Scholar Gypsy

I guess that's the most appropriate sign they have. Still no sign of funding for this work.

I think you have two options: * buy a normal CRT licence for 6 months, get a refund, and then visitor licences for the Nene (I think you can buy in person at Northampton marina, 7 days is ample) and the Middle level (2 daily passes will be enough) * buy a gold licence and an Anglian pass, and then claim a refund once you arrive. You may be able now to get a gold for less than 12 months. Once you are on Cam Conservancy waters, then if you want to visit the Great Ouse system (ie north of Bottisham lock) you'll need an AP. This may be of more general use: https://goba.org.uk/a-guide-for-visitors-to-the-east/ to dig out the daily rate and do the sums. The MLC will check your licence at Stanground (Peterborough).

St Pancras Cruising Club are organising another of their regular Thames tideway trips on the weekend of 5-7 June 2026 (starting with a briefing session at Limehouse on the Friday evening). As well as the core voyage from Limehouse to Teddington, the optional extras will include a voyage through the Thames barrier, and an early Sunday morning downstream transit from Teddington or Brentford to Limehouse. We particularly welcome those who have not yet done a trip on the tideway. If you want to join as crew/passengers, then this may also be possible. To register your interest please email tideway@stpancrascc.co.uk as soon as possible, and we will send you further details. Applications close at the end of February.

Yes, I agree it's not a hugely convincing line, they are really joint assets that deliver both navigation and flood control benefits. In that sentence I was talking about summer (low flow) conditions. There is an even more bizarre standoff at Brandon on the Little Ouse (recent FBW event), where the flood defence team used the lock (reversed) to discharge flood water, filled the lock up with silt, and then the navigation team is expected to pay to remove the silt to make the river navigable again!

Thanks. There is an interesting debate going on in the Fens where the EA are classifying most weirs and sluices as navigation structures rather than land drainage structures. This affects which budget picks up the bill for repairs. In a sense that classification is sensible (if a weir failed in summer it would not create a significant flood risk downstream). But if an automatic sluice fails to open properly (eg St Ives, Brownshill, to name but two) then that could cause flooding upstream in times of high flow. The algorithm for the strong stream alerts on the Nene and Great Ouse is rather more opaque than the one you describe above!

Thank you. I am still trying to work out what predictive text has done here: "they are twisted to the smooth of feet of weir gates are open"

I use gaugemap a lot, in particular the flow gauges which I find more useful on Fenland waterways and on the Thames. Many of the level gauges are sited just above weirs, and so really just tell you if the weir & automatic sluice (which is designed to hold the water level constant) is operating correctly. Level gauges that are just below a lock are more useful, as if they are above "normal" then that tells you if there is a flow on, ie a difference in height between the top end of a reach and the head of the lock downriver. (this requires some sums to adjust the datums). There are four flow gauges on the Thames: Farmoor https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Detail/1001/1037 Sutton Courtney https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Detail/1043/1094 Maidenhead https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Detail/1132/1230 Kingston https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Detail/1249/1382 Annoyingly a couple are not working at the moment.

And even the route of the river through Ely is manmade - it was diverted to enable delivery of the stone to build the cathedral ... Another vote for Tuckeys and Westview.

I read something from a Committee member recently: they hope to publish GOBA news before the end of 2025.

I have my main tunnel light at the stern. That way it illuminates what you need to see - the position and direction of the boat relative to the walls - and not what you don't need to see (500 metres ahead). There is a low power light at the bows to avoid confusing oncoming boats. And here it is in Blisworth (no flash used!). When another boat approaches I just turn it to the right.

I tend to drain mine in the depths of winter. I have added a pump that is connected to both sides of the calorifier. (There is also a valve W that goes round the TMV in the hot circuit). Here's a schematic. The drain pump can also be connected to a pipe to pump out the cabin bilges, rarely used. There is no NRV on the inlet to the calorifier, one has to remember to open the hot tap in the galley to let air in. Most of the draining is done with C open, and B and D shut. There is also a "winter mode" which enables you to run the cold water system but not the hot. It takes five minutes to drain the calorifier and five mins to refill it when I arrive on the boat And here is a picture of the drain pump, and valves C D E and F. I am sure you can work out which is which.

To answer the question, hire boats are no longer allowed onto the tideway (downstream of Brentford). The way this has been achieved is through tougher construction standards for hired boats on the tideway, which are almost physically impossible to achieve with a narrowboat design. At the same time (more or less) Black Prince closed their hire base at Willowtree marina on the Paddington Arm, partly due to this and partly due to the perceived/real difficulty of mooring in Central London. The change was made following an incident at Hammersmith bridge, where a boat went the wrong side of the Dove Pier buoy and got pinned against some rather large houseboats & had to be rescued by the RNLI. There was a video about this on the RNLI website, but since they reorganised their website I have not been able to find it. I have once been asked by the Harbourmaster if the boat I was crewing on was a hire boat!

Ashline is still user operated. However the shrouds have now all been removed so an ordinary windlass will do the job there (and at Marmont Priory, now also user operated).

Here's a 2016 thread. I've had no problem since then https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2016/11/05/blacking-and-no-more-singing/

Nice to see this. I have to say that the river gets even better further downstream, pretty much all the way to Peterborough. Good moorings for shopping in Wellingborough, though I try to avoid stopping overnight due to a very noisy flour mill (which used to be served by narrowboats).