Jim Riley

Come over the Rochdale, its grand! The only places not to stop are Newton Heath and Rochdale itself, as others have said. There are similar badlands on the L&L too, Armley Leeds,bits of Burnley and Blackburn. What's a few locks, it's a Canal! Plenty of places to stop, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Littleborough, have great shops for provisions. The scenery around the summit is amazing, more stunning than anything on the L&L. Go to the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. What? ME? Biased? Nah, I just live and moor near the top of the hill, Littleborough Summit. Ps, you can ask for the help of a volocky going down into Manchester, just ask CART. We got one last time we went through he was great, a good help.

About a mile and a half, about two kilometers, 5 mins in car, half hour walk. Hope that's clear, for the pedants. ? Then the work starts, locks either way, being moored at the top of the hill.

ReVolting joke . no doubt crim will have been lead astray.

How would you assess this? Since the majority of narrowboats have bss. You can't say how many would or wouldn't have burned out without the bss system. Perhaps the question should be "how many faults are found and remedied as a result of bss?" Billybobbooth seems to be saying the boat in question didn't have a bss.

Evidence for no BSS? Nowt in the press article.

you're a single (handed) boater?

There is a sani station before you get to eldonian, can't recall the name, but there is a fence and gate, next to a tesco. The docks are great, went at the end of summer.

And there's a lot of fuss and bother about people jumping off the boat, "it was removed as a safety precaution" or similar words from CRT. How is the open dockside in general not a similar issue. Arris fencing required all round maybe?

My boat is moored 50m from the border at Rochdale canal summit, on the sunny side. Border is easy to spot, a curtain of rain, mist and darkness on the eastern side of the line. Anyone need lancastrating?

Lorry turned left by me while I was on a pavement in Manchester t'other day. "Danger, Lorry turning left" repeated the lorry in a robotic fashion,as he approached the turn. Presume it was triggered by the left indicator.

I had a yoghurt pot for years, bought a project NB 2 years ago. Dry docked in hebden Bridge (£300 pw) got a survey done, set about blacking when it passed, with a couple of recommendations for welding. I used wire cup brush then 2 coats of intertuf, 3 on waterline. I also did the baseplate, mainly because the water level on my mooring goes up and down, sometimes end up dry under boat. It's due again in May, doing it myself again, interested to see what's gone on with baseplate. There is currently a small amount of rust on the waterline. It would be possible, when the pound is low and boat sitting in the dry, for the blacking faeries to sneak in and touch up the waterline, CRT rules say I couldn't possibly do that.

Re the proximity of locks, rural or close to housing, is it not the ones in between that are more problematic? Rural but close enough to housing to be accessed but far enough away not to be noticed when getting up to mischief, as in lock 62. I came thru lock 62 a couple of months back, there was a shrine with photo and flowers, a sad affair. There was a small group of 13yr olds lurking near lock 63, had a fire going under the railway bridge. The idiot amongst them threw a stone as we left! To the poster who was the butt of fowl (sic) language, did they tell you to cluck off? Edited because I can!

Went to have a read, "fireman couldn't go until cause was found". Suspect warmbeditis. Box ticked, off we go.

Ps, you don't need a fridge, use the bilge, plenty cool enough for milk etc.

I Had a Dawncraft 22 with a small pot belly stove in it, easily got warm and toasty, but as others have said, there can be problems generating enough power to charge batteries, especially with an older outboard. I have n outboard on my small narrowboat but it's a new ish 20 hp Honda that gives enough on a days cruise to top up the batteries. All my lights are led. Inboard engine would be better. Presume you are in hebden, (I'm moored near Rochdale Summit). I think CRT say a ccers must cruise over a range of 20 miles, I think that is achievable between Castleton, Rochdale and Sowerby or Elland or Brighouse, without going on the rivers. There are petrol stations regularly spread along that route, you are also on the train line. There's also an app for finding petrol stations for the phone.

Why keep hot ash, tip it somewhere wet, fill holes in towpath, fertilise the hedgerow etc.

Not with a splash of white spirit.

Where on earth is the rude full on rant in 6 lines of Alan's text? Could you highlight the rude ranty bits please?

If I'm banned I can always go to my other "mooring". Spank me matron, please. Ediot idit!

Phew! Got to the end, what fun! A few thoughts: Play swing bridge lotto, 1 point for a car, 20 for a bus, 50 for a white van, 100 for anything that does a handbrake turn and zooms back the other way. If you get out of the dark side into Lancashire, Barnoldswick is not "bar nolds wick" it's Barlick. If you need a haircut in Skipton my daughter has opened a salon on the High Street, Luxe Salon. She hates spiders too. We don't have a fridge, just a cool cupboard, with silver foil foam underlay glued everywhere but the bottom. And by the way, a well known fact, we all eat an average of 6 spiders a year, in our sleep.

No, he's the chap with a spade in his head.

When, through misfortune, he falls on hard times and they come for him?