Bettie Boo

It actually mentions in Nicholsons, that it does not recommend WB's mooring between North of Milton Keynes & Braunston. However, again I point out that CRT, not only sell/auction off LTM's between Milton Keynes & Wiggram's Turn on the North Oxford to WB's, and happily take their cut of EOG moorings that have WB's on them (you'd think the local EO would notice and take appropriate action if it was wrong) we also have to make arrangements with CRT to pass through the 2 tunnels, since we can only go through at 8AM than it stands to reason we will need to moor up somewhere over night. I would suggest you are taking a "direction" as being Law. I take it as a warning that there are places between MK & Braunston that are not suitable for WB's to moor and to take a little extra consideration of others when picking mooring spots. Just to clarify the "set up" of the last time we hit....We were on a straight section of canal (easily wide enough for another WB or two NB's to pass beside us), behind us was a bridge, which was well over 80 feet away (I know this because on one evening a 70 ft boat moored between us and the bridge). The boat that hit us, hit the front end of our boat with the front end of their boat. They were heading toward the bridge, not coming out of the bridge. There were no turns present, and the bridge is not one of the ones that I would call higgly piggly. Hope that clarify s it a bit better

Take it slow, make sure you have your camera at the ready and I hope you enjoy your maiden voyage as much as we did on ours, I remember every bit of it even now. What a great feeling If your worried at all about the tunnels, just moor close to them and try to be there around 8:00, that way you can follow a WB through and know there will be nothing coming the other way, we had a couple do that with us for the first one and a single lady ask if she could follow us through on the Blisworth one. Not everyone likes the tunnels, me being one of them. But in hindsight, it was no where near as bad as I thought it was going to be.

roland - where ever did you get the idea that wide beams are not supposed to moor above Berko? If it were a problem, I doubt that CRT would make arrangements for us to pass through either of the tunnels, considering we can only go through first thing in the morning which makes that bit at least a 2 day trip. Never mind all the LTM's CRT manage between Berko and the North Oxford up as far a Wigram's Turn (could be further than that, but that's as far as we've been in ours) We've been up and down the GU a few times now, and have not experienced any "tricky passing spots" with the exception of the water point right outside the Stop House @ Braunston marina that 2 WB's can't pass each other. Yes there a loads of bridge 'oles that we couldn't get through with another boat (NB) coming in the opposite direction, but it's never been a "problem", we simply pull over and let the other boat pass through if they are closer to the bridge than we are or if it looks like they aren't slowing down

Well Dave uses frozen corn kennels for bait (he thaws it first) and the fishes love that so I figure they are bound to lourve my chopped up carrot, spud peelings and the bottoms of my asparagus sticks and chopped up cabbage bits

Last summer on the Paddington arm

I just Love stories like these - makes me go all warm and gloowey and at peace with the world outside

Mike, when your boat was built; was it built to your spec or was it an off the shelf design? Windows, mounts for fenders, hatch on each side, anchor set up type thing?

Hasn't there been a fair few cases where boats have gone to "rescue" people from their homes (bricks & mortar) during times of flood, where the resident has refused to go and just moved upstairs; where they have wanted to stay with their homes? I don't remember hearing any of those folks being arrested.

I wasn't trying to be sarcastic Richard, I really meant, it was a lovely, feel good story and a nice act of kindness. And yes, we also have benefited from help offered from forum members and are quite thankful for it - sorry, but I don't understand your post in relation to what I wrote?

^^^ is what I was trying to get across - yet again someone else was able to do it using far less words and more eloquently Here - have my last greenie of the day

Sometimes I think I'd drive the majority of you all nuts by the way we cruise... 1) I often forget that not everyone cruises like we do, more often than not we don't have a "set destination" for the day, we cruise till we want to moor up then we start looking for a spot to moor. We are Never in a rush (unless the red light is on and we need a pump out before the nearest marina closes) 2) More often than not we offer assistance with paddles and/or gates at locks to single handler's whether they are ahead or behind us. Most times it's met with a heartfelt welcome, on rare occasion it's been declined, no big deal either way to us 3) I never rush into or out of a lock, I'm still a bit of a chicken around other boats and always take my time 4) If I'm going at a speed I'm comfortable with I won't speed up no matter how close up my arse end you come, but as soon as I get on a straight stretch I'll move over to you can easily and safely pass by (this has only happened once - miserable ol' basrag) 5) You may be moored in the middle of nowhere and enjoying your seclusion , but if we've already called it a day and your on Armco be prepared to have neighbors for the night - we will try to leave a boats length between us 6) We shut all lock gates & paddles unless - otherwise instructed to do so on the gate / there is a boat coming in the opposite direction / we are on a canalized river where custom & practice dictates that exit gates are to remain open 7) And then just to add insult to injury, on hot summer days I normally set a bowl of filtered water out the side hatch for any passing dogs or cats to help themselves to 9) AND YES, I do throw my veg peelings into the cut for the fish, ducks, swans & turtles There I feel better now

Oh, now that's ^^ something that might have motivated me back in those first few fearful days...but would have still wanted the "comfort" of knowing there was someone very near that could take over if I got muffled. The one thing that really helped was knowing that Dave could take over within a second of me deciding "I can't do it", he was at the point of being able to steer the boat from either side of the tiller or sitting on top of the back hatch - that also was a big comfort.

Ahhh now nice, faith is yet again restored in the kindness of mankind Happy Birthday Mr. Pieman - have a greenie as a pressy

Did I mention how nice it is to have you back ^^

All joking aside, when we first had the boat and spent our time either moored in Braunston marina or cruising the North GU / North Oxford, it wasn't a problem at all. But with that said, there was only us and about 4 or 5 other WB's that moved much. There were a couple from Wigram's Marina and one that had a long term mooring between Braunston and Wigram's and a couple of the hotel boats and that was about it. I only ever remember meeting another wide beam going in the opposite direction about 3 times in the 6 months were were there, and we went out most weeks for a couple of days cruise just to get out of the marina and get some peace and quite as well as some practice. We did meet another WB once at the water point outside the marina and we had to pull in as there wasn't enough space for the two of us to pass each other right there, it being a bit of a pinch point. Funny enough we met the same couple the following year down on the Thames around Abingdon From MK south on the GU, there are loads of us, but I would say a much higher % that actually move regularly than what you find north of MK. Or that's how it feels to us anyway. And to be honest, IMM that makes sense as well.

Oh course I did, hence the winkie smiley I put in my response

Sorry, need to disagree with the bit in bold - there are "some" locks on the GU that give instruction to leave bottom gates closed, but at least one paddle raised, and others that instruct to leave bottom gates open with paddles raised. This is by far not the instruction on the majority of the locks on the GU IMO. However, the majority of locks on the River Lee (if not all of them) it is common practice to leave the exit gate open, to the point that people holler at you if you go to close them. Canalized River As said in your other thread, if we help a single hander through a lock who is behind us, we'll ask how far they are going. For the next couple of locks, if we haven't met anyone coming from the opposite direction we will shut and set the lock in their favor. If / when they catch up to us, they have always been full of thanks. That's what it's all about for me, cruisin along meeting nice folks as we go

Do NOT do this^^^ if she is anything like me, she'd kill you once back on the boat. Short of that, I'd make you suffer for a Very long time I was very uncomfortable in taking the helm of our boat during the first year, and still won't do the higgly piggly bridges on the GU unless right up against a lock that I'm crawling through anyway. I'm now more then happy for 'im to be indoors for a quick wee or brew and leaving me at the tiller, both passing moving and none moving boats, most road bridges and all locks & swing bridges. When we started out, our boat is our home, so was really nervous about doing any damage to either it or another boat. Ours is a WB Trad stern, so there's enough room for me to stand in the back hatch and for Dave to still have enough space to safely use the tiller without getting in the arch of the tiller swing. Now he's over 6 ft and can easily see the front of the boat, I'm a bit of a heavy set short arse at 5ft 6in and not only can I not make out where the front sides of the boat are I struggle to see where the front centre of the boat is. He built me a little step about the size of a battery that I can stand on to get my bearings, and put a wee piece of orange florescent tape on the tip of our antenna which is at the front & centre of the boat ok, one problem solved. Then I just couldn't get my head around the way that most people give instruction on how to use the tiller. The whole left/right thing has always caused me confusion. No idea why, I know the difference, but I've always had to "think" about it. To the point of touching either my right or left wrist to get the correct side (in the car I used to say, just say your way or my way, or point), anyway someone on the forum suggested something completely different and it worked wonders...if the front of the boat is pointing to port and you want it to go starboard then point the tiller to put the tiller to port, or even easier is if you want the boat to go in the opposite direction to where it's going, point the tiller end to the same direction to front of the boat is pointing. Forget all about the left/right thing. For some of us that just caused confusion. Someone mentioned having your hand on the tiller but let her steer - that worked a treat for me, then I'd get to the point of "ok, take your hand away, but stay where you are just in case" & then we just worked up from there. I'll never forget the first time I passed another boat coming from the opposite direction...as our sterns passed I was jumping up and down hugging Dave screeching Whooo Hoooo I DID IT, I DID IT; I'm sure the other boat though "ahhh bless, he's taken a mentally unsound person out for a day trip" The first 10 or 15 locks I did, I was very nervous about not getting to close to the front gates, but not being comfortable in judging how much space I had. He'd just walk to the front and using his fingers let me know when I had about 8 feet left to play with, then I'd pick some kind of marking along the lock to keep my arse end level with presto problem solved, actually I still do the same, but am comfortable in judging the front end on my own now. When first doing locks, I didn't think I could land the boat on my own for him to get back on, so I would get my arse out of the lock and then just hold the boat there till he had the gates closed and he's then tell me which way to put the tiller and he'd hop back on, after a few goes with no one else around, I got my head around bringing her in close to the bank for him to get back on if there's another boat waiting to come into the lock. End of the day, I wouldn't say I'm overly confident on the tiller, but quite happy for him to go to the loo, make a brew or even sit up front for 10 minutes. Except when we are on either the Lee or Thames, when I more than happy to take over for long stretches of time. Dave was very patient, gentle and very reassuring when teaching me and it worked good luck

Oi!! I'm currently moored up on one of those "muddy ditches dug in the Midlands", and I'll have you know it looks like, smells like, and sounds like a canal. It's wide enough for us to moor up and still have loads of space for passing boats, so therefore it's gotta be a proper canal

If we know we've got a single hander behind us, we'll ask how far they are going and for the next 2 or 3 locks (depending on how far apart they are) if there's on one coming in the opposite direction, we'll set the lock so it's in their favor when they arrive. We've done this on a few occasions and have always received a heart felt thanks if they catch up to us as we're either moving really slowly or have pulled over the for the day. Every now and then we'll come across a single hander who will say they don't want any help with a lock - fair play, we leave them to get on with it and we carry on...to each their own. Personally I don't think you did anything wrong Ricco, you were on your own, they had a skipper and crew, in my mind, they should have been offering you assistance, but that's just me.

definitely - ok, so I like F's and D's and sometimes get mixed up on how many I can use in a word or are you saying I should make better use of my spell checker, or maybe even that I should remember to put my glasses on when using said spell checker?