Neil TNC

Hear hear!...MH basin is another place we avoid stopping in, just why do you need leccy for an overnight stop??? even Earnest's knackered old set of domestic batteries could go a couple of days moored up with going below 60% SOC. Does anyone know if the historic overnight charging for mooring at Boston (unless using Grand Sluice) still goes on?

I spotted your avatar Br115 / Lk38 T&M Stoke

I'll be back!...We did the HNC and got back to the Ashby in record time...just as well as we missed the Shepley Bridge Lock stoppage by 24 hours and did not get caught on Cromwell sand bank (CaRT seemed to be in denial of it's existance!) I spent a a day at Atherstone making N Bear Nest's gunwales all pretty again for Mrs TNC's inspection of the old tub at her new moorings.

We normally park at Br 44 and walk in. The last time in was to save Mrs TNC's legs (what with all her pet paraphernalia) on a crew swap, then we waited until she phoned to say the WP was empty and did the crew swap while filling with water.

My aunt did this on her moggy minor battery, expanding bracelet got welded between post and strap...even years later the skin grafts showed up.

It did not look to bad for it, when we passed a couple of weeks ago. I agree as well, I have not used anything but water and an old chamois leather on N Bear Nest's 13 year old paint.

It's gone to pot since we left to go north (of Watford Gap).

...well at least us three

"The Boating Baronet"

My advice with a fat boat is to limit the size to 60ft x 12ft 6ins, that way if the bottom falls out of the market for these craft, they will at least be saleable in Ireland as a go anywhere size.

Just as well we aimed to get there at HW (arrived in 7 hours, 3 inches off HW)...instead of our normal early arrival, when we left Keadby last week. It was not a big tide, we got out of Keadby as soon as flood kicked in, even then we hit the sand bar that appears to be accross the entrance to Keadby, about time this was cleared as well.

Mrs TNC's new whippet, Piper (don't ask how it gots its name) thinks any boat is fair game...including one that was pulling off!...fortunately the boaters were understanding, pulled in again and it then jumped back off.

We once had a young couple on the roof of N Bear Nest while moored at Castle Gardens VM in Leicester....from the noise we could only assume they were having sex.....we let them finish, then let them know there was someone on board...they then scarpered pretty quick. One morning we had an early start from Leamington VM...only to find there was some hobo asleep on the roof, so we just carried on!...after giving him a cuppa, he departed at Warwick. In Ireland we often get tourists wandering around the decks of Barge Maurice A, getting friends taking pictures of them on a jolly "Irish Barge".

That was also buggered when we went through. It had a stick on notice under the control flap with a local council mobile number to fone up. This number was instantly answered. They told us to operate the bridge and they would come out to shut it, so we could retrieve our BWB key. A van was there in minutes, bod opened control box and closed bridge, it did not delay us at all. As the railway line was shut beside the last bit of the S&K (due to the big land heave), the Vazon Railway side bridge was opened instantly. Martin Clark of the Pennine Waterways persuasion got the bridge keeper to do a closure of the bridge, while he was lineside....Martin was devastated as his camera battery chose that moment to be discharged.

I heard that it was the towpath side top gate heel post that collapsed. Inspection showed both gates to be rotten. We went through the day before. If we could not have used the quick Trent way back to Mrs TNC's new mooring we would have been in big trouble!

The bloody thing did exactly the same thing to us on 29/04/2013. CaRT men arrived afer 30 mins, went straight into cabin and lifted os bottom paddle up then down, said " something was stuck in it"!!! The they shot straight off and left us to our own devices. During the rest of our lock operation, the warning siren was sounding. They said this would go off eventually. I expect a limit switch is knackered.

I can't see you will be far off. Don't forget the 4ft 2ins outer height is at 7ft width, you have the gunwales and tumblehome to take off at roof height. I made a porto-gauge out of a bit of ply with foldy leggies (now disposed off as I have no intention of ever going through the rigmarole of getting NB Earnest through again!) I played for weeks in the boatyard with tons of pavoirs and water, to make sure it fitted. I was standing on the stern for the low parts of the tunnel....and only had to stoop down at a few points...there was tons of room.

AFAIK BW/CaRT discontinued their guide..so here is a copy of the old one. LinkyA Linky B If you fit this profile, you will fit the Park Head gauge...the DCT swinging one at Tipton is lower. The profile goes a lot on cabin tumblehome.

Allan, you said when you tried tracert the route was different. Are you intentionally, or un intentionally using a third party DNS server? Check duff router N/W connection on laptop by clicking on properties/Networking - right click on Internet protocol version4(TCP/IPv4) standard is: "obtain IP address automatically" - clicked "obtain DNS server address automatically" - clicked During the great CWDF server changeover, when DNS went back and forward, I used the Google DNS server to get issues quickly resolved. "use following DNS server addresses" - clicked Preffered 8.8.8.8 Alt 4.4.4.4 If your lappy connection is set to standard, you could try the Google DNS server to see if it makes any difference. I have still got my pc so connected. Third party DNS servers can slow some sites and downloads down, but I have not noticed any difference since I changed to Google DNS server.

Indeed, I did from an early age!

I'm sure sometimes they would not want to know. Many years ago I was bored steering down the Wigan flight, so started a spot of magnet fishing, with the aim of finding some more long throw windlasses or handcuff keys at the back of the lock chambers. The was one hell of a lot of junk down there. At one point something started to come up, that seemed heavier than a windlass....as the sawn off shotgun broke surface, I quickly flicked it off, not wishing to get the police crawling about!

Weed hatch bar, fell in with a pile of blanket weed. Wednesfield Junct BCN. Ray at R&D made us a new one for free. Mate Ed Mortimer knocked one of the side doors off one of the little UCC tugs on a bridge hole, when he was dredging the summit of the Chesterfield. Years later, he was with us when we last went up the Chesterfield and spent an hour in the bridge hole with Sea Searcher and keb to try to find it...he never did.

The only ladder left when we first did it in 1994, was in the breakwater bit of the wall, that was on its last legs and most of the decking of the breakwater was gorn. The pilots will now not use this "facility", to be picked up, so if you use a pilot from the Portishead to Sharpness section, you have to go in the marina. We have always found the Westminster to Bow Creek section of the tideway thrashy, it normally calms down beyond Bow Creek, down to Tilbury.