doratheexplorer

Alright Mr Picky!!!

The River Dee I presume?

Quite possibly someone else found it adrift and re-tied it. As to the control panel, I'm not sure. Maybe it wasn't securely attached in the first place and the vandals were able to pull it away without tools? I'm not disputing the gist of this poor woman's story but I do think that element is a bit odd. Everything else is consistent with kids smashing windows and chucking stuff into the boat, which has also happened to me. It was a horrible experience and took a lot of clearing up and cost me a bit to get new windows.

Clearly the boat has been trashed and I wouldn't dispute that, but at 4:33 you can clearly see the control panel is in position. Then at 5:19 it's ripped off and all the wires are dangling out. Odd. Possibly she saw the panel was loose and then discovered that the wires had been cut behind it? But why would the vandals rip the panel off only to put it back in position?

On a serious point, how hard would it be to install a solar powered pump in the basin to keep the water moving so that the weed doesn't grow?

Nowhere does the OP suggest he's looking for a female liveaboard. The contrary in fact, he's mainly looking for sometime who doesn't have a boat but likes boats.

You might be right. The place where the ridge sticks out is where the towpath goes right against the railway line. The place I've moored before, near the hydrogen boat, there is a thin strip of vegetation between the canal and the railway.

The ridge of sandstone is between bridges 83 and 84. Between the aqueduct and bridge 83 is a bit shallow but generally ok for mooring unless you have a deep drafted boat. There is some noise from trains though which is why just north of the aqueduct works well because there's an embankment which blocks the noise. I rarely see anyone mooring there though. I've done a bit of checking and it looks like the hull was scrapped but the hydrogen cell and other stuff has gone back to the university.

Also known as The Vale.

I usually make a batch of something which lasts me more than half the week, but each day I add something different to it to make each meal different. For example: I might make a basic bolognese sauce using good tomatoes, garlic, basil, onions and beef mince. Then each day I'll do something different with it. One day I'll add some crunchy peppers, sweetcorn and celery and put it in tortilla wraps with cheese. Another day I'll spice it up with chillies and cook some rice with it. Another day I'll add root veggies - potatoes, beetroot etc and add some stock and then casserole it. Each day it doesn't take long and I'm only eating from proper ingredients. No jars of sauces etc. The biggest issue with cooking for one is that supermarkets put everything in big plastic packages with very little sold loose. This is even more true in the small grocery shops which are often near the canal. Typically I want 1 or 2 potatoes, not a big bag of 12, of which half will go mouldy before I eat them, unless I just eat potatoes every day.

Genuine question: why does it have to be a female?

Dig them up, mow them short or if you really must, use a flame-weeder. Or better still, re-lay your paths so that the weeds can't gain a foothold.

Ok, well opposite the Solar Kingfisher and the Pod Boats.

The Vale isn't opposite the uni as such, it's opposite the student accomodation. It's a good place to moor. Further down opposite the actual uni is also good but a little shallow against the towpath (moor near the hydrogen boat or further along before the aqueduct. It's especially handy if you want to leave you boat and head away by train.

The one's at Atherstone were probably there, but in their usual positions of sipping tea in their hut while not actually doing anything. I was wondering that. If it's that tricky, how do people deal with the lock when coming up off the river if there's no mooring?

Years ago, Jim Shead used to help boaters down Farmer's Bridge from time to time. All unofficial like, but that was a guy who really knew what he was doing. Anyone know what happened to him? Is he still with us?

Also: Entry 8 foot

Can we please stop commenting on Nick's snicket?

Can we please all desist from commenting on Nick's passage!

He was definitely the lock keeper. And remember the lockie at the next lock wasn't surprised by my description of what happened with him.

If you have 10 days do to the Llangollen from Wrenbury, you'll have plenty of spare time to explore the Montgomery Canal too, which is lovely. You still need to book passage a day or two before. It can be done online https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/21749-frankton-locks-summer-opening-2022-montgomery-canal