Emerald Fox

Page bookmarked on my computer as contains interesting stuff about pubs Had not planned to do the 'Shroppie' so early but life on the canals seems to be very unpredictable! Now - are there any pubs that do real chips and not just those 'hand-cut' chips pulled out of the freezer and slung in the microwave?

You're right about the Rand. It's dropped like a (very big) stone. South Africa's government seems to be very incapable. Or - simply - plainly corrupt? As far as diesel is concerned, that has been our lowest cost! We filled the tank a year ago - and it's still two-fifths full! Why the Netherlands and France? Although I have heard that in Holland they speak a dialect of Afrikaans How would you get a boat between Netherlands and France? Have you considered England? Here's a map of the canals in England: http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/CanalMap.gif Also, there's a Canalworld member who has a very nice (?!) narrowboat for sale. He has a Swiss name so I'm sure everything on it works like a cuckoo clock That could be your chance? Also, England has much nicer pubs than the Netherlands or France.

Have you looked at Timmy & Pru's lark up the Arun & Wey? http://www.channel4.com/programmes/great-canal-journeys/episode-guide London's Lost Route to the Sea Timothy and Prunella go in search of London's lost canal route from Teddington, through Surrey and Sussex, and all the way to the sea at Littlehampton Youtube is 'down' here in Finland at the moment so I can't post the video link direct, but I watched it on Youtube myself 3 weeks ago. annie40 - an idea would be to get all capable and willing folk here on Canalworld to come down to your place and build a proper landing for you. Then they could take photos and post them on here and show what a clever lot they are! If your motor boat is small, chuck it on a truck and dump it in the Wey Canal (or whatever it's called) and start from there. The link from Arundel to higher up isn't navigable by boat. Remember there's a speed limit for motor boats of 40mph on the Grand Union.

I said 'by the way'..... but the main subject is the rubbish entangled in the tree branches the length of the Calder Valley. Now, if a bank had been flooded and the 'rubbish' suspended in the arborial limbs was 50 Pound notes, I bet that would have been removed in a flash - no time for wallowing in the pubs & restaurants then, eh??!!

Yes, the Brits can be rather filthy. The Japanese would have removed the rubbish already (if the Calder Valley happened to be situated in Japan), By the way, a walk from Sowerby bridge to Halifax along the small roads revealed an incredible amount of rubbish in the bushes beside the roads - Britain is a very dirty country. I would swap all those that chuck rubbish out of their car windows for any 'foreigners' that wanted to emigrate to Britain who do not have this disgusting, obnoxious, vile and odious habit.

Why would they suggest they were part of the problem if they were? I'm not there now so can't beat the truth out of guilty-looking suspects with a rubber hose pipe; but I do think an analysis of what the reservoir folks were doing on 25 & 26 & 27 December could be worth making. The theory seems a good 'un to me.

"A local councillor." (said EF) Addition: I would be happy to see him again and ask for details, and if he'd be happy to let what he said become spread about widely, and also ask him 1) what he has done about it, and 2) are councils in the Calderdale Valley chasing up the reservoir people? As I said, it was what I was told. Seems reasonable enough explanation to me, but I don't have the facts. The facts can be examined - if the reservoir owners haven't swept them under the carpet already!! Tony Blair is still on the run so this shows that Chilcot-type reports only put money into lawyers and committee officials' bank accounts, and anyway, who cares, we all know that Joe Bloggs the tax payer will be forced to stump up for any fiasco. Unless it was an awful lot of rain all of a sudden. But what do we KNOW about the reservoirs and their management?

A local councillor. Doesn't help just up to Figure of Three Locks. One needs to get to the Calder & Aire to get up the Leeds & Liverpuddle. People still observed in pubs & restaurants the length of the Calder Valley - and rubbish still adorning the trees.

I was joking. Tree Monkey owes me a pint for disrupting my thread. But he/she/it is proving to be a slippery customer. Softly, softly, catchee Monkey!

Does the Monkey know of any good pubs in Nantwich?

I heard last week that the cause was the opening of the reservoirs higher up in the valley. They should have been opened BEFORE the rain to empty them. When it was realised there was going to be flooding the owners of reservoirs sent a chappie down to open them - too late of course. The water from the reservoirs ADDED to the rain water was what gave the extra 'push'. That's what I was told. Make of it what you will. I was also told that CRT is responsible for the bridges at Elland and (?) Brighouse - an no-one else. What I was told - I can't say for sure. As I have mentioned before, it does seem silly that the repairs are taking so long. Everyone's in the pubs and restaurants, perhaps that's why? (Go to the pubs & restaurants and yes, you will see them there eating & drinking and doing absolutely nothing to fix the flood damage). Even the rubbish is still in the trees the length of the Calder Valley! Just too much trouble, I suppose. The local councillors don't seem to be very house proud. They are covering their asses. They know they're to blame Think what may have been if the EA had opened the reservoirs in time....

Why has the Novacomet gas regulator recall warning vanished into the Mists of Time? You'd think that would be the hottest topic! As will your boat be when the flames roar uncontrollably out of your cooker and water heater!

The Fox on the spot tells it like it is! In soaraway Sowerby Bridge, today, the scaffolding sticks have been removed from the 2nd bridge east - Walker Lane. So, it looks like canal navigable Sowerby Bridge to Halifax. Lock 12 (west of Hebden Bridge) to Sowerby Bridge: we done it after the floods no problem - we have 1'11" draught. I met a boat today what has just come down from Mytholmroyd and they said (insert rude words) to navigable, their draught is more, and they have been scraping the bottom all the way, and have put a curse upon me for saying it was navigable!!! Get yourselves smaller, lighter boats! By the way, logs available at Ryburn building supplies, up the main road past The Long Chimney pub, £4.50 a net.