hargreaves07

Quick note to reply to The Biscuits. We work with Jodie from CRT. Emma did take over for one week and did some work on bins at Eanam. Talked to a boater yesterday who said it was bad towards Eanam. My email is davehargreaves07 ' hat ' btinternet.com Thanks

3 of us turned up at Blackburn today on our once fortnightly volunteering work. We pulled 3 bags of rubbish from inside the next to the bottom lock which was very bad. We then went up the locks to Bridge 102 and pulled out 4 trolleys. I would have to say that this stretch on the lock section was better than normal. I would suggest boaters disengage gear going under 102 & also the next one down adjacent to ASDA. Let us know any grot spots & also Wigan. Cheers rgreaves

Hi could you let me know the appox locations of the trolleys in the canal at Blackburn.There is one particular bad spot at the bridge immediately to the east of Asda where we pulled about 10 out about 4 weeks back. I volunteer at Blackburn and we meet every other Thurs. We do other work as well but litter is by far the biggest problem. If you can give me some indication then we can get the grappling hooks in next Thurs. The local firm Browns(wallpapers) help with volunteers as well Disappointed to here such bad comments. Cheers

Hi Myself and another volunteer from Wigan went across to help on a big volunteer day about 3 weeks back. The tarmac that you can see just below the lock had been ripped up and was upside down! There was a huge sort of vortex hole underneath where the water had eddied down that was probably the best part of 5ft deep. The boat that is lodged in the trees had come over the lock and I think the boater who is a liveaboard had mangaged to get the boat into the trees. Otherwise he may have ended up in Leeds. He must have been terryfied. Most of the damage was caused by the River Calder which runs parallel to the canal along a narrow valley which had burst its banks and effectively the canal had become the river. I havent seen the rest of the damage but from about Walsden right down past Leeds wherever the river has got into the canal then there is destruction.It will take a long time to fix and cost a lot of money.

The appeal email that has sent to me says The money you raise will be used to repair major structural failures and to deal with canal breaches and landslips. We must also fix holes, washouts and clear deposited silt that have forced the closure of towpaths and waterways. From what I read on NarrowboatWorld I think the cost to put the Rochdale and Calder & Hebble back in business is about £10m + I have contributed but I would take issue with CRT over the use of Volunteer labour. I am a canal volunteer and I have also received another email from CRT asking if I would like to volunteer to help with clearing up the mess. I filled in the form saying I would only to then get an email back from the Volunteer Coodinators saying that there wasnt now any need for help. Bizarre but the usual case with CRT as they dont know what each dept is up to and certainly when it comes to Volunteers they tend to get forgotten. There was also a team of volunteers available from the Manchester area this last Saturday. CRT could have asked them to help over at Tod/Hebden Bridge but again they didnt seem interested. Just a little moan!

Sorry Im a bit late on this. I cycled past Lock 83 yesterday and it is a complete mess. It looks as if the gates cannot mitre together and that the gate would open up downhill if given the chance. CRT have made an excellent bodge by putting a beam at wall height below the gate with another beam pinned to that, that butts onto the damaged gate and keeps the gate in position. The Lock was empty and I would guess that it will leak like mad looking at the gap between the mitres. The gate must have been hit with considerable force. Was it done accidently or deliberately. Whichever the cost of this damage should be borne by the boaters insurance and not by CRT( and ultimately the rest of us)

Good Luck. My only advice is to make sure you dont move. We have found with our 'mut' that only a short move will disorient the cat. It obviously doent recognise the name on the side of the boat but the scent which will lead back to the place which he/she left. Cheers Dave

Sorry I dont read the forum too often. Our heritage isnt programmed but the wireless honeywell is. You just set the gismo to what temp you want and when and the heritage kicks in. We have 4 radiators on a 59 ft boat. 2 3 ft thin ones in the bedroom cause my wife says I dont keep her warm!! One in the snug/living room which is 3ft double radiator old fashioned school one to keep the cat warm. And one in the diningroom/kitchen same size. Also we have a towel rail in the bathroom. Yes it can be warm but you can always turn it down Cheers Dave

Absolutely the compact-would not be without it! It's fab and a lovely addition to our country cottage boat.

Hi Marcinaboat Yes I should have mentioned that we have a honeywell domestic thermostat. This connects wirelessly to its 'mother' which turns on the waterpump at the programmed temperature. At the 5degree program the heritage kicks in . It keeps the boat warm but we do have 4 radiators on board! Regards Dave

Agree with the sentiments of Mango. In Narrowboat World there is an obsession at trying to get CRT to say how many miles constitutes continuous cruising. Why would anyone who is a CC want to know how far he has to go before he has complied? He is contuously cruisng and the last thing he/she is worried about is how far he has gone. The only people who want to know how far to go are the ones who want to turn back as soon as they have gone the distance ie get back to base. CRT should not try to specify a mileage for compliance.(How can you anyway - locks/low water/stoppages/bad weather all impact on the journey). You can just imagine the arguements between compliance officers and prospective Continuous Cruisers over where they have travelled to. Forget it. Just go back to when the term Continuous Cruisers came into being in the first place. Everyone had to have a mooring and a section of boaters who were always on the move said that isnt fair and everyone agreed - we all knew it was a good point and it was enshrined into the 'laws'.There was no need to explain what continuous cruising was it was obvious. As my mate Andy says you are either Contuously Cruising or you are not. Simples.

Hi Chris Welcome to look at ours but could be a month or two before we are back on the boat. Currently at Overwater on the Shroppie. We have a compact. Positives No gas Heating/Cooking/Hot Water all done by the Heritage Leave the boat in winter on 'Off' where the heritage kicks in at 5degreesC so no need to winterise. Runs off Diesel so can claim 100% with no quibbles - we have a separate tank for the Heritage. Had no operational problems whatsoever in 5 years Gives off loads of residual heat in Winter to warm the boat. Focal point of boat/looks good. Wow factor when selling the boat. Negatives The bigger compact is too hot in summer when cooking - Uno would be better then but see above for winter. Can be slow to warm up for cooking unlike gas. Also hot plates stay hot but with management use that efficiently ie put kettle on. Very heavy and boat will need reballasting on other side. May need another chimney hole. Hope that helps Cheers Dave

I dont quite understand the logic of this. If boats are continuously on the move how can the boaters be organised as a team to help in towpath maintenance?

Good to see you are still doing lots of cruising. Beats travelling on the 109 bus!

Not too sure that the comment about the bottom lock at Johnsons Hillock is ok is correct.. I have been past the lock on both Tuesday and Wed of this week. The lock is still leaking badly. It leaks thru the top gate via water coming up probably from the cill or possibly the gate paddle at a rate that looks as if a paddle was stuck open. The lock also leaks badly from the bottom gate straight thru the middle mitre where the gates should form a water tight seal when closed. The leakage is sufficient that although there is a good flow of water down the bywashes in the locks above the bottom lock by the time the water enters the bottom pound it is then drained straight thru the bottom lock. This leaves the bottom pound probably 3ft lower than it should be. There has been a problem there for at least 2/3 years and has been reported to BW/CRT but very bad now. There was a youngish CRT chappie there on Tuesday afternoon looking at it. I think boaters need to be very careful on useing the lock. I would suggest pulling a lot of water down before entering the bottom pound and bottom lock whilst going either uphill or downhill. Dave H