Peter X

Thanks mark99 and others who've said similar things elsewhere, I'm working on it.

Athy, It would appear that... Asupertamp might be a student of 1970s music. You just might have been at Huddersfield.... it has the HNC which I first went on in June/July 2019. There are other canals close to universities etc.

I'm back on the forums, and hoping to update my profile later today or over the coming days and weeks to allow for having had major surgery for a life-threatening condition on Wednesday 8th January 2020, and being not sure yet when I'll be out boating again, it could be a few months from now. Long live the Croydon Canal song! I have a friend who says he's got a recording of it., and hope to hear that sometime this month and be back to say a bit about it! Peter X

Good morning everyone, this is my first post on the forums since having major surgery on Wed. 8th January 2020 !!! This is still an interesting topic, as I would like to take part again one day in the BCN Challenge, having crewed on it first in 2016 with the NBT (Narrow Boat Trust) on Nuneaton and Brighton, then again in 2018 with member p6rob (I think? of the forums. To the best of my knowledge, the NBT are unlikely to take part this year but just might enter in the 2021 event, which would be our first appearance since 2016. I'm not sure when the NBT first entered it, probably some years before I first joined it in early 2016, but not before the NBT was founded in 1970! I'm not sure which year the BCN Challenge was first held in fact and would be interested to know. Does anyone know that please, and what year NBT first entered? I have one or two urgent matters to attend to today, but expect to be back on the forums later today to update my profile and post in one or two other topics. Until then, if anyone wishes to contact me, please send me a PM, to which I expect I can respond in due course. A few forum members know my phone numbers; please don't call me yet, not until I've had my next appointment with my consultant which is on the morning od Tuesday 21 st January 2020. Peter X !!!

the Thames has been mostly on red boards for months, there are lots of CRT notices telling us that waterways or sections of them have too much water, and it has indeed rained a lot lately here in Croydon. I try to take the optimistic view; the reservoirs should fill up and we'll have few restrictions on lock use in 2020.

Yes... I read that Frog island later got renamed Sunny Bank; For many years the X family (especially my father's parents) lived in a house in Anerley, up near Crystal Palace Station. By 1969 his sister had the house, then Bromley council compulsory purchased it, and my aunt bought a house in Sunny Bank with the proceeds, where my cousin now lives. Having grown up in Anerley and lived in or near it much of my life, I'm familiar with the remaining section of the canal in Betts Park. That would still be practical to navigate, just bring a light inflatable! But I doubt I'll live to see the canal restored all the way from West Croydon up to the Surrey Docks. If they ever do that it would be nice to restore the canals connecting to Peckham and Camberwell too. Nowadays Croydon has some famous singers, maybe Adele and Stormzy should record a mew version of that excellent song. It has great comic potential I reckon; maybe the lyricist in 1809 had their tongue firmly in cheek.

Was there really, and did they do that? If so I doubt the night would have ended well. I've joined a few lost causes in south London in my time, but was more selective than that. My school cricket team in Beckenham was very much a lost cause when I got picked; they suffered due to my lack of ability at the game. I would have stayed away from the fictional Tooting Popular Front: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Smith Then there is the rather wonderfully odd South Norwood Tourist Board: https://southnorwoodtouristboard.com ...Good idea, I'm not in it but good luck to them!

There are a number of restoration projects going on which I think make more economic sense than new canals, but it wouldn't surprise me if one ore two new canals get built in my lifetime, say the next 30 years or so. Bedford to MK seems to have some momentum behind it. if we're talking fantasy projects, how about reconnecting Croydon? The canal to the |Surrey docks having been closed in 1836 and being a very unlikely candidate for restoration, maybe we could canalise the river Wandle down to the Thames at Wandsworth, as was considered but rejected before the Surrey Iron Railway was built along much the same route in 1809. Then extend this Wandle Canal up the valley to Carshalton Ponds (pontoon moorings there?) for the benefit of mark99.

Could each of these urban areas along the canal have a public wharf so it's possible for anyone to load and unload cargo? With a nice shed so that items in transit can be stored, e.g. lots bought in the currently running auction.

Effectively right I think, although the EA actually call it registration, not a licence. Area is beam x length. And a typical narrow boat counts as a "launch". Here is the link to the 2019 prices: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-thames-boat-registration-charges/river-thames-boat-registration-charges-1-january-2019-to-31-december-2019 To get from Oxford to Lechlade and back I reckon the one week option is enough, or maybe the OP could buy a month and take their time.

There are a lot of places from which you could commute for a day into central London, some of them along the Grand Union, particularly the lower end of it in west London, so hang on to that dream chilli, it's kind of possible! For example, you could look around in the Midlands for a bargain boat that suits your needs, which you feel capable of buying and getting into shape, then slowly approach London in it. Do plan carefully. It'll be a learning curve, but could turn out well for you.

Kate17, may I suggest you give a bit more information about what you're looking for please? So, you want to film for a few hours one afternoon, on a boat ideally in the west Midlands (lots of canals there!), but maybe a bit further afield. but when? How soon does it need to be, or do you want to leave it until better weather in the new year? There's a bunch of students, but do they all need to be on the boat and/or in the film? Are there any further requirements about the boat and its facilities, location etc., which may arise from the students or from the sort of film you hope to make? Will you need the boat to come with someone to steer it? And crew to operate locks or be extras? If so, will there be mandatory costumes? Or if not will your students be willing and able to assist as crew? Finally, if your requirements are particularly special and demanding, it might be hard to find the right boat at the right time and place with the right people available. People might even want paying! Do you have a budget for that? I think if you can tell us more, someone on here may well step forwards to help you. People on this forum are a pretty varied bunch, inclined to joke about a lot of things, but mostly helpful.

My guess is that CRT will find a way to get Denham Deep lock open by the spring, because fortunately they understand that keeping all their waterways open for navigation is an important objective. It can be an uphill task, but they do make an effort. Also, if the OP comes down via Oxford there's the need to have a gold licence or pay EA, then wait for the Thames to come off red boards. So I would advise the OP to plan to use the usual route from Rugby, down the GU then turn left at Bull's Bridge, and to try to find some suitable work on the way, maybe lining something up before setting off.

In theory I don't think cyclists are entitled to ignore the signs, because someone riding a bicycle is a vehicle. There is a famous legal precedent to say that once a cyclist has dismounted and is walking pushing their bike they are no longer a vehicle, namely Crank v Brooks (1980). In that case I think someone pushing a bike across a pedestrian crossing was run down by a car, the driver of which tried to argue that the person run over was a vehicle. This notion was sensibly rejected. I've never seen a sedan chair in actual use outside of TV and film, on a towpath or anywhere, but who knows whether it happens in the modern world, let alone what the law has to say about it? Anyone?

Are you going from P&S marine by water? If so, I assume you'll be waiting until the Denham Deep stoppage is over, then I suggest you talk a friend or relative (ideally someone with some boating experience) into being your crew, then allow two days; one to get down about 11 locks and some way into the Paddington Arm, and the second day to do the remainder of that plus whatever locks you need to reach your destination; only 4 locks to reach Battlebridge Basin, but including one of the pair at Hampstead Road (aka Camden Lock). Expect a crowd of gongoozlers there! You may also need to find someone with relevant knowledge to look after your animals en voyage. Try asking these two?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Shop_Boys Depending on when you go, if you need boating crew for an odd day (one of the two I mentioned) I might volunteer, just or the fun of it; I have some local knowledge of that route. Whoever is going to steer a 70' boat round the corner at Bull's Bridge needs to do it carefully of course. Also, where will your old boat need to go to, and when? By water? Do you intend to transfer your stuff (including animals) from the old to the new boat, and if so how and where? In Battlebridge Basin, or should the boats meet somewhere more suitable?