking out for those less fortunate than himself - hence his ultimate involvement with refugees. RIP Cotswoldman, the world needs more people like you, and now we have one less.