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My wife spent her early childhood in two of the railway "camps" along "the line" Her father was a track fettler. These "camps" were about every 50 miles along the line, as the track as originally laid, and to well after WW2 was fairly light rail lightly ballasted, on wooden sleepers, required constant maintenance. The first camp she lived in , Reid in Western Austalia, was about 12 standard houses, and a one roomed school. And a watering point for the steam locomotives that served until the mid nineteen fifties. She remembers diesel locomotive GM1 making it's inaugural run. All supplies including drinking water were bought in by train, normally the weekly "tea and sugar" train. After mistaking kerosene for drinking water, both were stored in butts in the rear lean to, she, and her mother were evacuated from here, to the hospital in Cook, mid line, 120 miles away, first by motorised track maintenance trolley, and then by the 1929 studebaker inspection car. Reid was at that time out of range for the flying doctor. Reid in the a1950's with the shool and the school teachers house "out the back". Photo from Eric Mccrum who taught there not long after Val left. Apart from a crossing loop nothing remains at Reid now. They then moved to Cook a much bigger settlement with a telegraph station, bigger school and hostel for crew changes. Here she remembers being taken upstairs in the two story school building to watch an elephant from the Worth's Circus train making a bid for freedom, after the train made an overnight stop to attend the animals. The elephant eventually stopped, looked around and decided there was just miles and miles of b**** all around, and so allowed them to escort it back to food and water. And the train. She later, in the early 1980's used to overnight monthly at the Cook Bush Church Aid Hospital when on the clinic runs for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. One patient retrieval from there, a telephone linesman who had fallen from a pole, they transported on a hospital door, after sawing one end off it, to fit into the beechcraft barron aircraft. A bit of here change for her from there, to exploring most of the English inland waterways.

Yep keeping the same colour, nope not selling up. We just love Clarrie and think she deserves a proper paint job. Gosh, the secret is out. We do intend to do the 24 hr challenge, I know this will horrify the boaters who normally win. Looking forward to 2026 24 hr thingy wots it.

We pulled up outside the Pyewipe Inn on a busy sunny Saturday afternoon. Both jumped off as usual and immediately got chatting to friends and both assumed the other was dealing with the ropes. Nope. Neither of us had. Boat had drifted out and sat merrily just out of reach of the bank No sure that counts as being cast adrift though as it was never secured to the bank in the first place

Thanks for your reply. A little condescending, perhaps, but never mind. Actually, we have given composting a great deal of thought. I have a degree in soil science, and spent much of my working life making compost on the family plant nursery, and I am pretty confident that it can be done in plastic containers on a boat. Matty’s comments, which were far more helpful, confirm that it can be done successfully. And, for your information, I have spent many years walking the footpaths and towpaths of the Midlands, and nothing p….es me off more than seeing boaters’ rubbish (litter, mangled plastic that they have pulled off their prop, diy leftovers, little mountains of ash, etc) dumped in the hedges or on the towpath itself. So, no, I will not be leaving anything, or putting it in CRT bins.

This reminds me of my neighbour in the last house. He was always banging on the wall around midnight making a terrible racket. Fortunately it didn't bother me too much as I could barely hear him doing it, as I was usually practicing my drums around the same time.

We were untied in Banbury town centre once. The chap undid the stern rope and pushed us out. I woke up as I felt the boat move. Chap then proceeded to untie the bow and gave another big push. While doing this he fell in! Instant Kama.

That's why I take the trombone. For some unfathomable reason, I always get my full 150 yards to myself.

Glad you managed to give up the weed eventually! 😂

A knowledgeable voice from the towpath pointed at my HA2 as I passed. "Gardener?" He enquired. "No", I responded .. "Human Resources Manager".

When we got a share in our first share boat in 1992 several co-owners wanted to use Ecover products. However one co-owner was an industrial scientist who showed us that the ingredients Ecover claimed not to use were not present in the mainstream brands because they had been prohibited in the 1970's. His (and my) conclusion was that that many of the eco products were just "marketing bolleaux".

In the London Canal Museum we have a large (175 No.) number of pictures we call the E Bastow collection so I assume that they were taken by him. They were taken in June 1965 and showed progress of a trip around the waterways around London invl the Grand Union, Regents, Rivers Lea and Stort and the River Thames. It is a fascinating collection mainly for me showing the last days of barge traffic. Most of the pictures were taken from Grey Dove so there are lots of pictures of Grey Doves's roof but below are a selection of pictures of the boat. Tim

Beautiful as the boat is I would never aspire to own GORT. I am at the stage in life where I'm not too old to care but too old to cope. I can however enjoy a model of GORT. GORT has a special place for me as it is the first boat Mike H captained. A while ago now Mr. Catto allowed me into the aft cabin, a real treat!

The people who named Upton had an extra Up they didn't know what to do with, so stuck it on the on. The people of Henley had an extra up, but stuck it on themselves to become stuck up, rather than sticking it on the on.

I like it a lot, and I don't care what other people say. It reminds me of my boat, but better! A lot of it comes down to why you want to live on a boat. For me, it's exploring the canals, being close to nature etc. The boat itself is a means to an end. On that basis, I don't much care whether its a "clone" boat because I'm not all that interested in narrowboats per se. I have no interest in having an antique engine in an engine room and all that goes with that. I want something I can live with, week in, week out, year in, year out. That means: equipment that works, a comfortable living space etc. This seems very well thought out for a year round liveaboard. Plus points: Reliable engine. Centrally mounted stove. Back up source of heat (Diesel). Decent electrical system. Plenty of living space. Washing machine and freezer. Negative points: Boring paint job (can be changed if you want). Smallish water tank. (Could it be made bigger, or find somewhere for a second tank?) Composing toilet (Easily changed for a cassette if it doesn't work for you.) If it was in my budget, I'd at least want to view it in person.

By far the best bit of a boat in my opinion is the bow, to sit out in . The rest of the boat is for getting the bow somewhere nice,even in bad weather with a cratch cover on, you can enjoy terrible weather, storms rain , thunder storms lightening, all look and feel great from the bow. It’s the best pub in the whole of the canal system. I would not consider a boat without a cratch area to sit and enjoy.

"For this, the council (CRT) can prevent you from living in your home, even if you own it..." It's no good comparing Boats with houses. There is a reason why residential moorings cost thousands of pounds a year. Even on a residential mooring there is no security of tenure. For a start there is a byelaw (not enforced but it does exist) saying you must have express permission to use a Boat as a dwelling. Where does it say in the statute that anyone has a right to be living moored against towpaths in the first place? Does this right actually exist? The land is owned and managed by the navigation authority. They are the body in charge of what happens on their land. Deal With It. Someone may own their Boat as a chattel but that does not come with a right to keep it anywhere in particular. I'm sure people are not really so thick that they don't understand this. You don't get security of tenure living on a Boat. It doesn't happen. That is partly why it is so cheap. If you can't deal with the basic insecure lifestyle then leave the domain (polite version) as you do not belong there. CANALS NOT POLITICS. GO AWAY. "Despite determining the fates of roughly 10,000 people living aboard boats, there is denial within the CRT about its relationship to boaters. Some of its output suggests the trust sees the boaters as a nuisance rather than its responsibility, stating that itinerant boaters “created challenges” from an “operational, financial and reputational perspective” It is expensive to handle people living on the land owned by the navigation authority. Interferes with the amenity value and use of the waterways and adds an unnecessary cost burden. The operational efficiency and the best move is to get rid of these people. Yesterday. Beginning with the belligerent ones whose only aim is to bring politics and anti-authority views into the domain. These are not needed because without them there is not a problem. There never actually was a problem until all the squatters turned up and started shouting about it and having babies.

Yes, good broker, yes, seems good price for the year, do I like it...NO! It is the classic clone boat, no character, no real craftsmanship sticking the inside together...more shopfitted than built. The front ends are useless, and ugly... The interior is cheap white faced ply, the T&G isnt T&G, it is MDF sheets pressed into a T&G look sheet, kitchen oversized, which compromises the whole living area. Composting loo, where do you store your compost? For someone that hasnt seen a properly built narrowboat it's probably lovely/pretty/just like my flat in Harrow... but it will not be a good or cheap living experience. It doesn't matter who buys it, it will be back on sale in under 2 years.

They are, CRT collect it

If no one can help you with the flat belt tension here, then ask Beta, but you do not normally use a tension gauge on V belts. You tighten the V belt so that moderate finger pressure in the centre of the longest run gives a deflection of 10mm (1/2"). On a similar vein, it seems to be a fairly widely accepted rule of thumb that you tighten the flat belt until you can only twist the centre of the longest run through 90 degrees.

Yes, but only at minus 40 degrees.