magpie patrick

Along with another consultant some years ago I suggested BW create moorings along the Lee and charge for them - they weren't really interested. I also notice that, despite the protest from so many barely moving CCrs that they don't want a mooring, the problem is most acute where there is a shortage of moorings. Usually, such as Bath and London, it's not just that they are all full, but there aren't that many in the first place. I also suggested at one point that a restored Somersetshire Coal Canal could provide a lot of permanent moorings within ten miles of Bath, as the entire canal loops round such that Paulton Basin is only 8.9 miles from Bath by road even though it's more like 15 miles by canal

When I bought my Brompton it cost more than the value of the car it was going in - but it would fit in the boot of a P reg Vauxhall Corsa (which was what I had at the time) and would unfold in seconds. Dad also bought a folding bike for holidays but his was more a bike that came apart, I would put mine together for an hour's bike ride, his you put together at the start of a week's holiday as it took half an hour to get it unfolded and assembled - AND mine was smaller folded! The Brompton has outlive the Corsa by 19 years so far.... Sometimes expensive is money well spent, but not always, and there is a limit. I don't think I'd pay much more for a better Brompton, ads i'm not sure how much use the "better" would be

I think these are they? They were developed by the Mon & Brec trust to give long lasting gates that satisfied heritage requirements - on locks that will see little use wooden gates might only get used a couple of dozen times before they fall apart. https://mbact.org.uk/modular-lock-gates/

If I was younger and in good health I'd join them! I too have been high up on mountain sides with a road tourer that has narrow tyres and dropped handle bars... It probably saved me really, the route I'd plotted went off a cliff and I was going slowly enough to brake in time

You can get round that by adapting your posting style - easier on a laptop than a phone I grant you but for example In answer to Donald Duck's point about weed getting in his bill I've found that using a bill-filter gave reasonably good results To Mickey Mouse, I'm afraid the CRT's mousetraps in the Everglades are a fact of life, and if you can't deal with them then perhaps you need to do your boating elsewhere If I'm quoting someone I try and put the quote first, and I try to put my general points in before the quote, so my post would run drivel from me about the general quality of Everglades mousetraps Response to Mickey Mouse

What model boat is it - mine is a Viking 23 and it has ribs in the roof that are only apparent when the headlining is removed. The lights in the original fit out were all mounted in the gaps between the ribs so the cables could also run in the gaps.

Only just catching up with this - haven't been to BCLM for a while but I did notice when we were in Scotland that everything was around £20-£25 each - £40-£50 for a couple, the most expensive per minute was probably the Loch Ness exhibition at Drumnadrochit (£20 each for a 50 minute tour) and comfortably the least expensive was Cawdor Castle at around £15 each, we spent three hours there and could have stayed longer in the gardens Mind you, the vintage vinyl record shop in Nairn was probably the most expensive of the lot...

I hear you, but my point remains - we've come to expect a far higher standard. It is perfectly possible to cycle miles down canal towpaths on an old Brompton, mine is now 24 years old, three speed and has done hundreds if not thousands of towpath miles (well, maybe just over a thousand). Many, even most of those miles would be grassy, muddy or slippery and some potholed. In that time I had people tell me there were far better bikes for the job, but strangely all the posh bikes never seemed to get to the places I went. I'm not convinced this new Brompton will either - it's far more down to a spirit of adventure than to the kit you use.

One would be foolish to keep it outside - I have kept my Brompton in the cabin even on Juno (23 foot Viking GRP cruiser) Can I just add - I think people are getting soft, my Brompton has been on all sorts of rough and muddy surfaces... people seem to expect comfort and I just don't understand it!

Overall, our waterways need purpose if they are going to survive - and ideally purpose that pays for their upkeep. I'm looking at this elsewhere with a derelict but in water (and just about navigable to canoes) canal that may become part of a storm water relief scheme - if it does the canal will have to kept clear to have the conveyance, and this means it will also be navigable at least by small boats - if it doesn't happen my guess is nature will take over and eventually it will be lost. This is similar but on a much bigger scale - the water company won't want a weeded up undredged canal, and thus there is a wider incentive to keep it going. Why would it be anyone other than the water company? One of the (very few) benefits of both privatisation of utilities and the denationalisation of CRT is that there can be some serious horse-trading on matters like this, whereas the treasury used to be against payments from one government body to another even when one was benefiting the other hard up.

Just to comment - I use the auto-merge as a feature to enable posts with multiple pics, as the maximum file size is easily exceeded in just one post. Some of my posts such as the Highlands holiday would make a lot less sense without post merge. Sometimes the best thing to do with an irritating feature is to embrace it and use it to your advantage, which I find true in life as well as on the forum....

L'art pour l'art - I'd rather individuality than dull conformity, even though it means I won't like everything. Art brightens the world up, and this one has got people talking about the canal at Tinsley.

The part of the basin the wheel docks in (or at Anderton, the caisson drops into) is dry - separated from the rest of the canal by a gate. When the tank carrying the boat is in place a gate on the tank and one on the canal opens - the same arrangement as at the top. If the area the wheel landed in was flooded a lot more power would be needed to complete the circle as the lift would no longer balance. The Lynton and Lynmouth cliff railway is powered by filling a tank on the descending carriage - that said filling those beaks with water and emptying them again would probably be a lot of faff and a bit of a maintenance liability! Having been in brainstorming workshops for similar projects I'll bet someone did think of it though, and it would have been worked through

The bottom basin is dry, like Anderton. A neat trick might have been to fill the top beak with water, and drain it out of the lower one, the lift could then rotate on the descending weight. I don't know whether they thought of that.

I guess there is a slightly higher instance of locks being turned without a boat in them if there are two available, but it's more likely that the one taken out of use has been ashed up or similar to reduce leakage.

That's quite an achievement getting it wedged like that It is, I must admit my first thought was that, with care, boats could be got through with a sunken boat there, but I guess the risk assessment would give the the assessor apoplexy. You did what?

Bit more from the Highland Adventure - we stopped at Falkirk for one night on the way up, first the obligatory picture of the Kelpies. They are spectacular, IMHO opinion this knocks the Falkirk Wheel, The Angel of the North, even Eiffel Tower into a cocked hat for the sheer audacity of the sculptures, especially as the light can come through them. When the history of restoration is written, this will be one of the odder stories - "how was the canal extended under the motorway?" - "och, we built a couple of giant horses heads", for it was these that got the money for the canal. Next up the original "lock 2" (the Millennium restoration didn't have a lock 1) First question - I assume this lock is now closed as there is a new, more satisfactory route? But it looks operational. This lock leads straight to the River Carron to get under the M8 motorway, whereas the new route that passes between the Kelpies has a canal bridge under the motorway - at the moment I think that is the only totally new canal crossing of an existing motorway. This is the new lock (which sits between the Keplies) and the new motorway bridge Before we get onto the wheel, a shot of light coming through the Kelpies. BTW, I assume the story of the Kelpies is well known, if anyone wants a brief summary ask and I will do my best Now to the wheel, I think we all know what it looks like but here is a picture - and a hint, the trip is not best when it's raining hard. You either can't see through the windows or you open them and get severely dripped on! Second question - on the commentary the guy said that when the wheel was being planned there was no thought of it being a tourist attraction and they only started to make it such when people came to see it anyway - is that true? I'm pretty sure I recall seeing publicity for the project that included trip boats and a visitor centre, including amphibious boats that would cruise up the lift and through the tunnel and drive over the top to get back. Does anyone know any more?

One wonders how they planned to link the Glamorgan and Neath Canals - if we can find the details, I might resurrect the idea! It would be quite a job cataloging the canals and navigations on these plans that were eventually never built, and an interesting parallel with waterway restoration now - I have guide books for canals that were expected to reopen and never have.

Northwich paddle gear miles from home - acting to open a relief sluice on the Neath Canal just above Lock Machin, the canal is owned by St Modwens, so how they got one of these I do not know

Karma based dunking sounds a grand concept, I guess one would have to rely on Karma to do the dunking bit though 🤭

That you can say that to someone who has admitted to having a terminal illness (admittedly one that is being managed and thus prolonging my life significantly) says more about you than it does about me. In certain instances, that is exactly what the NHS are saying, but it doesn't suit your narrative. And I am happy, I have walked a couple of hundred miles of canal this year, visited the Caledonian Canal with my beautiful partner, we dance regularly and attend ballet and concerts, and I have watched numerous football matches. I have a good life, but while I've a way to go yet I will probably be gone sooner than seems fair on the partner and her daughter (my stepdaughter) - it's a sobering thought. Me being happy isn't incompatible with the NHS refusing to treat overweight people, even if that category included me.

If you stop smoking you are no longer a smoker, and in my case if I lost weight I was no longer overweight. The second instance is a false analogy, often that kind of operation is done to prolong a sporting career, as being physically active is seen as a good thing. In my case it's such a good thing they would probably go to great lengths to keep me active

I have recently been assessed for a lung transplant - thankfully my condition has stabilised so I won't need it now. However during the assessments I was advised that smokers will not be given a transplant (I don't smoke, not a problem) and that I needed to lose a stone. I'm not exactly obese but my weight would significantly reduce my survival chances. These restrictions are so they don't waste good lungs, smoking is obvious, but if you die on the operating table the donor lung is wasted. In case your wondering - I've lost a stone! See above - in some instances yes