Hudds Lad

End of the line, Llangollen basin

All our trips on the Llangollen were done in some form of school holidays (the joys of a shareboat and a child not old enough to leave home alone without Social Services getting excited) and never found it too busy. Summer you may find yourself 6 or 8 boats deep at certain lock landings if there at peak times of the day, or struggling for a honeypot mooring after 2:30pm. April was pretty much dead with no queues at any lock and most moorings empty. My favourite was a May Bank Holiday, absolute chaos at Trevor, but no real problem apart from the sweet trading boat that tried to bully his way through and took to shouting and swearing at some poor foreign hirers in the basin. I have lots of great memories of that canal, will get our own boat up that way one of these days. Our daughter is not keen on boating and will not willingly come with us anymore, that's the one canal she says she'll come back for. Photo from on this day in 2018 just for fun.

Beware the towpath-side (i think it's just the middle two at Hurleston) paddle vents! It's easy to stand over them while opening the paddle and can result in a jet of chilly water up yer trouser leg, DAMHIK

Not great for the kids but not too hard to explain to them, easier than when a handful of drakes pursue a poor female to have their way with her Nature red in tooth and claw as they say. They should stick Survival & Wildlife on One back on the telly for the kids, left us under no illusions, although that one with all the animals smashed on fermented Marula fruit was quite amusing.

which one? The Silent Woman is open again after a lot of naughtiness got it shut down, The Star is open again, don't think Shoulder of Mutton or Commercial have shut, unsure about The Swan as not been that way for a while. Have i missed any?

Just wait until i launch DoggyDraught™, available in Labradoodle Lager, BowWow Bitter & Cockapoo Cider flavours! All natural ingredients and a free poo bag with every purchase, great for hanging in the bushes outside the pub! Only £8.95 a bottle (cos your furbaby is worth it)! This time next year, Rodney.........

It's a "Spanish" lager, well not really as it's brewed in the UK but marketed like it's from Madrid, so sits on a throne of lies IMHO.

Years ago we saw Mr Swan attacking a couple of idiots on inflatable kayaks there, told them to stop trying to fend him off and to paddle out of his area as he was just protecting Mrs Swan on the nest, but they wouldn't listen. Wonder if they ended up with broken arms?

I moored at Henley for free, no sign of anyone asking for cash, mind you it was near 4pm in the a*se-end of November My favourite mooring was by the ruins of Godstow Abbey, pair of trees just the right distance apart for a 57ft Couldn't get anywhere near the side on the "official" mooring spot thru the bridge, so had reversed back to where we could at least get the bow in and tie-off.

CRT Photo Booths!! Various locks round the system fitted with a wide-angle camera at both sides, length gauge on lock side, once boat is in full lock snaps taken and uploaded to database. Get a big camera manufacturer to partner up and ease the setup cost. Any major upgrades that change look requiring new photo (repaint, covers either end, etc.), could double as boat ANPR. Give everyone a year from launch to get a pic or fines imposed. Jobs a good 'un.

Something like THIS would do the job Obviously other shops are available, but you get the idea of what to look for We have a couple of the CRT ones and they are a bit oversized for the licence they supply to print, i also laminate ours as the pouches are UV resistant and will do the year with no visible fading. I do it more to keep the curtain twitchers happy than owt else.

If it's not too late, i'd round off those windowsill corners. One of the many laws of boats is that if something sticks out, you will at some point bump into it

That's a whole bunch of nope from me Apparently my Dad used to do that sort of thing back in the 50s-60s with my Uncle, not a gene i've inherited in any way. Didn't spot any Morlocks though, not even a Sagoth or Mahar in the deeper bits.

£210 in September of '24 round West Midlands area

Beer, Canals & Narrowboats?

Non garbled link: HERE Container ship that struck tanker failed 10 safety checks Irish officials said MV Solong’s emergency steering compass was deficient last year Inspectors found ten deficiencies aboard the Solong during their checks in July 2024 Credit: PAUL ELLIS Gareth CorfieldTransport Correspondent 11 March 2025 9:19pm GMT The container ship that crashed into an anchored tanker in the North Sea carrying jet fuel for the US Navy failed steering-related safety checks, The Telegraph can reveal, as its captain was arrested on Tuesday. Irish officials said the MV Solong’s emergency steering compass was deficient when inspected during a routine safety check last year. It was one of 10 deficiencies noted during a port state control (PSC) inspection carried out when the Portuguese-registered vessel visited Dublin in July 2024. Inspectors found nine other deficiencies aboard the Solong during their checks, including problems with fire doors, alarms in the engine room and with “life-saving appliances”, a maritime insider said. The catch-all phrase refers to lifejackets, lifeboats and related equipment. A subsequent PSC inspection at the British port of Grangemouth, carried out in October 2024, flagged two deficiencies, including one relating to the Solong’s lifebuoys. The container ship’s 59-year-old captain was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Det Chief Supt Craig Nicholson, who is leading the investigation said: “Humberside Police have taken primacy for the investigation of any potential criminal offences which arise from the collision between the two vessels.” Credit: BBC A crewman is presumed to have died after going missing during Monday’s collision off the coast of Withernsea, East Yorkshire, the Government said. Mike Kane, a transport minister, told the House of Commons on Tuesday: “Search and rescue operations for the missing sailor continued throughout yesterday, but were called off yesterday evening at the point of which the chances of their survival had unfortunately significantly diminished. “Our working assumption is that, very sadly, that the sailor is deceased.” Port State Control inspections are official checks carried out to ensure ships visiting British and European ports meet mandatory safety standards. A spokesman for Ernst Russ, the German owners of the Solong, said that PSC inspections were a routine part of maritime business and that it is normal for a number of items to be flagged as deficient, comparing the process to taking a car to a mechanic for an MOT. Serious safety-related deficiencies must be fixed before a ship is permitted to put to sea again, The Telegraph understands. There remains questions about how the container ship ploughed into the tanker, the US-registered Stena Immaculate, while it was at anchor. The Stena Immaculate was chartered to the US Military Sealift Command and was carrying 220,000 barrels (34.9million) litres of Jet-A1 aviation fuel when the Solong struck her. On Monday, a government source told The Telegraph that while early investigations did not indicate that the incident was caused by foul play, it could not be ruled out at this stage. If the collision was not deliberate, maritime experts have suggested Solong’s watchkeepers may be to blame. British officials are working with salvage companies to rescue both vessels. Assistant Chief Coastguard John Craig said on Tuesday evening that salvors were at the scene and developing a plan for both vessels. He said: “A tow line has now successfully been put in place and a tug is holding Solong offshore in a safer position.” Some flames were reportedly still visible on the main deck of the Solong, with firefighting focusing on this area. Tom Sharpe, a 27-year Royal Navy veteran and captain of a number of warships, said of Solong’s voyage: “It seems that she may have sailed from harbour, disembarked her pilot, set the helm to auto using routing information saved from previous voyages, then maintained the exact same course and speed for about nine hours before driving her bows into the Stena Immaculate’s port side.” Crowley, the company which manages Stena Immaculate, said the incident was an “allision”, using an obscure nautical term that refers to a moving ship striking a stationary object or other ship.