Scholar Gypsy

I rather like the vehicle here, that used this bridge http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/port_meadow_halt/index.shtml This site also explains more of the history of this line. It is being given a new lease of life at the moment, as part of the new route from Oxford via BBicester to Marylebone http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/oxford-london

More (including quotes from various cruising guides): http://www.movablebridges.org.uk/BridgePage.asp?BridgeNumber=269

It is rather sad - here is some more info from the OPT. It implies that one option is (like the station in Rewley Road) to move it, to somewhere where it could be used. You are right there is now housing on the lines on either side. I remember going through the bridge on Boxing Day in the early 1980s. We just wandered up onto the tracks until we found a railwayman, and five minutes later two of them arrived to wind the bridge open. Her's another rickety rail swing bridge - I was amazed to find that it still moves. (Boston)

I would agree - I was up there a couple of weeks ago. Lovely canal but not enough boats using it. As a matter of interest, did you get through lock 47? I got a bit stuck and decided to turn around, rather than try and force my way into the lock and get really stuck. [i have reported to CRT, who will take some measurements in due course].

I reckon there are several concepts here: * owner, who organises things like insurance etc * skipper or master, who is in overall charge at the time of the safe & effective operation of the boat * steerer, who has their hand on the controls (engine & tiller) As people have commented elsewhere, there may be occasions eg operating a lock, picking up a mooring buoy, dropping an anchor etc, talking to other boats or a harbour master on the VHF, where a fourth person takes control. That will depend on the way the particular boat is operated eg the skipper may allow the navigator/radio operator to give instructions direct to the steerer, or may insist they go via them. In my experience (mainly on tidal Thames) both systems are fine. What matters is that everyone on board knows what the system is.

I have added some (rather more enterprising) extra links to my page - to TNC (2005), and Keeping Up (2006), which suggest respectively that full length boats can either: carry on under the further bridges, getting right to the end of the drain (ie the sluice into the Witham); or reverse a couple of hundred yards to the section before the wall starts. I agree with you, it did not look that appetising going under the bridge.

Just mime the action of using a bicycle pump: better still use one. You get sbout 30 secs on a full canister. I also have a small foghorn that you blow into, useful for scullers etc.

Steerer, for a narrow boat.

Good point re FOTRN. I am ashamed to say that I forgot to check last week if your modifcation upgrade to the Peterbrough water point was still in operation - see here. The Elsan point was operational.

now we are nicely off topic: I do recommend joining GOBA, not least for the mooring You'll probably need an Ouse key, if you plan to do the section up to Bedford. It's a special sort of lock handle/windlass And you'll need at least one of the EA keys (Abloy) not least to unlock the water points!

Elsan points are quite rare, though - if you need them. Denver, Ely, Cambridge, Earith, Buckden, Bedford.

I recently went downstream from Torksey to West Stockwith. The general consensus, from nearly all the sources I could find, was that I should leave an hour before HW Torksey. (ETA example here from Chesterfield Canal Soc] The lock keeper concurred. Two other narrow boats left at the same time, bound for Keadby, but going rather faster. Getting into Stockwith was fine, and this was on an 8m spring tide. We were preceded by a Dutch barge. Short video below. To arrive at HW Stockwith then I would have had to leave before low water at Torksey, and battle against the flood nearly all the way - say a five hour trip? I don't think I would find that a very attractive option.

Very neat! Does it also do the ironing?

That looks suitably complex. Mark II design will involve a motorised valve controlled by the washing machine..

This is what I had in mind, with 2 valves to control whether the machine gets warm or cold water. I think that with your arrangement the mixer might get confused if there is no hot being supplied, and try to shut down the cold input. You could have the machine plumbed in permanently, though I guess it would be prudent to shut both valves when it is not in use to reduce the risk of leakage etc. There may be three way valves (left, right, off) that would be even neater (and simpler to use).

More interesting than you might think. The record of my recent trip is here

I installed a mixer valve ten years ago, and it has worked flawlessly ever since. I set it up so we have (very) hot water in the galley sink, and warm water for the bathroom sink and shower. It is adjustable, with an allen key, but I don't think you would want to do that too often. I guess you want a couple of valves controlling the supply to the machine, so that you have one open to fill from the warm supply (thermostat controlled) and then you close that and open the one from the cold supply for rinsing. I can draw you a diagram if you like! Or you could use a three way valve I am sure to do the job more straightforwardly .... Don't forget that these mixers have one-way valves in, so if like me you are paranoid about draining the system in the winter you need to have some way of draining the pipes downstream of the mixer. I installed a bypass with another valve in...

I also moor in Ely - hope to meet up sonetime. There are good donut shops in Ely.

So in the end we used a little Husban, rapidly concluding that attempting to land it on a moving boat (even in a dead calm wind) would be too challenging, and one of the crew took a timelapse video with a Gpro fixed to the mast. The results can be seen here. Scroll down a page or so, I am still getting the hang of the software you need to process the output from the drone. I do want a Lily, when they come out next year .... Thanks for all the advice,

And here is the return trip from Boston to Wisbech. The onward trip from Wisbech to Dog-in-a-Doublet was interesting, but we made it. The previous post has some shots of the Witham Drains, which I much enjoyed.

Last time I was there someone had put superglue in the lock cylinder. Is there not an emergency stop button on the control panel?

We used a set of four Motorola walkie talkies on our recent Wash crossing. to keep in touch with the other two boats and with the navigator (down below). Very handy. I had an earpiece on mine, which caused some teasing. VHF was also handy - eg listening to the Kings Lynn pilots give the new pilot boarding point to an incoming ship, and to a yacht talking to Sutton swing bridge (unfortunately we fitted underneath it, so did not have to ask to have it opened .... )

According to the Ordnance Survey, which might be wrong ... the Old Bedford does indeed start at a sluice in Earith, just upstream of the New Bedford. No navigable access from the Great Ouse at this point. I call this channel A About 1km further north a small drainage channel appears, from the West, and then follows alongside. (This follows a parish boundary for a bit, and is wiggly, so may even be a natural watercourse!). I call this channel B a few km further north of Mepal channel B (which is now bigger, various other drains having joined it) has a name - "Counter Drain". A is still called "Old Bedford River" after one of the infamous kinks, you get to Welches Dam, where the Horseway etc joins on to channel B. a bit further north, channel B is now named "Old Bedford River", and channel A has changed name to "River Delph". See map attached. oldbedford.pdf. Channel A is the easterly one, channel B the westerly one. from here on, channel B flows on to Salters Lode, where it connects to the tidal Ouse via one of the shortest locks I have ever seen and channel A flows on and then across the Washes to Welmore Lake Sluice, which (if I understand the system) is used to discharge flood waters that have been dumped in the Washes (by opening the sluice at Earith). and as far as I can see there is now no physical connection between A and B - the name just hops from one to the other somewhere around Welches Dam. When built I am sure the Old Bedford was a single channel from Earith to Salters Lode - the 1723 map reproduced at the back of the Imrays Guide to the Middle Level certainly shows that. Paul at Salters said he has had an enquiry from a (very short) cruiser who hopes to use the lock soon, and see how far they can get up the Old Bedford. I don't think I will be trying it - he said the last narrow boat to attempt that section got about 200m. I think you (or is it Amy?) missed an opportunity here for the Ouse Washes festival - which looks to have been great fun, I was really sorry not to get to any of the events. You could have put some canoeists in at both ends of the Old Bedford and see if they meet up in the middle! ETA: there's a nice diagram (a picture is better than a thousand words etc) on Wikipedia here. It also explains why a dam was built at Welches Dam ...

The lockkeeper at Dog in a Doublet told me when I went through this week that the kink/eye dates from when the flood bank ( initially made from silt) failed in about 1900. Rather than rebuild the bank they simply built a replacement alongside & moved the river. A couple of surprisingly sharp bends (even allowing for the straightness of the rest) Mick also said the kink caused a silt bar to form just upstream. We could only get through right on high water, and with him opening the sluice for a couple of minutes to send down some fresh water! I just about spotted the Elsgood brewery - we set off at 0430 ...

Internal diameter = (external circumference)/pi - 2 x (thickness), where pi = 3.14159...... You may get slightly different results at the end of a hose, where it is stretched a bit to fit on a spigot or pipe.