Dav and Pen

Our PD2s both had the spiral on the hand start which allowed you to put the decompressor levers over held by a bar attached to a small wheel that when you turned the handle slowly moved along the spiral until the decompressors fell . Sorry not a good description but it meant you could keep winding. Personally I nearly always failed to hand start them but Ted Ward never did. Ted had some wonderful terminology for the engine parts one of which was “splunger” which was always the cause of a mystery breakdown. Not sure of the reasons for the cranks breaking but ours did whilst ticking over in the top lock at Atherstone but it still got back to Braunston. As we were running camping boats decided to change it for a PJ3 from a trinity house generator which had only done 4 hours and 40 years later it’s still in the boat which has had 3 owners since .

Narrow boats do roll as we found out on Lough Alan in Ireland where a wind had blown up waves at 90 degrees to our route. We were once moored at Soisons with our barge and a small narrow boat was also there, every time a commercial went past it really rolled frightening the owner who jumped ashore.

At chipping warden there’s a large batching plant in the compound but the concrete units to make the cut and cover tunnel seem to have stopped being placed. When I drove a truck mixer any left over concrete was sold to the local farmers who always had a use for it. Not allowed to do that now apparently so tipped in the quarry or some where handy.

Believe there is talk of possibly using it to do the remedial work to the iron bridge.

A place that really needs abridge is Braunston where the ladder bridge is not suitable and money was left in a bequest for a replacement which crt can’t manage. I first went through Thrupp bridge in 1967 and there were no boats moored anywhere for the long term.

In the late 18th and early 19th century many man of war ships were built at Bucklers Hard on the river. Timber coming from the New Forest and it’s likely a number of barges for local work would have been needed.

When we were over there we came across a few narrow boats most of which had been trucked over to Simon Evans yard to be unloaded. This allowed them to avoid the busy and large northern canals and they were then able to use the central canals which are a bit more suitable. We decided to sell our Narrow boat and buy a Dutch barge in Belgium. Due to ill health we sold in 2019 before the 90 days rule which makes things difficult but it is possible to get a long term visa providing you can show income and health insurance.

Whilst it’s out of the water just have a can of blacking handy to paint over any places the surveyor had scraped clean (the boatyard will probably have some handy). If a bad survey is looking likely and you are walking away then leave it to the owner. All our boats have been sold privately and all but one brought privately the last being through a broker who drew up a contract. When we sold it I copied the contract.

Douvre brokers are a good place to start but be careful because there are a lot of barges over 20 m that do not have ES-Trin certificates and therefore cannot be moved by water until they comply. Usually there is a contract when buying whereby you pay a deposit and the boat is then surveyed at your expense but if it turns out to be not as described you can get your deposit back or the owner puts right the problems at his expense. Like old narrow boats old Dutch barges can be a money pit but on the other hand the Dutch generally look after them very well. Good luck.

It has been reported today that Stenson Lock is open

Tadworth had a Torgem stove when we brought her from BWB 1973 as all the cooking was done on the butty Bakewell and the drop down table had been removed and a full length door fitted with the cupboard being used for hanging clothes.

It was taken to Ireland from Calcutt boats nearby Southam Warwickshire and put into the Grand Canal at Salins near Dublin. 3 years later we brought it back from Shannonharbour to Calcutt to be sold as we were buying a Dutch barge in Antwerp. As this was in 2000 the prices would now seem very good indeed but the company Whittens is still going and have been involved in moving some very big barges recently.

Whittens hauliers from Banager are experts in moving boats and regularly move boats from Europe to Ireland and Itelnd to Uk. When they brought my NB back to England it was sent unaccompanied as they had a tractor unit permanently based in Liverpool.

We kept our barge on the Burgundy canal for some 10 years and our winter mooring was in the part of the canal which is under this threat. It was obviously being run down and the 50 locks from Venerey to Pouilly are in a poor state and need quite a lot of labour to pass boats through. The hotel boats either work the route from the summit to Dijon and the Saone or from Venerey to the Yonne although most of these have given up due to the state of this section of the canal due to lack of dredging and low water levels so they have gone to the Canal Loire. Some years ago the VNF tried to hand over the canal to the region who were prepared to take it on and did so for a little while but the deal broke down over the pensions that they would have to take on. I understand from my friends there that there is a 2 year delay before a definite decision and there are rumors of something like sub contracting this section out to an infrastructure company. Closure would be a great shame as the locks are pretty easy and the area is very interesting.

I knew a boat owner who kept a graph of his beer consumption day by day and could compare it with the previous years. Mind you he was a draughtsman. I kept a record of each days journey in hours, no of locks, mooring costs if any. Also when gas brought and oil changes etc and fuel brought. Originally on a Microsoft works program but then on spreadsheets.

To me a boat is for moving and seeing other places plus the test of steering them! All the maintenance etc that goes with them is part of it unless you are wealthy enough to pay others to do it for you. At the ages of the OP and with a mortgage free house buying an expensive new build seems like a big mistake. People who do this rarely can get back into the housing market and my advice would be to downsize and by a reasonable used boat once you have both decided that you really like the idea of living aboard after trying out a couple of rental holidays, this gives you the option of living aboard during the warmer months and in the house during the winter. We started boating 60 years ago with a small cruiser and over the years finished up with a Dutch barge on the continent where we spent 17 years cruising between April and October. We finally came ashore full time 3 years ago at the ages of 78 and 80 as my wife was becoming very unsteady and as it turned out very Poorly. You never know what’s in store.

To pull the plug out but prop to put stop planks in

I don’t know how to show the listing but Top Lock cottage at Braunston is for sale £750,000.

Great Ouse is in Bedford. I temper once reading that Luzon was the only major town not on a river or waterway, never bothered to look into it though.

When we were there a man at Shannon Harbour made his living buying second hand hire boats from the broads, doing them up and selling them on and there were some old springer NB s as well. The vast majority of the boats were old GRP cruisers but Ireland has got wealthier since and now there are plenty of modern Dutch steel Cruisers .The photo is of a rally at Shannon Harbour

The favorite saying by Liam in the Shannonharbour pub/shop when it was rainy was that it’s a bit misty. Our boat had an HB 2 and it was never short of power but as I said watch the weather. All the damp makes it very humid at times. I was asked one day what I thought of Ireland and I said I’d worked out what Ireland was for as a wind break for England, got a good laugh. Lots of the lakes and on the Shannon Erne waterway have buoyed channels and the system is a bit confusing so many boats particularly hire boats get the wrong side and go aground.

Upper lough Erne is really lovely with lots of Islands and one had a restaurant were we stayed the night. The lower lough is not so interesting. There are a lot of Hire boats on the Shannon itself but there’s plenty of space and the Canals and R. Barrow are worth exploring. the Iiwa organised some good gatherings and the owners of the original grand canal barges also have meets to which we went as our NB was very traditional with is Lister engine which attracted attention. It’s an expensive place especially food . The Irish boat owners are a great bunch one of them had an old wooden cruiser with twin gardners and he would start one up at breakfast time so he could have toast. Don’t know about top of the morning but everybody speaks and there was only one place where we felt uncomfortable where a group of women were encouraging the singer to sing anti British songs so we left. The owner apologised and asked us to come back the next evening. Our Airedale terrier was a great source of interest and the greeting was often “what sort of dogs that den”.

Did they run on an accumulator or batteries? I doubt it’s a radio as the only electricity in the butty would be a 12 volt battery for the lights.

We took our 50ft narrow boat to Ireland by truck it was lifted out at Calcutt and put in the Grand Canal at Salins near Dublin. We spent 2 summers from April til end September traveling around the Irish system and the N.Irish Loch Erne. There are live aboards with some concentrated at the Dublin end but also Sharon harbour and Richmond harbour and we left our boat at Shannonharbour for the winter months. The license included mooring when we were there and it was very casual you tied up where you could and alongside another boat if needed. There are marinas on the Shannon but we never used one. It’s a wonderful system and the Irish boaters were very friendly and helpful but it’s the pubs that really make it so enjoyable as long as you like Guinness and singing. the slight drawback to a narrow boat is the weather conditions on the big lakes so you need to study the forecast and be prepared to wait for suitable weather. Two of the people who took their NB over at the same time of us liked it so much that they now live in Ireland and one has married an Irish lady.

When it finished running for Blue Line it was moored by the Braunston yard Bridge and Jim and Mrs Collins lived on board. Jim told me he could lay in bed and see the church clock! Eventually it was given back to BWB and went to Blisworth yard and put out to tender so I went and looked. The whole back end was rotten with visible holes in the sides and beyond economic repair. I remember seeing it on the bank near Bedworth where it stayed for some time with nothing seeming to get done. Not sure where it is now or what’s left of it.