TheBiscuits

My old Seagull smoked like that too!

There's been a contractor on a weed boat for the last couple of days above Johnson's Hillock, clearing a lot of the stringy stuff out. Presumably they'll be doing or have done more areas too.

And the electric boat discount remains. So ideally you'd want an electric narrow boat with a home mooring. Oh, wait ...

Lousy beer. Not been back this year so no idea if it's better/worse/under new management/turned into flats ... Depends on what you want from a mooring. I quite like mooring near the golf course at Haigh Hall, but it's a mile and a bit to anywhere if you need anything. If you're dashing for home you'll not have time to amble around Haigh Woodland Park anyway. The VM at the top of Wigan Flight is as good as anywhere if you want a quick start the following day. There's also a bus to Wigan Central (https://wigancentral.bar/) if you mistime it for the festival.

The Bridge was dire last year, not been back since. Chorley has a better selection of alehouses and good pubs, and is only another stop ...

Train from Adlington, two stops ... Yes, Bolton Wanderers ground. Usually around 150+ different cask ales as it includes the SIBA North West regional competition.

Shame that, there's an enormous beer festival at Middlebrook from the 12th ...

@IanD make sure you're out of the Yorkshire region before @Midnight gets there. Based on his track record there's going to be three breaches, a collapsed tunnel and a landslip preventing him getting back to his mooring! 😁

I've never really understood this heating by calendar thing that some people do. If it's cold, warm the place up a bit. Admittedly there are some who run heating/stove just to avoid putting a jumper on, but when you're considering salopettes it's not being a wuss to warm up! You're not obliged to keep it in until April just because you lit it once. I have seen some people stick a couple of large candles inside the stove to get the cheery flicker on a dank day. I might have to try this to see if it fools me into thinking it's warmer ...

Stop canoe/kayak, climb out, either pick up boat or deploy portage trolley, walk to other side of bridge with canoe, put back in water, climb in again, set off. I challenge you to do this in under 2 minutes for a standard L&L swingbridge. That's what you are calling snails pace. In practice of course, most canoes/kayaks/boards just lie down and go under the bridge if possible, but some of the bridges have big girders and sticking out bolts underneath them. It's a liability CYA exercise from CRT.

Not all the "decommissioned" swingbridges are decommissioned. Some of them are usually left open but the landowner can and does swing it when wanting to use it. Admittedly the signs are also near the ones with trees growing through the bridge deck too. The vollies who erected them did ask what the point of some of them was, but were told to do them anyway!

Assuming that's the number of Gregg's customers, it suggests that the other forty million or so in the country don't ever go there ... 🤔

A badly phrased reminder to oil the air filter gauze, put there by a previous owner?

What, every day, noon till 2pm? Get the service chap to refuel it while he's there and you won't need the electronics ...

Warrington? Bridgewater and Manchester Ship canals?

It's still there, they've just removed the menu link. https://licensing.canalrivertrust.org.uk/Boat/Sightings

I'm pretty sure you need a BSS on a boat with an enclosed cabin though, even if the entire checklist is marked "Not Present" And the correct labels on the water and diesel filler, obviously! Less sarcastically, an enclosed cabin will need fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, CO alarms. If there's a battery to run eg lights and water pump that will need to comply.

That's worrying!

A friend of mine brought back a box trailer from his place in France and rather than run empty filled it with well seasoned oak firewood. The organic matter scanner at the ferry port lit up like a Christmas tree and border control made him unload the entire 8ft x 6ft x 8ft trailer to prove there wasn't anybody hiding in it! He doesn't bring any back now ...

Not sure about that. There have been a couple of boats who spotted that the £25/day overstay charge on visitor moorings effectively grants permission to stay if you pay so do. Also £12.50 per day is ~£380 a month. You won't find many other places to live at that rate in that London area.