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MaryP

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Posts posted by MaryP

  1. I've cruised the Soar, once in each direction, several years apart. Absolutely loved it, no problems with mooring or water etc, but used the Pearsons book, so knew where to look. Be careful though, as the river can get high quickly in wet weather.

     

    Enjoy yourselves!

  2. On 26/02/2021 at 09:53, Nightwatch said:

    I like this place.

    I agree, but would add Willowbridge in Milton Keynes. They crane out though, people can stay. We did our own blacking there.

     

    Langley Mill is great though, and Dan is helpful and friendly!!! Erewash was worth the trip too!

  3. On 30/04/2019 at 09:43, Boater Sam said:

    Do be adventurous, try the Winsford Flashes. Made it about 70 yards in once.

    Snap, but got further than that with our V bottom.

     

    Plus the Avon and then the Severn until we could see the bottom with all the reeds and fishes.

     

    Top of the Ashby to touch the very end.

  4. 25 minutes ago, cuthound said:

    We sanitise our hands at each lock or flight, just before getting off the boat and just before getting back on.

     

    That said I think the biggest risk is from gongoozlers peering over the edge of the lock and trying to talk you as the boat rises or falls. A sharp poke in the eye with a boat hook seems effective at moving them away from the edge of the lock.?

    This is exactly what we have done. Before the boat is touched, hands are sanitised.

     

    Cuts on hands etc are an entry point for Weil's disease, also known as Leptospirosis. It is found in the urine of rats and cattle, so you have to be unlucky to get water containing the urine in a cut in your skin. 

    However, it can give flu like symptoms, but it can also kill if it attacks the organs in your body. Handling ropes, splashes of water. Hand hygiene always important when boating, covid or not!

  5. 9 minutes ago, kiteapot said:

    Ditto. I've done quite a lot of boating in various forms, and didn't want her deciding to leap off a kayak in the middle of the fjords because something over there smelled marginally more interesting!

    Thanks! This sounds ideal - once the initial novelty of "new boat sniffs"has eased, she should be just as happy to curl up on her bed. I hope! How long did it take for yours to get used to it?

    5 minutes! Just joking, but they loved it straight away. I forgot to say, they go inside at locks, as they would be a trip hazard if not. We have a Springer, and so a wide gunnel. They can just get their front paws on it for the best view and smells. They often dash from one side to the other whilst we're underway, depending on where the ducks are.... Have fun!

    • Greenie 1
  6. We have cheeky cockers. They have always been attached by keeping their leads on and tying a rope through the handles which is attached to the boat. As someone said above, the combination is only long enough to keep them within the profile of the boat. They are therefore free to move about and choose whether to be with me on the back or in their bed. Again, we've never lost one. We do have doggie life jackets, but only use them when the dog gets old and infirm as an extra precaution.

  7. 6 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

    'scarce local resources' is really part of the 'pulling up the drawbridge' and varying forms and degrees of xenophobia. Remember what the N stands for in NHS - it is not a local service nor is it funded locally. If it were then rural areas would have had inferior services for a long time. In any case, so far the most over-stretched areas have been the big cities and grown-up national assessment would have concluded that it was actually beneficial to transfer some of the load to where there has been capacity. as far as I can make out, our general hospital - the furthest south-west - has never really been at risk of being overwhelmed.

     

    As far as I understand from medical friends, they are accounted for locally, so if they expect a certain number of people in a particular health authority, then they plan for those people and not any extras.

  8. On 22/05/2014 at 20:28, Loddon said:

    Fleet Road on the Basingstoke is about the lowest I have been under, getting on for a foot lower than Keksey's on the Stort.

    5ft 9" 1.75m springs to mind rather than the 2m+ of Kekseys

    I agree about the Basingstoke, but also the railway bridge at Roydon on the Stort.

    At Roydon there was a widebeam, beautifully painted in cream. The water level was high, and he couldn't get under the bridge, so started hacking of the roof rails. I made a comment, and he said he'd just sold it, was delivering it, and if he gave it another lick of paint, the new owner would never notice!!!!!

  9. Last time I came through that lock I was single handed.

     

    You have to leave the boat at the other side of the road bridge, walk up a lane, cross the road bridge then set the lock.

     

    This I did, but when I got back to the boat and pootled to the lock, a helpful person had closed the gate, presumably thinking that some idiot had left it open. Well I had, but on purpose! The boat and I were of course hidden under the bridge!

     

    I called out to people, and eventually someone noticed me and re opened the gate.....

  10. There was a very similar looking boat at Hungerford on Sunday which had just been painted white very messily. The brass mushroom vents also painted. The paint was so fresh that you could smell it as you walked the towpath. It was still there on Monday morning when I left. I have a photo of the boat, but from a distance. The stern certainly looks similar. If it is the same boat it's heading away from the Thames.

  11. I have had no problems finding mooring - lots of towpath. If you want to be on visitor moorings with rings etc, then you will have a lot less choice. I use a combination of Pearson's and satellite mapping on line to plan ahead - especially where to stop near easy parking.

    Many people use a plank with a hole in each end so you can pin it to the bank and tie it to your boat. Saves it floating away - there is a flow of water on much of the canal as the rivers join the canal often.

    Have fun!

    • Greenie 1
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