Beo

Our longest trip on the boat so far had been 5 weeks. We use our little Candy washing machine every 3-4 days. It means we don’t have to have loads of clothes on board and we don’t have a pile of dirty washing taking up space. As others have said, use of the machine has to be organised around days when we can top up the water are planning to be on the move for 2-3 hours. The drying’s no problem as OH made a mini version of one of the ceiling mounted drying racks (like my mum used to have in our kitchen) for the cratch and I have a couple of pull out drying lines in the bathroom. No iron though!!

I am running 2 cars at the moment. Both insured on separate policies via the same broker but both using my NCB. I have also been able to add an additional vehicle to an existing policy for a specified time - it was a reasonable amount of money as I recall. As others have said I guess it's all about talking to your insurer/broker.

Some Oxfam shops will take them (I believe). I have yet to find a postal address for any charity that will take them.

You could try Mel Davies - he likes to do unusual stuff.

Excellent chip shop in Sandiacre. Also regular buses to Nottingham and Derby. Handy Lidl and Co-op and 2 hardware stores.

Our private boat is wheelchair accessible via a platform lift inside the cabin. It was put in when the boat was built (by Mel Davis) and was built from scratch rather than putting in a scissor lift which would have been much more expensive. PM if you need more information.

Of course! I was lucky enough to have a silver Mondeo estate which I managed to reverse into a wall. The large hole in the rear valance was invisibly repaired with silver duct tape. No one ever knew 😉

So much for trying to put a quote in a reply!...Our previous 7 OES all survived on Chappie. And no, I'm not really old, we've previously always had 2 OES. The GSD (known affectionately as 'the pointy dog' ) was an impulse rescue.

OES loves any vegetable (not onions - very bad for dogs). GSD only eats tomatoes- won't touch anything green. OES had a lovely horse pooh snack this afternoon and OH insists on giving them prawn crackers which I don't think are fit for consumption by any living creature...

Thanks everyone. I hadn't thought of having feed delivered while on the boat. They only get dry food so not too tricky to store a 15kg bag and no empty tins to get rid of. Probably a case of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' but I think I might occasionally buy a bag of something different and mix it with their regular feed just in case I can't get hold of RC while we're out. Unfortunately, both GSD and OES are reputed to have dodgy tummies...and I really don't want to have to pick up and dispose of more pooh than I do already!

We have an Old English Sheepdog and a GSD cross and currently fork out for Royal Canin dog food which seems to suit them both but is very expensive. If it's what they need to eat I will pay for it but what does everyone else feed? We are planning to spend more time on the boat in future and I'm thinking about getting supplies when out and about. How easy is it to keep dog food topped up?

We went by boat up the Macc to a friend's wedding. We got great advice from this forum about mooring spots and it all worked out. We were very pleased with the taxi firm we used: PM me if you would like their number.

Thank you and a merry Christmas to you too!

You could moor on the Erewash either near to Long Eaton railway station (10 mins on the train to Nottingham then a 10-15 min walk to venue) or moor at Padmore moorings in Sandiacre and catch the bus into Nottingham.

We have a pair of stained glass portholes in our bathroom. They were made by Bonnie at the Purple Stained Glass Studio near Loughborough. There is a gallery of stained glass windows & portholes made for Narrowboats on their website..