Alway Swilby

To be fair before it says Top paddle lock it also says lock 11 which does give us a bit of a clue as to which lock is the faulty one. It's not as though we were left in the dark.

Its a long way from Stoke Prior to Atherstone. Canal plan says more than 4 days at 7 hours per day.

There's an outstanding notice about this. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/17757-near-ratcliffe-lock

4 boats turned up at Bugsworth today and one of the permanent mooring boats has left. NB Alton is expected.

But they wouldn't have upgraded the towpath afterwards! Canal & River Trust has agreed with National Grid that the towpath surface will be upgraded and, where possible, widened to a minimum width of two metres.

Just out of interest what happens to the poo that gets washed out?

I have no need to DMOR because I don't have a sea toilet.

But it doesn't apply to pleasure boats, or to visiting boats, or to a number of other excluded categories listed in S124. The byelaw has to mention houseboats explicitly as, when they are moored, they don't need a licence. There may be some houseboats that would need a licence if they moved. The latest 2017 version of the Water regulations : The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 UK Statutory Instruments 2016 No. 1154 SCHEDULE 21 Paragraph 3 Meaning of “water discharge activity” 3.—(1) A “water discharge activity” means any of the following— (a)the discharge or entry to inland freshwaters, coastal waters or relevant territorial waters of any— (i)poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, (ii)waste matter, or (iii)trade effluent or sewage effluent; (b)the discharge from land through a pipe into the sea outside the seaward limits of relevant territorial waters of any trade effluent or sewage effluent; (c)the removal from any part of the bottom, channel or bed of any inland freshwaters of a deposit accumulated by reason of any dam, weir or sluice holding back the waters, by causing it to be carried away in suspension in the waters, unless the activity is carried on in the exercise of a power conferred by or under any enactment relating to land drainage, flood prevention or navigation; (d)the cutting or uprooting of a substantial amount of vegetation in any inland freshwaters or so near to any such waters that it falls into them, where it is not reasonable to take steps to remove the vegetation from these waters; (e)an activity in respect of which a notice under paragraph 4 or 5 has been served and has taken effect. (2) A discharge or an activity that might lead to a discharge is not a “water discharge activity”— (a)if the discharge is made, or authorised to be made, by or under any prescribed statutory provision, or (b)if the discharge is of trade effluent or sewage effluent from a vessel. (3) In determining whether a discharge or an activity is a water discharge activity, no account must be taken of any radioactivity possessed by any substance or article or by any part of any premises. If it doesn't apply to pleasure boats how come everytime I've bought an EA visitor licence the lockie has checked that I didn't have a sea toilet? I did ask the chap at Teddington once what would happen if I said I did have such a toilet and he said he would send me back downstream on the next tide.

We've moored at Horsenden Hill near Perivale a few times. Always been room. Handy for the Tube too.

Hurleston bottom lock has been rebuilt and the coal boat Mountbatten can get through. But Richard on Mountbatten says that the next lock up is a bit tight.

There are some navigations where it is the rule to leave the gates open. The River Wey and the River Avon (Warwickshire) are two.

The original Fernwood owners retired round about 2012/13 ish and I believe they sold the company then. The Fernwood that went into administration "a while back" wasn't the Fernwood that built NB Whitefield.

If you cruised every day of the 13 full days available you would have to do 4 hours 40 mins per day (according to Canalplan). You would have a few more hours available on the first Saturday afternoon after pick up. I would say that is a perfect amount of time for cruising each day. On the way you could visit the Secret Nuclear Bunker at Hack Green There's an industrial museum at Etruria (Stoke on Trent) but I've never seen it open. Wedgwood have a Factory visitor attraction at Trentham south of Stoke. There's lots of pubs on the way (if they've opened by then), not to be missed is the Anchor at High Offley, a completely un-spoiled canalside pub but don't go there expecting food!

Canalplan reckons about 7 hours for thr trip, assuming you are starting above Office Lock and go up the staircase lock and the next one then turn round.

We use Waterway Routes which run on the Memory Map format. We found them very accurate and up to date. I use it on Android as well as on a Windows laptop, presumabmly Memoryy Map also runs on an apple.