Liam

One of the reasons why I leave the stern line coiled nicely on the slide ready for tying up, but leave a short line handily and loosely looped around one of the stern dollies. If I were to take a look it is easily reachable to enable exit from the water by using a quick loop in the line as a foot hold.

Went past yesterday, and seems pretty well occupied. It was very very windy around there but and as it's a relatively new marina, it looks as though it needs more time to "bed in". A good spot in terms of cruising options with links to the North and Middlewich and Barbridge and Hurleston Junctions to the south.

A couple of pictures of Byfield snapped earlier today. The small Ricky Fornax is the wooden motor on the inside.

Thanks Steve. I hope it's sorted sooner rather than later. It would be nice to hear that they are bringing the annual maintenance of the aqueduct forward to coincide with any work they're doing at Barton Lane so it doesn't have to shut twice (if it's even open by then!) but that's probably too much to ask.

Hi Steve... Is the canal still in water between Barton Yard and the Aqueduct or have they drained it again? Any sign of action or work being done? I'm stuck from getting back to base on the southern side at the mo.

Oxbow subsidise the cost of their official Oxbow branded coal bags. I know they do this with Excel so I assume they do this across their product range. If you get Excel that's not in the Oxbow branded bags then I'd ask questions as the merchant would be better off with half cost bags than spending the full amount on generic "smokeless fuel" bags.

If you don't have the hand starting gear and starting handle you can reach in behind the flywheel shroud and turn the flywheel manually.

Oxbow produce both Excel and Newheat. They also produce two non authorised fuels called Glow and Red. The problem being that the same mould for Excel is used for Glow and the mould for Newheat is shared with Red. I'm by no means saying all do this, but there are some unscrupulous people out there who will sell Glow as Excel and Red as Newheat. Unless they are taken to a lab there's no real way to tell the difference.

Have you pushed ice through your hose at any point? It has an abrasive effect and strips the inside of your hose of any nasty build up.

There's obviously a reason for it otherwise I doubt he'd do it. The obvious one to me is that you'd put a few bags in the front under the cratch cover so when its blowing a gale and chucking it down you can refill the coal bucket easily and in relative comfort. You've got too many bags to store in the front though so the others go on your cruise stern. When you're in the mood during a dry day you restock the forward well with bags from the stern end. Makes sense if your stove is in the front half of the boat. I don't think he actually carries them through the boat, probably around it outside.

Probably because Richard orders a good few bags at a time and is being sensible in not blocking an emergency exit with several bags of coal.

Richard and Ruth on Mountbatten and Jellicoe but due to the works ongoing at Hurleston, they're doing deliveries by road. Tel: 07754 003834 https://chamberlaincarryingco.co.uk/

Yes, after Tim's unfortunate passing, it went through the tender process. There seemed to be a lot of applications (myself being one) but ultimately Claymoore won out. I think they mainly got it to service their own boats as all the times I passed, I've only ever seen about three private boats using it. It was always empty with the dock full of water. After Claymoore's demise it went back through the tender process. I think there was alot of interest again (I wasn't involved this time), and it has now gone to a partnership (in a business sense). Edited to add - interestingly, the original Claymoore Navigation site at Preston Brook Wharf has also been taken over. But this must have been arranged privately as it is the Bridgewater Canal and not owned by CRT.

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It's nice that they gave notice this time, unlike Saturday 25th Jan when I arrived to find a "Bridge Shut" notice cable tied to the handrail! Fortunately I made it, but stopped briefly whilst I had a quick look at what's going on. Hopefully the videos I post work. The problem is with the Barton Lane Aqueduct (not the swing aqueduct) in that the canal is leaking through or around the iron trough the canal runs through at this point, and is appearing through the gaps in the bricks. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. 20200204_184501.mp4 20200204_183958.mp4