nora

ooh you river boaters are a different breed, I have had all sorts of boats over many years , but we stick to the "safe" canals, only bit of river I have been on was at the end of the caldon, very brave you are, but its not for me, Im a scaredy cat.

I just wondered if there is a rule about having your boats gas tested yearly, or at least regulary, when my sons did our refit of gas piping , cooker, boiler, ect, we were told by a boat builder, that it must be tested by a qualified calor gas tester after competion, (which we did), several months later our certificate of compliance was due,the man who did it was surprised when we showed him the pass cert. off the first man, and said he had not come across that very often, ( but he checked again). and this week we had the first tester in again as my son thought he could smell gas coming from the boiler, and there was a small leak from some screw or nut, now we have another cert. is there any regulations about how often the gas is tested, or is it just common sense.

Hello, just thought I would tell you that I did not buy the painting by Constable "The Lock" as I am afraid it was a little to big to fit in the spot on my boat I had in mind for it, the subject and the colours were ok, but it was just to big, never mind I will look for something more suitable on ebay, but I wonder why one of you other forum members didnt go for it?.

the young people of kidsgrove have had a pretty bad reputation for their behavior round the canal in the last few years, but to show the other side of the coin , there was a report in our local paper (Staffordhire Sentinel) about 3 young people 2 girls and a boy, who rescued a 68 year old man and his dog from the canal in kidsgrove, then escorted him safely home, during the rescue the young boy fell into the canal himself, I believe the young people are to get some award, and also free tickets for alton towers, nice to hear something good for a change.

the coverage by the BBC was dire, and I had been looking forward to this once in a lifetime event for weeks, but I also thought that it was not organised as well as it could have been, Why start with the rowers, they looked ragged and disorganised, and started the proccedings with a wimper instead of a bang, and took to long to clear, I think the row boats should have been at the end, and the Queens boat should have been in front leading all the other boats,

A boat is for sale on e bay as a project, and I notice it is painted camouflage, is this a new trend? as I seem to read a lot about boats painted like this, I dont think they look very nice , a bit threatening, and if they need to hide on the canals surely it would be better to paint them in traditional colours, so they mix in with all the rest, just a thought. Nora.

Hello, just been looking at narrow boats on ebay as I often do, I was a bit surprised at one new sail away, a 42ft trad, it only had two windows on one side, and one window and a smallish porthole on the other side, says it was to help with condensation, and retain warmth, wont the boat be very dark inside, and look a bit odd, but why spend all that money, and skimp on the windows, also isnt it better if both sides look the same, (I know you only see one side at a time)but its nice to know they match, cant do linkys sorry, and to old to learn. Nora

Hello, we went up the Caldon at easter, The very low bridges are at the begining as you go through the industrial part, past the old factories in Hanley, for two of the bridges we had to remove our chimney, but the rural part we had no problems, nora

Hello, my son was telling me this morning that he had been talking to a chap at the marina, who told him that he had had a 70ft NB built , and fitted out, and when it was finished he was so proud of it, but when he took the boat out it would not fit in the locks beam wise, he measured it, 6-10", what was wrong? turns out the boat was not straight, it was misaligned lenthwise and that was stopping it getting in the locks, the company did build him another boat,but I have never heard of this before,is it a well known thing? or was the chap pulling my sons leg? Nora.

Hello, this I believe is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic,I have always been fascinated by this event,as many others are, but I have always had a bit of a dilema on my feelings towards Captain Smith, as he was born in Stoke-on Trent and his portrait was hanging in Victoria hall Hanley, is he a local hero, or is he not!, at least he went down with his ship, not like the recent Concordia Captain. Also a puzzle to me is the fact that his birthplace is about as far from the sea in any direction as you can get, yet he went on to be the senior captain for his line. Nora.

Hello again, yes Alan_Fincher, we did do the Caldon last week, and I stick by my opinion, we did do part of the Leek arm , by mistake,we did visit the Holly bush pub, had to climb down some horrendous steps to get to the pub, we moored just over the auqaduct, we went back on to the other arm and moored outside the pub for the night on the way back,that was quite nice, the mill at Cheddleton wasnt much,the aquaduct was ok, like I said, I stick by my opinion Nora.

I wish to thank the people who reccomended I visit the Caldon canal over the Easter weekend, my son and wife and I, had a lovely if wet time, but I am sorry to say we all came to the conclusion that the Caldon is over rated, you need to travel at least 3/4 the way up before it gets decent, say perhaps where you lock into the river, then on to Consall Forge, which is very pretty and unusual. but the first 3/4 in my opinion is not great,in other words it seemed a long way to travel for the bit of beauty at the far end. Nora

I was shopping today at a small supermarket in Burslem, as I got to the till and was packing the goods, the lady at the till said "are you 21" I was shocked as I am a great nanna, 4 times over,(I think she was being sarky) "what have I bought that I need to be 21", no booze or knives, the object that was so dangerous was a a retracting measure my husband had popped in the trolley, to measure the size we would need the new boat chimney to be, our next call was the marina, If I wished to hurt some one I could do more harm with a tin of beans, how pathetic this country is getting with its rules.Nora.

hello, just my thoughts on the shareing locks thing, just been up the Caldon and back, this weekend, and dont think I saw one boat under 40 ft.so rather difficult to share a lock, but years ago it was easier to share when a lot of the boats were GRP,s usually under 30 ft, never saw a lock shared in 3 days, ps, we always shut gates, thats how we were taught. Nora.

Firstly, thank you Martin for the apology, not really needed, but nice of you, thank you.Secondly thank you others for talking up the Caldon, I really wanted to go there but the son and I were dithering over that or through the Harecastle and up the Macc, made my mind up, its the Caldon, thank you.

We moor at Festival Park Stoke, only had this boat 18 months or so, first year spent on refit ect,We are thinking of taking a nip up the Caldon canal over Easter, which is virtualy just round the corner, I went up there years ago, but this time its my son as skipper, his slim dainty wife, and old me, any tips, is it an easy run, or is it very hard work,will a crew of an old bird, and a dainty bird manage it, or do we head for the Harecastle tunnel,and part way up the Macclesfield. any ideas please. Nora.

Thank you kindly, mrsmelly.

Journeyman is the OP,s boats name, I mistakenly gave the immpression it was the mans name OK.

No I am not a troll, and I have as much right to post as you do, I have no knowledge of the OP, but I do have a bit of sympathy for him, and we cant all have university grade English when posting, I assumed this forum was for all boaters, not just a select few cynics.

I am dissapointed in this discussion, I am sorry for Journeyman having his boat trashed, I would be very angry and upset if it happened to me!some of the people that have posted, come across as smug and cynical, and I begrudge putting money on my dongle to see nasty remarks made about others posters typing ability, enough comma,s for you. and a full stop. Nora.

I dont know if I am a bit jealous, but I have just been looking at some hire boats on the net, and some of the fit outs are unbelievable, more luxury than a posh hotel, It would take a week or more to work out how to use most of the many appliances, and heaters and boilers,dont you think its going a bit OTT, and the joy of the holiday and the boat and the scenery, and mucking about in boats is now like a cruise on a luxury liner, makes me wonder what next can they sqaush in (a grand piano perhaps) Nora.

My son took the boat for its first trip this year, from our moorings at Festival Park, to Westport lake,then to the Harecastle to turn round, then back, the boat handled well said my son,they stopped and had a picnic, my great grandaughter Summer Rose age 2 told me on the phone,that she was feeding the ducks and saw an elephant, this was not seen by any one else on the boat, so if you are on that stretch of the Trent and Mersey and see the elephant please let me know and I will tell Summer. Nora.

My son says it was a hive of activity at festival park on saturday, sun shining, hammering , and sawing, he filled our water tank, and tested the new shower, worked perfectly,all ready for a trip up the cauldon in the spring. nora.

I have had boats of all kinds over the years, then a gap, now this boat shared with my son, and when looking at boats to buy or describing them, I am prone to comparing them to makes of cars for eg. Springers, to Skoda,s, Piper boats to Jags, ect you get the picture, What kind of car is your boat, I always seem to get a second hand Ford, but I am quite happy with it. Nora.