TheBiscuits

*shrugs* The stone ledge in that lock is potentially lethal We have reported the protruding stonework in that lock three times to CRT in different years. A friend of ours hung in it three years ago (very experienced CC liveaboard). We prevented a hireboat hanging in it 2 years ago by taking charge of the lock and altering the water flow. We prevented a private boat from hanging in it last year by kicking the cabin top hard enough to rock them free of the protrusions. This year a boat has snagged and sunk. We were not there so could not do anything.

Don't know why the forum ate my picture, but it's this one ...

Shouldn't take long ...

Excellent advice but do it gently or you might need a new cauliflower after all!

Why do you think there was a Stewards' Enquiry into whether Carrie~Lou counted or not?

Boat 1: Good Times (That's my boat, but there was a stewards enquiry into if the organisers' boat counts last time, so no photo) passed on to Boat 2: Paws 4 Thought in the tender care of a slightly baffled Tony, who is going to have to explain to Admiral Pat why he has acquired a pot noodle! By amazing coincidence, Tony is going to be helping this weeks BCN Explorer Cruise through various flights of locks, and there are 20 boats taking part in that ...

Making sure the paint can is right in the centre of the channel so it will foul a prop.

Following on from this thread about raising money for the Chesterfield Canal Trust: The prize noodles were won by @Dr Bob and I have been tasked with getting them to him by boat. Taking them in a taxi this afternoon is just too easy. He has also publicly stated that he is willing to donate £1.00 per boat that the noodles travel on to catch up with him, so I have set them free on their travels. Anyone taking part in the travails travels of the noodles please note that we are not obliged to get these noodles to @Dr Bob on NB Kharis until February 2020 (the Best Before date of the noodles!) and remember that quid per boat thing.

Rose tinted glasses - and usually rose tinted hearing aids too!

L&L short boat Severn was moored a 1/4 mile upstream ... just before Yarwood's Basin where all the old boats are. Tim's former steamer Kennet was moored outside the basin and they were trying to work a pair back into there after the steam rally when I nearly crashed into them coming downstream ... I don't know which two boats I nearly hit, because they were reversing into the basin entrance and the cabins were in the narrow bit, but I'm fairly sure the steerer needed new underwear!

I quite like that one. Not as a boat, obviously, but I quite like it.

Right, a quick update. @nellieD has been emailed, and very kindly invited us not just for the Bradley workshops tour, but also on the history walk along the closed locks. As that is next week as part of the BCNS Explorer cruise, we have skipped Tividale Quays for now and are bimbling along the curly wurly instead - we will do Tividale one night on the way back round.

Mind you I don't think we would get the shopping trolley next year anyway - @cheshire~rose was talking about getting Python to enter next year, and they have a well practised crew and space to put stuff!

I would have agreed with you until we did the BCN Challenge last week. If you have never witnessed all the boats heading for the finish on the BCN mainline with 10 minutes to go, you have never seen boats "making motorway" (It's like "making road", but much faster!)

Sadly not next year. We have a very good friend's 60th birthday bash to attend a week later, and he wants to do it in Liverpool, with as many friends' boats there as we can get booked in. We could make it and back, but it would be a gruelling few weeks boating and we think we would be too tired to enjoy either the challenge or the birthday banter. [Edit to add : 220 miles and 136 locks plus the challenge route in 3 weeks? No!] We will certainly be back in future years, and we might be down by train next year if anyone needs crew. Strangely we have already had a few offers of berths ... but we need to decide if we want to work that hard again! I think the telling factor will be if Pete (3rd crew member - little Bob didn't count!) gets Achilles finished enough to do the challenge next year, but if we aim for that then Richard and Sue might not be as helpful as they have been in finding him parts for her! Maybe I need to borrow Clarrie just to utterly confuse everybody.

That's not what she said

@cheshire~rose sacked you then?

You have a selection of boats ...

You do know that Steph no longer works for CRT, don't you? She left last year.

Waited till it failed so they could claim it as an emergency stoppage for their KPI rating. 2 weeks later I think it went ...

We were discussing why the worst offenders always seem to have the big "Slow Down - Tick Over" signs on the cabin bulkhead, and came to the conclusion that somebody else stuck them on their boat to try and remind them to do it!

It's when the stone or concrete cill cracks and the water blows the masonry into the lock. You end up with a strong jet of water shooting into the lock, and can not operate the lock due to all the water coming under the head gates. Here is one on Blackburn flight on the L&L just before it blew a couple of years ago - the photo was one I took to report it as an imminent failure.