magpie patrick

In a word yes, and moorings ain't exactly easy to come by. The question is, would you enjoy it. Do you live aboard? If not, the Gloucester and Sharpness is an easy drive, and much less congested

seconded: I've given my professional opinion on one aspect, that is, if the sole access is via the swing bridge, then there will be far weightier objections than ours. In planning law anyone has the right to object to a planning proposal, you do not need a "casus belli" or a "locus standi" (Latin for justification for war and sufficient connection to, in legalese they amount to making a legitimate complaint). I have the right to object to this. The state has the right not to take my objection that seriously, but if I objected on the grounds of that swing bridge, it would be valid and would probably carry weight. I suspect however that the proposed development has another access

Can I just add my professional tuppence worth here The swing bridge is claimed to be a problem. Is it the only access? If so, this will not be acceptable to the emergency services 550 homes is a heck of a lot off one access anyway, normally anything over 200 needs two accesses

Well, there is a bridge in Bath they didn't go through, you can go to both sides, but not through it Edited to add, can't make the link work, if you go onto Google maps and find Lansdown View in Bath, it's there

Hmmm, I've got a truckers atlas with all the low bridges marked. How high are those cameras would you say?

The Google trike will be illegal on footpaths and indeed on any route that is not a public right of way or permissive route for bikes, I'm sure Google know this as they didn't take the car down some motorable roads that are private (like into our marina) Fitting it to the boat would be grand but I await with interest the first time they encounter a low bridge and the camera gets knocked off!

it is, but you need to watch the emphasis "we know the law and it is possibly being broken" is the police job "we think that may be illegal" is not I'm not clear what laws are being broken by indulging in sexual behaviour in a public place. If it was the middle of a busy shopping street it may be gross indecency, behind a bush in a darkened park it's probably not. I saw this in the Metro this morning on the train, I did think some unsuspecting boater may get more than they bargained for, or then again, perhaps that's why they moored there

Quite so, although I suspect not that many. The oxford intercepts the Cherwell twice, the Trent and Mersey shares it's course for about a mile with the trent and the Caldon does the same with the Churnet, but in these cases it's the canal following the river not the river being diverted into the canal, the Grand Union (nee Junction) seems to grab every watercourse going south of Berkhampstead hopefully I'll get to see a bit more of it in June!

You are not kidding, i've just done the sums: if we assume a conservative cross section of 10 metres wide by 1 metre deep, a flow of 1mph equates to a wide lock, fall 2 metres, every 44 seconds The flow on the Llangollen is roughly equivalent to 285 lockfuls a day, or filling the locks 12 times an hour every hour, so even that canal is taking five minutes to get a grand union lockful down.

We've seen a new one but we're not buying it! It did give us the chance to ask the current builder lots of questions though. We have a two pronged plan If we find a boat, on a mooring we like (and it can stay on) and we like the boat AND we can afford it out of savings, we will buy it. We nearly bought the Mallard but we were beaten to it. Having got two boats we will then move towards selling Ripple If by, say, next summer we haven't found a boat we'll sell Ripple anyway and carry on the search. Ripple. much as I love her, is becoming a bit of an albatross around my neck, and the final straw is the inflexibility of the cruising range, which wasn't an issue when I was single and spent every waking moment on her, but is now I'm married, mortgaged etc. Once Ripple is sold we'd have more flexibility on budget. And no, I'll get the fourtrack and trailer when I know what boat it's pulling. Could be a Mallard, a Beaver or a Viking 23/26, as they are the main ones we are looking at. pros and cons to each...

Hi all, we went to look at a Wilderness Beaver yesterday, if it had fitted the bill we'd have bought it. Basically it did, it was fitted out as a four berth with shower, the layout we want, and has been well looked after. Nearly new engine and everything else well maintained. I got a bit of a shock though because the guy said it was 1983 built, which makes it 27 years old. My gut reaction is that the asking price (£13k) was a bit much for a boat of that age, but what would the difference be between a fibreglass boat 27 years old and one say, 12 years old?

Just to be argumentative BR, I think that length of the Grand Union Canal is classified as Main River by the Environment Agency