Jonny P

Cant say I’ve ever really noticed it but I’d normally be on the lock side whereas today I was at the helm and it was right next to me.

Came down Buckby today. The new work is absolutely fine. All the new work is now commissioned which has reinstated a full set of centre paddles on lock 12 and made lock 13 gate paddles easily workable which they weren’t previously. Had good help from a couple of volockies and was down the flight in 90 minutes. Only worry was a lot of water leaking back out from behind from near side wall on lock 13.

£40-45k is not a budget boat in the current market. There are decent boats going on the market at around £50k with top end brokers. They may be a stretch with a maximum budget of £45k but I’m sure there’s a decent boat out there somewhere at that money. 50’ length will have a more limited market than 57’ because it’ll be lacking one feature on some people’s wish list. So it’s maybe not a bad target size but I wouldn’t rule out any boat on the basis of size unless it wouldn’t fit where you want to take it; particularly if it’s for liveaboard use.

Possibly knows I’m about one eighth Welsh. Tbf there were lambs in the field so they may have been wary.

View over Braunston bottom lock right now.

I could have taken a ‘now’ photo a few minutes ago

Ah, sorry. To be honest I was thinking of how it is today and although I knew there was an arm below the lock - the remains of a bridge are still there IIRC - I didn’t know there was a branch in its own right.

I think it’s Ryders Green bottom lock but you’d better hope @Heartland appears before bedtime to confirm this otherwise it’ll be a sleepless night. BTW Ryders Green isn’t a place where grammar pedants should go boating. Feels like it should have an apostrophe but doesn’t. I guess as a name it’s beyond convention but I wonder if it once had one. Maybe you can check some old maps and see if you can find it. You may have to give us a clue with those cut-outs.

Quite pleased to get that close. Just reminded me of the Soar where it winds through the meadows near Mountsorrel railway/conveyor bridge although the bridge in the photo doesn’t fit. Can’t help with the boat I’m afraid.

I think it’s just a reflection that there’s a trend toward unconverted full length boats and maybe even a bit of a superior view by some. Personally most of my favourite historics are ones that have been shortened and/or with sympathetic cabin extensions. But what do I know? My boat’s just old, not historic.

Yes, but the comment wasn’t really about you so let’s leave it there.

Assuming I’m correct about the location it does still exist and no there isn’t a junction. For clarity nobody was suggesting it’s Brades, just that it’s one of four flights with this configuration. The others are also listed above.

Very true. Can be very useful though. (Don’t tell IanD I said that).

Where do you get this crap from? A very experienced boater made a very valid point that you pretty much trashed. Two others backed it up - one who has forgotten more about boating than you or I will ever know - and that’s how you respond?

I think that’s true.

Your words. Playing the poster(s). Reality is that lots of older boats don’t have them (or the other stuff you mention) and no realistic way of fitting one. So if you want the boat you have to put up with no weed hatch. I think by choice we’d all have one. Doesn’t mean the different skills aren’t transferable in some way and it does genuinely puzzle me why anybody would choose to put their hands in the canal when they don’t have to.

It’s the easiest and safest way to deal with the majority of fouls. Of course there’s a lot of sense in using a shaft through the weed hatch. I’ve owned a boat without a weed hatch for a decade and amongst other places have cruised the BCN extensively. I can only recall three occasions when I’ve had to lie across over the counter and get my arm wet to cut something off and only one of those was on the BCN. A shaft works well for all but those horrible things. Got plenty of items of clothing off with one. Of course if you have no weedhatch you tend to focus on avoiding picking things up on the prop. Obviously you can’t do that completely but you can help yourself.

I guess you can count Brades although obviously all three locks aren’t the same. There are also some other individual locks that have the same configuration.

I think I can identify that. Sure it’s featured here before. Only three flights have that arrangement of gates and paddles and it’s pretty obvious which of the three it is. Unless I’m very wrong.

Well, yes and no since the pub is a new build on the same site.

Much changed I’m thinking? And the national grid power lines may be a giveaway.

The house still is there, surrounded by the new houses.

Look better in those nice ABNB drawings than it does in the photos.

A clear propeller is necessary for proper navigation of the vessel so it’s fine.

The rollers would have been an aid to horse boats. Or even really there to protect the bridge. By the time Robert Longden started taking his photos in the late 1940s the rollers had gone. Quite possibly removed - officially or not - during the war. There are photos of motor boats being brought around the turn using bollards to hold the front end while the back end is steered round.