Bettie Boo

ahhh but you see them sort everywhere, London doesn't have exclusivity, there's very few places I feel safe in leaving "nickables" on the tow path side of the boat roof when we are moored up. I shift most everything to the canal side - why tempt fate? & the same thing applies to muggings and what not - they take place everywhere, you just have to use the same precautions and hope for the best or...live in fear I rather apply the cautions and enjoy my surroundings ETA - the last bit

Ok, I'll bit. What's a "malcontents"? We only saw, ducks, swans, geese and the odd coot while we moored there

Ahhh, but there you have it. What you would consider a "reasonable living" might be way in excess of what someone else might consider it to be, or just as easy consider that amount to be completely downtrodden. How much do YOU need to earn before you consider it to be a "proper" job? It will be a different amount for each person or couple you meet living on a boat. Some will be on their own, some will be raising families, some will be trying to put a little away for their offspring's education and or inheritance, others won't have those needs. Some folk will need more to fund their entertainment needs. As in you'll more than likely to need a bit more in the bank if your someone who likes to go and weekly/monthly watch the football team you support than if your chosen pastime is spent bird watching or jogging. And on and on the differences go. We currently live on about 55K less a year than when we were both working full time and living in a small terrace house. I can guarantee you we are both much happier and healthier now than we were 3 years ago. Has our life style & priorities changed? You can bet your bottom dollar they have - for the better IMO Just because people can find ways of living without having the need for so much money, doesn't necessarily mean they aren't enjoying themselves as much as those earning "a reasonable amount" from a "proper" job. Just saying

Can't compare them to the northern locks, but I did do every single lock from Braunston to the bottom of the Hanwell flight on the GU some were harder than others, but I did them all without having to ask 'im at the back to come and help me. The ones on the K&A - I managed about the first 3 or 4, then there were tears, then I had to give in & ask for help, then I gave in and properly learned how to steer the boat so OH could get off and do the bloody locks. I enjoyed doing the locks, as I'm a bit of a chatter box and really enjoyed the "social aspect" of it. Much more than being stuck on the back of the boat, with no one to chat to and not being able to hear folks when they try and chat to you, and always having to concentrate to keep the boat where it should be away from the gates and cills But like I've already said, 'im at the back thought the K&A was great - different strokes for different folks

There's a gentleman on the GU that sells carved wooden figures he makes from wood he finds in and along side the cut We've also come across a guy selling Vasp products, mostly the liquids & someone else that sells solar set ups and installs, a cruising welder, a couple of cruising engine machinist, a book shop & a couple of ice cream boats and a couple of cruising coffee shops, oh and another WB that does tatoo's & iron signs & then there was the woman we met last year that collects broken umbrellas and turns them into phone / tablet holders, she also designs & sells quilt patterns. Point being, there are a fair few who have found a way to scratch out a living whilst living on a boat. I guess at the end of the day, it's comes down to where ever your talents lay and how much demand there is for either sharing your experience through teaching and or selling you product/service on. To the best of my knowledge there isn't currently a pump out boat that covers north of 3 locks to Braunston, not sure if there would be enough call for it there or not, but other's seem to make a decent living doing it in other locations

If you put some carpet on it, it would make a Great platform for cats to use to get out of the cut when they've fallen in

What a lovely little post - have a greenie

guess I should have gone to Specsavers

Hi Wakes, Tim gives good advice above re moorings From my own experience, we went through London twice last summer once in early May and then again at the end of June early July and to be completely honest after reading all the stuff on FB and here in the forum about how congested London is I was quite worried about us not being able to find moorings and ending up having to travel through after dark - I appreciate lots of folks do this, it's not for me at all. We are a WB and doubling up for us isn't really an option in most canal scenarios Anyway, Mark99 of this parish gave me some great info, pretty much as Tim has done for you above; at the end of the day, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was expecting. We weren't picky about where we stayed and just took the first spot big enough for us once we decided that was enough cruising for that particular day. I think the folks who find London fully packed are the ones who decide where they want to moor before they get there and end up disappointed because they've chosen one of the "honey spots" like everyone else visiting the capital does. And / Or they do not want to double up with some of the locals. On our return trip through, I ended up with a very pretty mooring spot at Victoria Park - it really was lovely. Enjoy your trip

Ohhhh if your boat is the one I'm thinking of...WB that kinda looks like a black sub...I LOVE it Well cool If it's a different boat, I'm sure it's very nice as well

Well yes - that works for you

I quite fancy Purple but, 'im @ the back won't even consider it

LOL Ok - you got me there The Vale of Pewsey did have some pretty spots, and all those white horses were good viewing as well; maybe after spending 5 weeks on the Thames with all those extraordinarily easy locks, and great mooring spots, along with the beautiful scenery of floral/fauna/wildlife/towns & villages spoilt me and made the K&A far less appealing. Like I said though, it wasn't for me at all; however 'im at the back thought it was great and thoroughly enjoyed it. They do say opposites attract

I think you'll find it's meant to be HRH Prince Phillip for the likes of you, mind you if you were kween, you could probably get away with dropping the HRH

All Very interesting - thank you all for the "layman's" explanations, I think I get the jist of it now. In very basic terms... the entire network wasn't built at the same time by one national company, whereas it was built in different sections over a long period of time by different local companies who built to the size of boats working in that area (though I can't see how the boats would be working in some of the areas before the canals were actually built); and to the amount of money they had to work with. Then later on it was decided to join the canals up so that goods & wares could be transported from North to South or visa versa, but by this time the middle section had already been built as a narrow canal with narrow locks, and it would have been more than it was worth to enlarge said section. Hence we've got a canal system of wide in the north & south and the narrow bit in the middle of the two. I wonder why the same effect didn't happen in France with the Midi (sp?) Canal? Or was it all built at once by a national company? Or maybe they had a more standardize size of working boats

See this is the bit I really can't get my head around... You've got the wider canals and locks in the north of the country, built I presume to bring goods such as coal, & pottery down to London on boats of 12 - 14ft (or more in some cases) wide. So when said boats arrived around Birmingham they would need to be off loaded onto narrower boats in order to fit through the narrow locks and canals so why go to the expense of building wide canals & locks from London up to Braunston? as the goods would have already been on narrow boats? That's the bit I don't get - it would be like a train company building trains to fit on tracks of a certain width for all the travel in the north of the country, then someone in the middle of the country decides nope we're not having that all the tracks in the middle will be a smaller guage so we'll have to have smaller trains in this section and travelers will need to get off the northern trains, use ours for a few miles in the middle bit and then transfer back to the wider ones if they want to go onto London BTW - thank you for trying to get me sorted, I appreciate I can be kinda thick sometimes Thanx for the clips Ray

Yeah - we tend to get squished in that skinny bit around Birmingham OK - two serious questions (as in I'm not taking the mick, I'm curious is all) Is it easier/preferred, for a working pair to move engine first towing the butty or to lash them side by each? 2nd question - were the Locks & canals on the GU / K&A and other locals canals & rivers made as wide as they are so that a pair of work boats could go through together? Or were the really old working boats (from when the canals were built) wider than the work boats (I'm thinking of the current coal boats) that we see on the canals now?

Nope the shell was almost 5 years old when we bought her and the previous owner had fitted her out himself using his own skilled workforce (he's a property developer) then his wife decided she didn't fancy boating on the canals for her holidays or even weekends so he put her up for sale. He had commissioned our hull from Cuttwater Boats - the other bit that I would recommend for anyone looking to have a WB hull commissioned is the chinned hull; it gives so much more flexibality in mooring spots. We seem to be able to get in a fair few places that other WB's can't and/or closer to the bank. Which is really good for me, I have problems with my legs so don't trust myself on the gang plank

Yeah, I must say I think ours is rather different compared to most. We have a Trad Stern, quite rare in itself on a WB - but it does mean I have a utility room/tool room just inside the back hatch Ours has the trad layout with the bedroom at the back end, most now seem to have a reverse layout with the galley/saloon at the back Not sure what the "trendy" material is these days, but ours is fitted out with Oak with Ash trim, except below the gunwhales and the ceiling which is white tongue & groove. Unlike Peter boat - we keep our 4 seater corner sofa in the saloon but have a full size walk around bed in the bed room ETA - whilst typing the above something struck me. I was offline for a few months from Nov - April, and since I've come back there seems to be a lot less WB members posting. Did I miss something major whilst offline? Are we really not welcome round these parts, was there some serious bust up? I've always taken the banter between WB & NB owners as just that...banter in the most part. Where have the likes of: Dean Blackrose Jeylyn Juliynn all gone? there's someone else missing, but their user ID slips my memory at present.

We did it two years ago, and lets just say if it's up to me, we won't be doing it again any time soon. Good bits for me - Compton old time water works very interesting / Hungerford was a lovely little town right on the canal / Devizes was ok & the Caen Hill flight was a great experience even in the rain / enjoyed the river sections of the canal Not so good bits for me - The locks are a real ball ache and I have none / unlike the GU, there are very few landscape vistas to look at / grocery shopping can be a bit of a challenge unless you plan well in advance and stock up at the Reading Tesco's unless your happy to use taxi's and such. Good shopping at Hungerford & ok at Devizes if you can get a mooring up near the wharf / from Reading to the bottom of the flight we only had 1 mooring where we didn't need to use the gang plank & in Very General terms people didn't seem to be a friendly compared to all the other places we've been on the southern canals & rivers from London to Hertford to Lechlade to Braunston and many spots inbetween Both Pics taken the same year - 1st is just to the north of Braunston, the 2nd & 3rd are somewhere along the scenic (cough, cough) K&A In fairness, my OH thought it was lovely and really enjoyed it - to each their own

Man after my own heart ^^ I quietly get my own back when those in narrow boats that look down their noses at us WB's or on the rare occasion those who actually do have the gumption to share their feelings face to face. I just think to myself...well at the end of the day... I have a full sized double bed that I can walk around to make in the mornings rather than having to fold the bed/mattress up, a 40inch tv doesn't look out of place in our saloon, I can comfortably have 6 people sit down at the table without anyone needing to sit on the sofa, we can both be in any room on the boat at the same time and not be tripping over each other; but most importantly to me is I don't have to walk through the bathroom to get to the other end of the boat (I love 'im to bits, but there are some things I'd just as soon not witness Dave doing) if you get my drift At the end of the day - we are all different and all have different priorities - nothing wrong with that in my book Don't get me wrong - I love seeing and hearing the old work boats when they go past; but I personally wouldn't want to live on one, other folk do and I can only hope they are as happy with their living standards as I am with ours But in fairness; the majority of folks we've met since living on the cut are more along the lines of "size doesn't matter" folks and in general are just nice people

As always, Nice photos Ray - thanx for sharing

I'm struggling to picture a plastic boat with a "vintage diesel engine room" Mark .... I'm off to Google that now ETA - missing word