Graham Davis

You were lucky Allan. We did the Danube from Budapest to Nuremburg in September and had to change boats part way up as the river was too low. We went with Viking River Cruises and their boats draw 2 mtrs but there was only 1.5 mtrs available at one of the shallower areas. Loved Bupapest but found that the Nazi stuff in Nuremburg was oppresive. The locks on the canal were most impressive! We did the Rhine with them 4 years ago and have now booked to do the Duoro in 2020.

Corrected that for you.

It is and it is stunning. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sultan-the-pit-pony

Depends whether it was "shaft" pit or an "adit/level" pit. Shaft pits obviously had a vertical shaft from the surface down to the coal seams, so the ponies would drag the drams along underground lines to the shaft bottom, where the drams would be pushed into the cages and lifted to the surface. Those are the mines with the tall steel winding gear above them, typically seen in the Rhondda Valleys. Adit/level mines have tunnels that are not vertical but go either into the side of a hill or slope down towards the seams. The slopes can be quite steep. Sometimes the ponies might pull the drams out of the mine but if the level was steep often they had a winch to pull them to the surface. Many of the mines in the Forest of Dean are adit/levels. EDIT. Drams are what we from South Wales called the wagons. Other regional names may apply.

No, they dragged the drams to the cage bottom, from where the drams were hauled to the surface in the lifts.

Agreed, but when I told my company that they still wanted to know what the postcode was for where it was being kept.

Some of the first questions you are going to be asked for car insurance are "What is your home postcode?" and "Where is the car kept when not in use?" If you are continuously cruising then I fail to see how you can give an accurate answer to those questions.

Perhaps Martin has more than enough work Mike, so doesn't need to do it?

I wouldn't be too sure about that Mike. One of them was boasting on TB that he had come back under another name this week.

Knew there had been a discussion about something similar recently:

Looks like a standard windlass will fit the lock gear, from what I have seen. Any of the boatyards along there will confirm.

Try one of the caravan/campervan cleaning fluids.

I suggest you have a look at certain parts of Bristol and other major cities, because it is happening.