Scholar Gypsy

The key numbers here are 1145 (Length) x 13 (width) in millimetres. A bit of googling on 13x1145 suggests this or this. There appear to be several ways of measuring length - internal (Li) external (La) or something in-between (Lp). I think this article (or this one) explains, but it is not quite clear if this relates to automotive/marine engine parts. So in addition to working out which length measurement you need (1145 Li = internal), you also need the profile/shape. Mine is a SPZ 10 x 1000 La for example, which is easy to source. I am guessing now, but yours might be a SPZ, although the websites say the difference between Li and Lp is 37mm while yours appears to be 30 (1175-1145)! Hope this helps!

A tip that someone else might find useful.... I was changing the oil yesterday and the extractor pump (one of those brass mini-stirrup pump things) didn't work. First time in 20 years. Took it to bits. The valve in the plunger was working OK, added a bit of grease around the plunger as it was a bit dry. Reassembled, still didn't work. So decided the problem must be with the bottom valve being stuck, probably open - this is rather more inaccessible. Put a length of (garden) hose on the outlet, and blew into it while operating the pump handle up and down. After a few seconds something went pop, and all worked fine again. PS a plastic quality street container is just great for putting under the engine to catch the oil when the filter is removed. Unfortunately you have to eat all the chocolates first.

Gongoozler.

The new pontoon at Gravesend makes an overnight stop there much more comfortable - though you need to be confident of good weather on two successive days...

I agree with others about pulling the boat out of the lock when going downhill. It takes a little longer but is much easier (and safer). Going up, my system - and I freely admit I have never seen anyone else doing this - involves a light line (8mm) that lies on the roof, and is connected to one of the bow ropes. I nip up the ladder with that line, and then pull up the bow rope and attach it to a bollard.

Craig Allen: http://craig-allen-marine.co.uk/ He did our hull survey (35 years - required for insurance) recently.

I always enjoy walking around the reservoirs at Marsworth. There's Bletchley Park museum, which I keep meaning to go to. Mentmore Towers looks interesting, but is quite a walk and is not currently open to the public I think. Whipsnade is probably a bit too far away?

Oops - sorry for duff advice. Maybe not a good place to put a teapot on the roof (see thread here)....

Oh dear, one less place to play Northamptonshire skittles. (Yes, I know Newbold is not in Northants).

I reckon the main problem areas are where the bank is sloping stone slabs, which someone must have thought were a good idea in the 1830s when the canal was shortened/straightened. Rugby is good for shopping, and fine for overnight if you like mooring by a housing estate. Anyway, good moorings: * Willoughby wharf * under Barby Hill - good brisk walk up the hill to the village * the Royal Oak (?) I think, just south of Hillmorton locks * below Hillmorton locks * Newbold, I prefer just north of the Newbold arm (once you have gone past the sloping walls just north of the tunnel, there is a decent bank) * where the road runs alongside the canal just south of Brinklow (worth walking to) * Ansty, if you can find somewhere a reasonable distance from the M6/M69

Very nice. Here is another Heron (somewhere near Lakenheath, River Little Ouse), rather closer than usual.

Oh bad luck! But thanks for letting your various photographers know..

Yes, thanks. [i am pondering whether to go there for Sunday lunch (the museum opens at 12), before we go back to Ely, and put people on various trains home.]

Dear Phil Thanks for that. Regretfully, booking a passage on Saturday and Sunday seems a bit complex/rigid, so I think I will take the Brandon Ouse instead. That will unfortunately mean we miss the temporary exhibition at Prickwillow museum.

I am pondering doing the Lark next weekend, and would be grateful to know if Isleham lock is now open and working again? Many thanks

I had a similar incident at Lower Barnwell lock - not a deep one. I was single handed (well various people were in sleeping bags on the roof which is much the same thing). The centre rope got caught on the side hatch and detached it (fortunately it didn't end up in the water). Since then I use the bow rope rather than a centre line ...

Where I ended up was : i) take a bow rope to one of the numerous bollards, to control sideways movement a bit (and in particular to stop you crashing into the other wall) ii) open the gate paddle on the same side as the boat. As you say, these paddles are large and strong, and one will fill the lock pretty qucikly. Opening one paddle makes especially good sense if you are single handed, or have only one crew, as (on the guillotine locks) there is no way to cross over the top gates. [by the time you walk around the bottom end of the lock it will be nearly full anyway.]

... and here is the offical PLA advice, in response.

Indeed so - don't assume that your rear lookout has gone mad when they say "Hippopotamus approaching from astern".

OK, it's at least possible I can nip out to take some photos (at about 1100). At least you will be avoiding this the previous evening. Watch out for the hippo. (they should have put a narrowboat inside it, I think...)

That would be Granchester (tea at a quarter to three etc), upstream of the rollers (which are just around the corner from where Ditchcrawler turned around).

I don't know what the legal position is, but I suspect the riparian owners would have a view! I would guess one could take a narrowboat up the eastern branch where it meets the Thames - that is an artificial cut - but not get too much further. In contrast, one is allowed to take a narrowboat up the Backs in Cambridge, in the winter. It's on my list of things to do ...

Unfortunately not - as I recall it was a nice shiny stainless steel box, with its own fence and gate to stop the cattle damaging it..

And the church is half - demolished as well. On the other hand there is quite a nice water point- just off this photo.

I wish! I still have to work for a bit longer ... I agree re Horsenden Hill. At weekends you can try and work out the rules of Gaelic football, which they play there....