Grassman

That was probably a group of volunteers I'm involved with currently working on the T&M and north part of the Coventry Canal. We start at 9am and finish around 3pm with a couple of breaks in between. We are trained to use pole-chainsaws, the wood chipper, and helm the workboat. For the last 4 years we've been doing the offside vegetation (we are all boat owners) but this year we've been instructed to do the towpath side. We initially refused but when it was obvious CRT weren't going to budge we reluctantly agreed after they promised we could revert to doing the offside next winter. The main reason we agreed albeit reluctantly, was that if we came across any particularly bad overgrowth on the offside we could 'sneak' over and sort it . Some of my fellow volunteers will have some of our wood for themselves but there's always more of it so we let boaters have some if they ask, and we will usually cut them down to more manageable sizes for them.

On dark evenings when we are out of the boat we use one of those fake tv devices. It perfectly replicates the changes in light brightness and flickering light that a tv does. From the outside it really does look as if somebody is up and watching tv. You could leave it on when you go to bed. They don't need much power so shouldn't affect your boat's batteries much. The power lead has a USB at the plug end so if you only have 12v on your boat I think you'd be able to use 12v plug rather than a 3 pin plug. We've had ours for about 10 years and it works really well. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mydome-Fake-Simulator-Anti-Burglar-Deterrent/dp/B076X5WMSK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=fake+tv&qid=1637231977&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzREZaQ1NCQUdDWUgxJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDY0MjIzMUdGT0M4V09OMTdPTCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzUwMTYxMlA1Q01EUkU4U1hMQiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I've just replaced my rotting wooden 6ft gangplank with a 5ft metal one 🙁. Never mind, mudweights and/or a couple of grappling hooks should do the trick

Those are the places I usually avoid Mike. :

Thanks everyone for your great advice. Last time I was on this stretch was 2002 and it was fairly bad then but nothing compared to these days of course. Reading the differing experiences here it seems it's just down to luck at the time. I think I'll set off from Bristol as early as the tidal conditions permit, and be prepared for a long day cruising if need be. As I said, I'm happy to overnight anywhere if its safe and not inconveniencing other boating traffic. My Nb is 62ft which may be a bit limiting but I've done some 'wild mooring' in the past on the Thames and can be quite innovative where finding places to tie up is concerned ! So long as I find somewhere to get my head down for the night I should be fine.

Next May I’m planning on going down the Severn Estuary and then heading east on the K& A through to Reading. Given the fact there are so many continuous moorers at the western end of the K&A I’m concerned about finding an overnight mooring for the first night after I’ve left Bristol FH. I was wondering how far to the east it is before mooring spots are likely to become more available. Obviously the Bath area will be full and probably Bathampton too. So my question is how far would I need to go to virtually guarantee finding somewhere to stop overnight? Obviously I may cop lucky and come across somewhere earlier, but I don’t mind doing a long day if need be, especially as it will be daylight until late evening at that time of year. Also, I’m not bothered about finding Armco to moor up on, and I only draw 2 ft so depth at edges isn’t as critical as it could be with some boats. Or if I want to break it up into shorter days, how likely would I find somewhere to overnight between Hanham Lock and the outskirts of Bath in order to continue heading east the following day? I’d be grateful for any advice please.

I used to have magnetic signs on my van and it wasn't long before rust spots appeared underneath the magnets.

There should always be an element of government funding (locally or nationally) because our canals provide a local amenity. 90%+ of people who use the canals don't pay a penny for doing so. When CRT was first set up the intention was for it to eventually become self financed like the National Trust, but how can this ever be achieved? The National Trust can charge the public for visiting their properties and using car parks but there's no practical way that CRT can do this. Some will argue that boaters pay a disproportionately low amount compared to the cost of maintaining the canals and this is true, however without boats moving about, the canals will silt up or weed over and become smelly ditches. They wouldn't be nearly as attractive a place for the general public to spend their leisure time by. It annoys me sometimes to see CRT focusing so much the public rather than we boaters, but I can appreciate they have to in order to try and secure government funding in the future. I don't like it but I'd rather they do that than have to double/treble my licence and mooring fees to make up for any shortfall.

Most canal routes are wonderful in their own way and have their merits and liked to a lesser or greater degree depending upon an individual's viewpoint. So how about you work out your proposed route, and when you've finished, share it with us and we can all add our opinions and recommended places to see, stop at, things to do etc, along your route?

We bought a sofa be from Sofa Bed Barn a few years ago after visiting their stand at Crick. It comes in CKD kit form and we paid a little extra for the delivery man to assemble it.. The sofa bed is quite heavy but of excellent quality and their service was very good too. It's not the most comfortable sofa as it's it is cushioned a bit too stiffly for us, but I think that's more down to us choosing the wrong one because there were 'softer' alternatives. If you want quality and something which will last, then I recommend them.

Thanks for the photo David, it brings back great memories of my childhood. Kings Norton was a great place to live in those days and didn't have the reputation it does now. It was heartbreaking a few years ago to see the lock and bridge covered in graffiti within weeks of the extensive restoration work being carried out.

We moved aboard 9 years ago after having lived on the same house for 35 years. It took 6 months to get rid of all the possessions/junk we'd accumulated over that time, but once I got into the mindset I actually found it quite liberating. However I must have been too ruthless because after moving aboard we actually found we had some storage room to spare. That didn't last long of course, but there were a few items I'd disposed of but realised I could have kept. A good idea is to rent some short term storage and then if after 6/12 months get rid of anything you haven't needed in that time.

Guilty as charged . Like a lot of people probably do, I started off on tickover and then became a little fed up so tweaked the revs up very slightly.

When we passed there in June I made a point of counting the number of moored boats there, and reckon there are 121 and it went on for about a mile. It took us 26 minutes to pass them.

My understanding at the time was that they made the ingredients for tooth paste. The warm water discharged into the canal was free of any substances but the River Rea which ran the other side of the factory had a permanently white riverbed. I don't know who was responsible for the canal turning orange that time, perhaps it wasn't Sturges as there were other factories half a mile along the canal. I know about the history of the bridge but I'm not old enough to remember when it was a lift or fixed bridge. It was always a swing bridge in my day and the key for it had to be obtained from the lock keeper at Lifford by the guillotine lock. His cottage was demolished years ago when Lifford Lane road bridge was widened.

In the 1960's the factory (John E Sturge Chemicals) in Kings Norton used to discharge warm water into the canal next to the old and now defunct Tunnel Lane Swing Bridge. In my childhood I used to catch loads of fish there. No goldfish but plenty of larger than normal perch, roach etc. I'm not sure if it was from the same pipe but on one occasion the whole canal turned a deep orange colour and remained that way for a few weeks. As far as I remember there was no loss of fish which presumably meant whatever was accidentally discharged was harmless, but it looked really strange.

True, but catch up programmes are usually available for a while so there's the option of waiting until you move to a better area for a signal. We rarely stay in one place for more than a couple of days so don't find it an issue.

We recently spent a week moored in Birmingham. It's a great place to visit by boat except for having so many locks to and from there whichever direction you enter from. It's vibrant and has a nice ambience about the place . There's lots to see and do, including some great canalside pubs, cafe's and restaurants, and unlike a lot of cities and towns there's plenty of decent moorings. Avoid mooring in the Gas Street and Mailbox areas on Friday or Saturday nights though, because they are close to the nightclubs in the Broad Street area.

I'm a bit concerned about them using canals for hydro-electric purposes as I fear CRT will tap into leaking lock gates and then use this as an excuse not to maintain them. Similar to them currently using natural habitat as an excuse for leaving long sections of canalside towpath overgrowth alone.

When we used to have hireboat or share boat holidays we weren't particularly bothered about not getting a TV signal, in fact it was quite refreshing and part of the 'getting away from it all' experience. But nowadays, living aboard (8 years and counting) and cruising extensively, it's more of an issue, but at least there's catch up if there's something we really want to watch.

Channelglaze the boat window manufacturers are based in Birmingham so it may be worth speaking to them, even if just for some advice. http://www.channelglaze.com/ Out of interest, where in Brum were you moored when you have your window broken?

Thanks, but I'm fine because I'm happy to pay for one to support the BBC. Please people, don't turn my comment into yet another TV licence debate because that's been covered to death on here already .

We have a TV licence.

This is exactly what we do with our TV & PVR combination. We never watch live TV but will sometimes watch the recording 5-10 minutes behind so as to zip past the adverts. We do that with the News bulletins too. Since we changed to the higher quality quad core cable (my earlier thread) we get a terrestrial signal pretty much everywhere and most of our TV choices are evenings when we're moored up. My wife does like a few of those inane afternoon progs but we're normally stopped for the day by lunchtime anyway, and if there's something she particularly wants she can use catch up tv via the internet.

Howardang mentioned that it should be quieter in September once the school holidays are over, but we find it's nearly as busy, especially the popular canals such as the Llangollen, because all we retired folk think the same thing and wait till the kids have gone back. Better in my opinion to go in June and/or early July before the school holidays begin around July 18th.