Lizzy J

We have just been a couple of miles along the Trent and Mersey today and at Hoo Mill Lock there was a BW notice advising that Yard Lock at Stone was closed due to collapse of the upper chamber. Have just checked on Waterscape and it is posted as closed until further notice for investigation. Bu**er, out final arrival at our mooring after taking six months to bring her home may not now happen at New Year as planned!

They are really lovely.

I agree. Went there on Saturday to buy a hob. I had done my research on the net and their's was a good price. In the shop it was marked as quite a bit more but when I queried the price on the website they honored it. Very helpful chap at the Penkridge branch and a great stock range, we got everything on our list.

All this recent information is fantastic. I keep hoping that we will be able to piece together the history pre 1964 from her days on the BCN but perhaps that is not going to be possible! We also have a gap in her history from 1985 to 2000 following her ownership by Ken Walker (is he still around?) By 2000 she was 'Glenfield' again. Does anyone recall her during this period, probably between Birmingham and Uxbridge somewhere. Thanks you to everyone who has contributed to our research so far. We will keep you posted on any further developments. Regards

I am a Practice Manager and the question of prescription length and holiday comes up quite regularly as we have a population who like to go to South Africa for six months of the year. I have taken a lot of advice from the Medical Defense organisations about this issue. You need to be registered with a GP on a permanent basis at an address. This could be a marina if you have a regsitered base-we have patients registered at caravan parks. The standard prescription length is usually 28 days although some GP's will give 56 if your medical condition is stable. If you are trully continuous cruising and do not have a mooring address, do you have a relative who's address you could use? If you are on continuous medication you will require a review on a six monthly or annual basis and possibly blood or other tests depending on your condidtion. The doctor is personally responsible for any prescription they sign and three months is the maximum recommended length of time for a one off prescription and this usually only applies when people are going on an extended holiday. Longer than three months would be frowned upon by the GMC as the GP can not be monitoring the patient. If you register at another practice as a temporary resident whilst on your travels this can be for either up to 15 days or up to 3 months depending upon how long you are staying in the area for. You will have to give the temporary address you are staying at-not likely to be possible I guess. If I was you I would register somewhere that you can get back to and at a relatives address. Don't mention that you may be away for more than three months because strictly speaking the GP should take you off his list if you are nolonger in the practice area (if we don't know though we can't!)-it is considered to be fraud not to. You can then either get a relative to collect the prescription of leave a self address envelope for it to be posted. Check if your surgery does online ordering of prescripitions or electronic transfer to a local chemist both these solutions can make ait a bit easier. Money has very little to do with it, the drugs cost the same whether you get 1 or 3 month prescription, (the chemists will get a lower fee for dispensing it though) it is more to do with the safety and monitoring of the patients condition. Hope that helps. Regards

We should be able to make that date, like the sound of the Old P, haven't had any of that for a while! Look forward to meeting you all. Lizzy J and Steve E

Not as much as I would have imagined yet! Apart from the ring my other half has already mentioned, we have several inherited boat poles and hooks (some without hooks!), a nicely painted trough with herbs in it and a centre rope. When we are on the move a bike too. We keep our wood (so far) in the engine room as it is then very dry but as we bring more with us perhaps we will have log piles too (large garden with lots of big trees which need arboriculture annually). I'd like some more plants,(I run a Nursey part time) in canal art decorated pots, but gaps betweeen travel mean I can't guarantee maintenance and don't like to neglect them! Happy to advise on plants for containers, there are lots of them!

Hi, we left our boat on the towpath by bridge 146 for a couple of weeks whilst we had to go home to work. There is a pull in just south of the bridge and access to the towpath. Not brilliant and no rings but it was safe enough. Just a word of warning about that section, the level of water in the pound seems to go up and down quite a lot and we were grounded several times. We have left our car a couple of times in Tesco car parks between Batchworth and Milton Keynes and that seemed to work OK too. We always shop and ask first.

Ah, but there is a lot of fruit out there and when I have finished the all the yeast and have litres (or rather pints (!))of alcoholic products what else can one do!

My other half falls into this category. If we find an owl pellet he tries to work out what said owl has eaten by reassembling the bones. The various skeletons found at my Nursery are always carefully assessed to find out what the deceased was. Currently they all appear to be small rabbits which is great as they have been devouring my plants....the purpetrator.......a lovely Tawny owl who has moved into the Kestrel box we put up 18 months ago!

What is matter with making your own jam? Ideal on a boat, all those long hours to leave it bubbling away, don't have the time to wait at home. Even better bramble jelly, freshly collected from the hedgerow. Same goes for making bread.......on the boat you have time. No, I am not in the WI (although I have thought about it!), probably a bit young as although I am not under 30, (so don't need to go out on the town, thank goodness, never did like that anyway!) I haven't quite reached the next milestone...but I have looked in the mirror recently!

No, we have an iron hull and a wooden cabin. Thank you for the explanation, I am interested to learn these things and will know next time I see a boat in a similar condition.

In the last week we passed and were passed by nb Towy on the GU. On my return home, along with several other boats I found interesting on the trip, I did a bit of research on her. This is what she looked like in 2003 apprentely http://www.hnboc.org.uk/boatgallery/other/towy.htm ..........and this is what she looked like last week. Does anyone know much about her? It seems a shame that the rot appears to have set in. edited to add correct picture and not bad link!

When we were out on the Southern GU a few weeks back we saw a boat done up in the Fullers Brewery livery. Interesting looking boat with lots of polished brass. Not sure whether it was owned by the brewery perhaps?

I think we must be a pair of pyromaniacs, we love lghting fires! In our previous seperate exhistances we both had open fires but when we bought a place together we didn't get one. So boat with stove was a must! Both looking forward to lighting our Squirrel, I have renovated it, seals, blacking etc and it looks great but hasn't been cold enough yet. We are both of the free towpath sticks, bit of cardboard or paper and wood to get it going and then coal if not enough wood. We light our BBQ the same way, no firelighers or fluid, it smells horrible and once you get the hang of it you wonder why they invented firelighters. Liz

Anglo Welsh hire at Christmas and New Year. So do Middlewitch and I think Alvechurch do from some of their bases.

but if you are intending a 'Grand Tour' at some point, I'd stick to 57 foot by 7foot six to ensure you can cruise the whole system. I would look at 6ft 8" to 7ft beam max if you want to 'go anywhere' as you will find there are some very tight locks when even 7ft can be a challenge. We bought our first boat recently and it was advertised as 7ft beam, we were pleased to learn from our very thorough Surveyer that it's beam is actually only 6ft 9". Also bear in mind the draft, the Llangollen is a particularly shallow canal especially from Trevor to Llangollen. We also live in Yorkshire, Guiseley in fact but have got a mooring on the Macclesfield Canal as although it will take us an hour to get there by car we feel it gives us much greater scope for getting out onto the system generally. Not done a river yet but I have to say I don't fancy them really and it is a very long trip from Skipton-Bingley which is close to us to get out onto the wider network. We don't unfortunately have the luxury of looming retirement ( I am not quite ready yet!) but would like to see as much as possible easily from where we are moored.