Barry

TOPS Have a beeeer

Thanks MCK - good info - I'll keep it for reference

Did the dog get you with a snowball then? lovely photos especially the 2nd and third - 2nd is almost christmas card ish

One thing to bear in mind is the thickness of your stone slab- the thinner it is the more likely heat from your stove will be conducted through to the wooden sheet the slab is lying on In house construction where the hearth stone is placed on open joists I think the slab needs to be 2 or 3 inches thick to protect the wooden joists

Evidently I have a lot to learn - I had no idea that swing bridges could be a problem Gosh - I hope the learning is going to be fun

Thanks Janet - I'm not particularly worried about going solo - I did it last November on the broads and it just required a bit of pre-planning to moor and leave moorings - mind you the boat was 10ft 6 x 28 ft so I had a fair amount of room and there weren't any locks to contend with

Any one else fancy a holiday in darkest early march I've been offered a day out on a narrow boat by a forum member - we are sorting it out now so hopefully I can learn from an experienced soloist how to tackle locks And I've ordered a book about solo narrow boating which I should receive shortly

Out in the storms must have been an experience to remember What do you mean by the right preparation Les? PM on it's way Thanks

Ok I reckon I need to have a go at this narrow boating lark - I've had lots of holidays on the Broads and The Thames but never been on a canal And since I'm researching living aboard I want to try narrow boating in the non-summer so I'm going to hire a narrow boat for a fortnight in early March if I can What I need is the answers to some questions and any advice you experienced canalers can give me Can I hire a narrow boat solo? What length would you recommend bearing in mind that I shall be buying quite a long boat to live aboard? Can you recommend a good (not too expensive) hire boat company What would be a good canal system to go for for a first timer? I'm a pretty hardy soul with plenty of good quality cold and wet weather gear, happy in my own company and not too bothered about doing without luxury What do you reckon?

or to be really picky it's called the inverse square rule the end result is the same though