Mrs Trackman

What I was more thinking was that we'll get a lot of boaters who think it's a good idea because they've seen the programme. Some will get hooked and love it but I suspect reality will put a lot of people off after they have already bought. In the meantime, if they follow what I've heard timothy West said, we'll have a lot of boats and infrastructure hit.

I have a worry that the timothy West and prunella scales programme will add a huge number of new boaters to the system. I've lost count of the number of people who have asked me if I watch it. my reply is normally that I've heard they bump into everything, stand by for people who believe boating is a contact sport.

yes same here. We find pearsons pretty reliable but have never been able to imagine where he mentions north of the tunnel.

That's useful information. I thought classic stoves were no longer made? useful to know where to go for spares though.

second that. We have never found a suitable place to Moor to explore husbands bosworth and would appreciate tips. One November day before a big freeze we saw over 20 kingfishers between the top of Watford locks and Foxton. Never seen more than a very few since.

We have many 3 contracts as a family. I know it's not very canal related but 3 are great for usage abroad. There are many countries where we can get our full data package and we find that invaluable when travelling. However we have all been watching for the letter telling us how much more we will have to pay. I don't use an enormous amount of data but I like being able to keep it on and not worry I am running up huge bills even when abroad.

great timing. why in may?

it is a bit of a problem. If the pontoon is full where instead? or would anyone just breast up?

it's each to his own. when we hired we boated non stop in daylight loving it. several 15 hour days. even now after many years, 10 as livaboards we always do the 38 locks out of Birmingham in a day-farmers bridge, Aston and curdworth. They are all easy locks. Knowle on the grand union out of Birmingham and some of the south Stratford locks are harder work though and i agree on the Stratford could easily be held up by others. We went up and down Lapworth several times last summer but timed it early or late so we could do the very easy locks at our own pace.

I, for one, value your advice and find your comments useful. We love spending time around and in Birmingham and you moor and travel around the area. As a result of your comments about mooring in the vale, we have found it a useful stopping place. We find it quite noisy there, the tow path is always busy and there are students on the other side for much of the year, plus the trains do run a lot of the night, there are goods trains as well as late night and early morning passenger trains. However, it's a beautiful spot and a good additional mooring for Birmingham. Certainly, if I was coming from Tardebigge after picking up a hire boat, I wouldn't want to arrive in the centre of Birmingham late to start searching for a mooring with a boat I was still getting used to. I know you reckon there's usually spaces but I often see it very full in the centre.

Some suggest the nip is the reason for the difference in the boards. The lockie at Beeston has told me the board is wrong even when Beeston is on red-would be interesting to know the view the insurance companies would take if your boat sank. There is a depth gauge at beeston if you know where to look for it-its not at the lock-but the bottom of that is broken off and in any case there is no indication as to which level is correct.

Haven't looked at this section for a while but,as ever, impressed by the great deal of detailed advice the op has had from many who know the area well. Also very impressed by the preparation made by the op. It will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the holiday. you might need to bear in mind that many hirers and private boaters will have had no formal training, though some will have lots. There's so many things I'd like to add or agree with but the op must be feeling overwhelmed already. keep chatting, keep asking, as you have found , there's so much knowledge out there. And be flexible (well as much as you can be when you have to get the boat back.) main thing is to enjoy. but be warned, it's amazingly addictive.

I would point out however, that if you leave the canal at Beeston with the river falling and the board on amber then turn into the soar there is no indication of the state of the soar though normally we would expect that to fall before the trent. on this occasion we saw a boat approaching the soar from, as we thought Sawley, we both then found ourselves the wrong side of Redhill flood lock with a red light on. It transpired that the boat in front of us had come off the erewash, which also has no indication to suggest the state of the soar but crt staff there had informed them the soar was out of flood. We decided against the risky procedure of winding in the fast flowing river and returning to trent junction opting to aim for ,what we hoped would be the safety of a pontoon after Ratcliffe lock. However, the owner of the pontoon refused our appeal to tie up telling us we shouldn't be boating. I agreed and asked him how we could have known this coming from the trent. fortunately the boats at Kegworth shallow shuffled up for us so we could get our bow tied to a bollard and our stern to a fence but of course we couldn't leave the boat as we had to adjust the ropes.

Just had a quick read of this thread so sorry if repeating. I totally am not surprised that the poor boater got into trouble. many people buy a boat and have little idea what they are doing on the canals let alone on powerful rivers. In this specific case, there are no lights or notices at Cranfleet, Beeston, Meadow Lane or Holme lock. There are coloured marker boards at the first 3 but only a depth gauge at Holme lock. There is no indication on the depth gauge to indicate navigation shouldn't take place. To me, the Trent looks terrifying when there is a fast flow but to a novice it's maybe not obvious. edit to add, though there are coloured marker boards at the 3 locks you would have to look for them, they are by no means obvious. In addition, the lockie at Beeston has said to me that the river is open even when the board is red, he says the board isn't right.

that sounds very positive

trying to remove duplicate postings. sorry

agree. I would be very happy to Moor beyond Vincent St bridge if had rings or bollards. extending the cctv and patrols would help give confidence. already, at busy times, boats Moor there which always helps.

Am really fed up with reduction in 14 day moorings in centre of Birmingham. We love the centre, it's been a highlight of our cruising year to moor up for a couple of weeks and enjoy the facilities of a big city. Birmingham is on a plateau so always lots of locks to get there but rewarded by a long stretch in the city. However it gets very busy and can never be sure we'll be able to find a 14 day mooring. Several have been lost in the last few years. In addition there have been boats that have overstayed-the one that didn't move for over a year has gone (sold?) but there's another that's been in the same mooring every time we walk the towpath (so could have moved in between). Birmingham has seemed quiet this winter but lock stoppages prevent many from getting there.

'The Andrew' was a private shared boat that moored in the fellows morton Clayton building in the centre of Nottingham though I've not seen it for a while.

Great picture. Like the speculation. Good thing rick has thoroughly worked his way through the boat, seems no signs of dropped bullion. Not quite sure where scholar gypsy means but think the general area could be right. What about the junction area with the arm that goes down to Paddington basin at little venice.So the picture would be taken coming from the arm.

1.7m at beeston this morning though looks as though might have been a bit higher. Rained a lot yesterday so won't be down any time soon.

Trent at Beeston had risen a further nearly 10cm in a couple of hours last time I checked at 11. The weir is heading for level and the rate of flow is huge. Guess all sluices open at Colwich to whizz the water through Nottingham.

Trent rose 60cm at Beeston lock over Saturday night. As someone else said it had rained for 24hours from Friday night. We had some rain yesterday and quite a lot overnight last night but the Trent is currently only less than 10cm more than it was yesterday. There's an awful lot to come downriver yet though, we went on the train to Birmingham yesterday and there were floods all the way but especially bad round Tamworth. Raining again now.

In Nottingham we have a brilliant coal man who comes from Derbyshire every two weeks in winter. He delivers to the car park at the pub by Sainsbury's {The waterside?} at 9 and Beeston canal side at 9.30 delivering to individual boats then to the queue that forms at the lock. We pay £9 for 25kg of 'Newburn' which suits our stove. That said, we have found that whatever sort we use, we go for ages with no problem then get a bag which produces masses of ash and the stove chokes very quickly. The worst we ever buy is when we miss the coalman and buy from shops or garages, typically costing the same price for a 10kg bag and getting a lot of ashy rubbish.

Been on board 10 years and love it. We now have a mooring and cruise little due to family commitments to parents and grandchildren but always relieved to at least sleep on boat. Still plenty of system not done so always vaguely think....another 10 years, but who knows? Just enjoying for now.