Grassman

None of those 'plug in' devices work. The mice or rats just get used to them. During my 10 years as a pest controller I attended many infestations where the householder had these devices plugged in all over the place.

Not if you only have a week 🙂

No pressure in the 2nd half either, because we'd always allow enough time, then if we happened to get back to the hirebase early we'd carry on past it to an appropriately located winding hole.

Each to their own of course, but I can never understand those who are hell bent on going as far as they can during their week or fortnights hire. They miss out on exploring some wonderful places they're passing by, they often have to travel in awful weather, and it can add pressure in trying to achieve it. With all our hireboat holidays we rarely did a ring, preferring instead to do a 'there and back'. This meant there was no time pressure, we had the time to stop, linger, and explore, and on our way back we'd notice things we hadn't spotted on our way out. Our philosophy was that we spent the rest of the year rushing here and there, deadlines to meet, appointments to get to etc, particularly when working, so a leisurely relaxing boating holiday was our chance to chill out and unwind.

Thanks for your replies. I've found out that at each of the charging points 2 boats can charge at the same time. Castle have three electric boats and Beacon have one. Also it's not always necessary to charge the boat each day. I therefore don't think charging the boat will be problem so I've booked a week's hire for next year.

Having gone through the boat hire - boat share - boat owning process since the 1970's, the latter as a liveaboard for the last 10 years, I'm thinking of trying out a weeks hire of one of those Castle Narrowboats' fully electric boats on the Mon & Brec Canal next year. Having previously had 2 hire boat holidays on it before (1993 & 2009) we're not bothered about 'doing' the whole length of the canal, so the limitations of having to moor at the 6 designated charging points along the way shouldn't be an issue. Being boat owners we are also used to being frugal with our power resources. We've always wanted to revisit this beautiful canal and thought we'd have an electric powered boat as it would be something a bit different. Have any of you others hired one (or know somebody who has)? If so I'd be interested to hear how you/they got on, and about the differences compared to doing it on a diesel powered boat, except the obvious ones such as it being quieter and not always being able to moor where you like. Is it true that depending upon your usage you don't necessarily have to recharge every day? Are there any other issues I should be considering? Did you enjoy the experience? Would you do it again or go back to having a diesel?

Different owners in those days. It's now owned by Aquavista.

That should be possible. I think the most common set up with share boats is 12 shares, and when we had a 12th share in a boat, a two weeks a year share was referred to as a half share. There were several co-owners in our syndicate who had half shares.

I think the fact that he was travelling in the dark was a significant factor as to how it happened (CRT's notice said 'this evening').

Go through a lock on a hot day and feel the difference between the black and the white paint on a lock gate beam and you'll see how much cooler the white painted parts are.

When we came through the tunnel (north to south) on Wednesday they had to move the workboat to let the 5 of us (pre-bookings) through. When I reached Etruria Locks an hour later, I was chatting to a CRT chap when he received the call about the rudder. He said he was off to help them try to find it! I presume the rudder dropped off when they moved the boat that morning. I'm so relieved I hadn't opted for the later booking as I'd have been stuck the wrong side. Phew! Last year we had the rudder drop off the workboat that we were using to do the offside vegetation cutting. It had obviously received several 'codge job' repairs in the past, performed whilst it was in the water rather than having to dry dock it, and the holes at the edges of the rudder through which the bolts went, had rusted right through to the edge of the rudder. Unfortunately another example thats backfired of CRT having to be reactive instead of proactive in order to try and save money.

The house is a good 5 minutes walk from that car park, possibly 10. Also I think the car park barrier is locked overnight. Kings Norton was a lovely area when I lived there as a child in the 1960/70's until I was 18. Nowadays it isn't. That house is quite isolated in what is now a rough area, and I wouldn't feel comfortable living there.

Thanks for all this useful information. I don't want a DIY job btw, I'm too old for that! There are some good options there so I will investigate them. Rightly or wrongly I assume that a dry dock would probably want the slot for the next booking (but I should check this), whereas if it was a crane or haul out onto open hardstanding, there would likely to be more scope (room) for leaving the boat stood there for a few days or more afterwards. Being in the open there could be issues with wet weather of course though. I had the blacking done at CC in Stone last time and they were very good, but I would never go to Streethay after my experiences there a few years ago (not related to blacking).

It's always concerned me the way boats are put back in the water so soon after being blacked. Obviously time of year and weather conditions have a bearing but I'm looking for somewhere where I have to choice to delay this by a few days once the blacking is done, but without the extra cost of this being too prohibitive. Probably a max of about £30 a day? And at a location within a 50 mile radius of Fradley Junction and preferably where I can remain living aboard, although I'm prepared to travel further afield if I have to. Is there any such place?

On Friday it was touch and go as to whether they'd let us through Harecastle Tunnel in Stoke due to the exceptionally high water level. As we approached (from the south) water was cascading into the canal faster than it was going out. Some of the overflows weren't coping very well and were 'backing up'. They did let us through but in the low section in the middle of the tunnel we were only an inch or so from the tunnel roof. As a matter of interest does anybody know if the tunnel has ever been closed due to high water levels? We're now on the Macclesfield Canal, notorious of course for it's low water issues. It probably currently has the highest water level it's had for years!