haggis

Thank you ,Arthur for posting this. Looks promising

We had that with a dog who had a nervous disposition. We were moored against high metal piling on the Thames when this dog became upset by the noise of the boat banging on the pilings and I decided to take her for a walk to calm her down. Opened the front doors and the dog jumped off the wrong side onto the Thames. It was a Weedon boat with quite high bows but Iain managed to lean over and grab the dog. She always had a lead on when I opened the doors after that

That's not very wet and not sure it qualifies you as a "proper boater". Try to do better the next time 🙂 . A hint is falling off the top gate on the Wolverhampton flight - into the canal, not the lock - would qualify you.

If you are concerned that the boat may not belong to the seller if you see proof of his identity (driving licence for example) and there are receipts for work done on the boat in his name, I think you can be pretty sure the boat is his without contacting a previous owner. On thinking back, we have bought two boats without a bill of sale or receipt changing hands.

spoilsport!

Ah, but you might be saying something new 😃

Ah, but he had to keep repeating it until all us dunderheads catch on 😃

As Liam has a coal and gas delivery business to run on a chopped in half canal he may not have had time to be on here recently.

I am quite chuffed as I apparently did over 10000 steps yesterday and today. That included lots of locks and walking between them. And going to the pub, of course. Not bad for an 83 year old who had open heart surgery last year. Life in the old dog yet 😃.

I had already had that conversation with another boater when we had a discussion about whether it was morning or afternoon. We agreed it didn't matter as neither of us knew what day it was 😃 Great thing canal time.

Even with volunteers we both do a fair amount of winding paddles and opening gates. It does save Iain stopping outside the lock to close up ( I will be ahead setting the next lock). I don't find having volunteers stops me chatting to other boaters in the flight or the volunteers. Re the question about whether they asked if we wanted assistance or not,my opening remarks were probably along the lines of " good morning, how nice to get some help". If I didn't want help I would say " good morning,it's ok, we like doing the locks on our own " .

We use Excel too but don't have the problem you have. We keep the bags in the cratch but the coal still seems to get damp .we have a small coal scuttle which we keep beside the fire and we top it up when necessary. This way the coal is always dry and that seems to help.

We have just come down Hurleston with the help of 3 volunteers. Apparently today is the first day " on duty ", having completed their training. Apparently the locks have been busy this morning but we had a straight run down.

With the canal being quite busy we decided to make Wrenbury tonight's stop and we had a very nice meal in the Dusty Miller. Sadly we have to about turn and head back to Park Farm tomorrow

Our experience of the Willymoor has been very good food but somehow our trips on the Llangollen don't seem to result in us being there at meal times. We'll need come back up here and plan it better .

After seldom seeing another boat all that changed when we came onto the Llangollen. Small queues at locks and lots of moored boats but the sun is shining and all is right with our world 🥵

Yes, that struck me too and I remembered hearing the story before and it dawned on me who the poster is. If I remember correctly, they were not pleased when the owner wouldn't serve them food as the kitchen was closed. Anyway, we have chickenned out and are going for the stress free option of visiting the Wrenbury pub.

Love it guys. Makes me feel like branching out

My next question, if I may . We are on the Llangollen and would like to have a meal at Willymoor BUT we are pushed for time and we wondered where we can turn a 58 foot boat after Willymoor. Nicholson's is not showing anything till above Grindley Brook . Is there anywhere we can get turned before there ? It is years since we had a meal in Willymoor and we would like to go back.

My magnolia at home is not yet in flower but I have seen some magnificent specimens in full flower down here. Mine might be a different variety. I did wonder if blackthorn produced sloe berries but from my days making sloe gin I don't remember them being that plentiful in canal side hedges. Yes, it did look a bit thorny. I used to make a lot of sloe gin but stopped when I realised neither of us were drinking it much ( whisky is our tipple of choice). I am sure we have sloe gin on board if anyone wants some 😄 Thank you but not as much fun as asking on here 😄. The forum has never failed me yet .

Thank you ! Just googled and that is what it is. Beautiful at this time of the year.

I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about trees but one I am seeing a lot of has me stumped. It has masses of pure white blossom but no greenery and I am seeing it in the hedges canal side.. it is not hawthorn ( which is still green) or pussy willow (catkins) ( which has bigger yellowish flowers. It is not, I think, a tree we see up north. Please put me out of my misery and tell me what it is .

Replying to Gybho Good luck with fitting out your boat and hope it all goes well for you. Please keep us informed of your progress. If you decide to go a blog on You Tube if you let us know you may convert a few CWDF folk 😄

We are heading onto the Llangollen in the next couple of days for a few days so if you see KELPIE please say hello.

That's where I think ours is but Iain disagrees and as he has more to do with the technical stuff I believe him 😄