Stroudwater1

I thought there weren’t many but there’s quite a few on the BCN, a number on the South Oxford , Wilmcote and much of the rest of if not all bar the lock onto the Stratford on the North Stratford. Just in time economics is great till unusual things are needed in a hurry. Not totally sure it works with lock gates - that ought to be an emergency. It’s a wonder that the hire firms don’t start seeking sanctions in some way from CRT. It must put seasoned hirers off greatly.

I agree with that. We met the maddest French couple three years ago who had opened all four paddles on the next 4 locks on the Manchester flight. All pounds were near to dry. We wound them down and went to see why they were “stuck “ in the lock they were in. Turned out the top paddles were up too but their lock wasn’t equalising after two hours because the bottom paddles were also left partially open. It was a slow journey through those drained pounds. Appreciate one swallow and all that but we do find paddles left open often these days, even gates through whole flights.

The water levels at Lock 1E have had a problem with low water for ages. It’s not clear what the stop planks are about unless it implies they have identified the loss as being between the bottom lock gate and stop planks. Not heard of the extraction then going into the long pound below lock 1. That would seem a strange agreement. Looks like they will be sorting the levels soon on lock 12-1E. There was a pump there when we were there in 2021 from that aquaduct or nearby. It’s a great canal, one of if not the favourite of ours. We are in danger of talking it into closure by keeping saying it’s going to close. It’s so important to be really sure of closing gates and paddles to avoid needless water loss on this canal. There is usually quite a bit of water flowing in at the top pound and also hopefully the reservoirs will be back to being filled as normal.

It’s listed as The IWA canalway cavalcade on the list above 4-6th May here so you could get lucky ?

Is New Mills any good? It seemed pretty decent as we passed it and New Mills itself was nice to visit?

Congratulations- looks lovely. ☺️

Hope you enjoyed the Ribble link too!

Sussex is relatively shallow drafted I seem to remember . Hope you or the current hirers didn’t get apprehended by too many locals who hadn’t heard of the county but rather liked the “sex” bit of her name. It got a bit tedious after a while 😊

Or sunk …

What a lovely brochure and some great images too . They are ambitious for current times of course but these sort of journeys were not that uncommon in those days. Venturer is pictured in Worcester basin and 58 miles would be from Stourport to some way up the G&S. Though these boats didn’t have whopping engines it’s possible to have done that distance with a bit of fresh and tide as the Severn locks and bridgekeepers were available most hours then IIRC. Someone here recently mentioned a hired Canal Pleasurecraft trip from Stourport up to Trevor (due to the breach) then across Middlewich up the T&M then back to Stourport via the S&W in I believe 2 weeks. Canalplan makes the return from Stourport to Llangollen 16 days but I’m pretty sure we used to do it in one week, once also calling into Chester. There was seldom need to slow as there were so few moored boats or slow for boats coming to bridges or oncoming in difficult stretches and apart from the very occasional working boat few locks to wait around at whilst other boats went through. Mooring spaces at nice places weren’t a premium so you wouldn’t need to stop early to get a rare mooring spot.

Absolutely lovely, like the shine on the Davis plaque too. by contrast this was a bit of Alnwick last November

Don’t worry you will hopefully love it. Some canal rings are temporarily closed which could partly account for things being quieter. Boating on canals is changing and there’s much more livaboards who don’t necessarily move that often. Holidays are changing too. It was very difficult to get an available hire boat at times during Covid. They were fully booked. Now we are free to travel folk are going abroad to make up for lost time. We passed 10 boats round the Braunston end of the North Oxford canal a couple of weeks ago - still lots of boats around.

As Per David Mack’s Google image it’s definitely the M6. The M40 starts near Earlswood South Birmingham peeling off the M42 quite a bit further South.

Still for sale. We walked past yesterday evening. Though the M6 is overhead the elevation is insufficient to hide much noise. It’s really incessant and quite deafening. Shame as otherwise with its layout and paddock it would be very pleasant. There is a brook that flows through with an overspill feeding it from the canal too.

Diggles paddles are very angled aren’t they? Are they the only top ground paddle mechanisms that are both on the same side, and also the only ones that face into the canal? that means winding them standing sideways to the canal, and not facing the canal as they are wound? Longford Lock, Staffs and worcs tonight and Diggle from above And below And a repair at Diggle

I think that is the Wye invader 2- they have traveled up Maisemore and Llanthony weirs. Saves bothering the lockie at Gloucester I suppose ?

Yes but it’s likely to be fine, though surveys can be picky too on certain things. It’s a 13 year old boat that’s likely to be well maintained so all should be good survey wise. I imagine any issues are likely to have been addressed as the monthly direct debits usually accrue to give a decent fund for remedial work. Well done, looks like a nice boat. Enjoy! https://www.boatshare.co.uk/shared-narrow-boat-eos

There’s also the Wye invader that regularly cruises the Severn estuary/ tidal River Wye. Theres much YouTube on their exploits. Folk here do regularly make crossings of the Mersey or Ribble link or tidal Trent to Keadby and less navigate the Trent into the Humber Thames/Medway or the Wash . Care needs to be exercised of course. A few narrowboats have gone over to the French canals though most of these have got craned out in the UK and craned back in on French canals. Several detailed blogs exist , and I believe some are members here. Theres a change in times you can’t generally have unrestricted stay over in Europe but one for you to look into if you are wanting that. (cue posters muscling in on Brexit debates- please don’t, it’s as boring as the RCD/RCR comments ) Im sure some on here can advise about the electric motor side. @IanD has recently had one built. I imagine he will want to do some of the occasional trips mentioned above. I fear you will be compromising too much if you concentrate on sea worthiness though and you will lose much cruising time with the sort of alterations you describe. Best to focus on what your main wants are. If it’s mostly marine cruising then the compromise maybe unnecessary and best buy a different type of boat A posting on here re the Wye invader

There’s also canal cruising hire from Stone and possibly Union canal cruisers at Braunston that do long term hires https://www.canalcruising.co.uk/long-term-canal-boat-holiday/ https://unioncanalcarriers.co.uk/availability/

Certainly enjoyed it last year and were fortunate to pass a couple of large ships entering and exiting Eastham Lock with a few tugs around. The entry of the ship from the Mersey was inch perfect, Tug holding her from the stern as the tide pushed the ship into the lock, using its bow thruster for steering in. Stuart the pilot was excellent. He produced a printout of anticipated ship movements for the day and talked us through it all really well. We crossed straight over from Brunswick Lock then were pushed up with the tide on the Eastham side of the Mersey, pretty near to the bank. It was rather rougher then mykaskins great video. Hope you enjoy the day.

Yes, that would make for a very enjoyable trip, with varied canals and much to see. Best to moor no further into Birmingham than Catherine de Barnes until you get to the top of the Farmers Bridge flight. Its not too easy to moor and isnt ideal mooring overall.

I suspect it will bash into a more rounded shape with a lump hammer, thats what we were advised to do recently with a tipcat fender? We have some car tyre cut up across the tyre and attached onto the front of the fender so the tyre tread runs up and down the front of the bow and thus when we seldom touch the bow on the top gate when ascending. This seems to give it some additional protection, and may reduce the chances of getting stuck on bolts . Ive seen a few boats with that set up. However your fender has a nice section that would be covered by such a tyre, which you may prefer not to do.