RichardN

Not this Poppy I guess? and not a mill pond like this day:

I did not even know there had been a Tipton Green Canal till this event! We had that debate about position. Is that photo of the Chemical Arm entrance, no it is the entrance to the Black Country Museum. Hmm looks pretty chemical. Don't we turn before there? Scurry off to re-check maps, no we turn after. Is it two canals after we cross the new main line (sounding our horn appropriately)? Well sort of. Oh what happened there? Bound to be a Capt Ahab video somewhere . . .

Like Scholar Gypsy I would echo other peoples' comments. I think the Team setting this year's challenge has done an exceptional job, thank you. In some ways this was more tiring than the real event as the extra-curricular content was challenging plus there was the w o r k thing to cope with. I loved getting hold of the other 60 miles book, loved learning more about those 60 miles + that Gospel Oak arm extension, I don't do much social media so good to watch some Capt Ahab's videos which were new to me. This was so different to a normal year, we know there are bits we can do faster (eg Walsall or the Crow) but of course we loose that advantage here, choice of route is complex normally but now with different scoring and an extra 61 miles it becomes way more complicated. Fantastic stuff, thank you. Debate about the rules can go on for ever but like in a game of rugby you do not challenge or argue with the referee, you accept the decision and move on or go back 10 locks every time you argue. I don't think we published this so here is Hadfield's hand drawn tube map of the BCN . . .

Sue is talking to her mother so I will take over for a second: Summary by day, total at the bottom: DAY LOCKS MILES 1 32.0 14.0 2 16.0 14.8 3 20.0 15.0 4 14.0 15.0 5 8.0 14.5 6 28.0 11.9 TOTAL 118.0 85.2 I had a minor panic when I looked at those numbers, what were we doing on day 5, looks like we were in the pub most of the time! Of course it was the day with 10minute locking times when we wanted to get up from the Walsall Level to the Wolverhampton level and failed!

Larger versions of our last day maps:

Well said and seconded.

Video link is in the picture but in case you can't see it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/163151474@N06/49870435678/play/1080p/97ccc82453/

Oh that's hard. A double penalty point is always tough

Is that penalty point time?

I can't see any reason for us to change ours more frequently, ours are now 8 years old and look just about ok, I say just about as we have at times spent time in salty water and I am sure I can see them dissolving . . The Lady at JBJ said that we had seen a few boats pulled out after two years which looked more like tea bags, I can only think mains hook-up and no isolation but if that is what you are seeing I am not surprised they make that recommendation.

Aquaduct have fantastic facilities, I would not recommend them for any work but it may be worth using their facilities. Not many places will allow you to shot blast but for me the way to go is get the boat lifted out and some experts in to do the two pack. Our boat was originally shot blasted, painted with Zinga and then two pack all applied by Wayne and his team at MWT Civil Engineering (https://www.mwtcivilengineeringltd.co.uk/). We get the boat lifted out every 5 years for a bit of TLC, here is the first lift out: https://indigodream.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/boat-blog-a-look-at-indigo-dreams-bottom/ The last lift out was at Aquaduct as that is one of the places that Andy Russell uses, Wayne and Co came in and did the blacking whilst Andy painted the blue bits. The Aquaduct team had not used Zinga so they came in and learnt from Wayne's guys. We have used Wayne three times now and will use him again in 3 years time.

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Very well done. Indigo Dream is unlikely to be there, we need to be near Bath the weekend after so should be going under bridge 1 & 2 on the Severn that weekend. But if plans change . . . .

So far we have had 62 different greyhounds ( 8 of ours and 54 guests) on our boat, only two were not keen. Remarkably easy dogs, I can write for days about them but if you want more information get in touch. Or try talking to Graeme Marsh, Greyhound Trust Head Office - he used to live on a narrowboat before he moved south away from the canal network. In order from south to north you can try any of the following rescues: Greyhoundhomer (Essex or Suffolk), Accolade Hounds (Stoke Bruerne), Perry Barr, Greyhound Gap (near Red Bull) or Tia Rescue in Doncaster. Those know about narrowboats but you could just try the nearest rescue to you, if they don't know about boats then just point to any of the dog blogs on indigodream.wordpress.com, navigate there, type dog blog in the search box on the left and a selection should pop up. Suggest not looking at any of the links with dates in the title.

The BCN Challenge is tough: Last one is Henry have a break at Norton Canes whilst I pulled bits of carpet off our prop, same pattern as the carpet we caught last year but this time got two pieces not one! Got to be three next time. I am having slight difficulties in classifying Henry as a 42kg whippet . . . There is an album of random photos here. Random as they are so far from three cameras and I have yet to get round to sorting them into date order, plus photos to add from Sue's phone

Congratulations to Kustomcut on the new boat, very well done. Muskrat in his springer has won the challenge how many times? We expect to see you winning next year! Some amazing routes this year. Norton Junction as a start point for Tawny Owl? Do you mean you started at Newton Junction @ 8am?

If I remember right there is a sign saying you are leaving CRT waters and another as you come back down from the Flash that CRT byelaws apply. Is this not clutching at straws?

He was moored just upstream of Kingston last weekend flying a rather smart flag

It boils down to how fast your boat is and timing. When a spring tide is really running I guess we need to do about 5mph through the water, neaps way less. If you are used to the tidal Trent I doubt if you will have any issues do your homework though as nasty eddy at Limehouse catches people put all the time. Lots of guidance on the spcc website and thamescruising.co.uk

Has anyone congratulated the BCNS for holding this event? If not can I offer up my thanks to them, superbly done again with admirably devious work on the scoring system to keep it interesting! We will probably be too far north next year but we will make an effort to be back in two years time. I thought it fantastic that people legged through the Dudley Tunnel (men in white coats may have a different opinion!) Lower key then in previous years but we do have a fundraising page here: https://www.justgiving.com/teams/IndigoDream . Justgiving have fixed the odd error they had on the Challenge weekend so if you can spare a few pounds please donate to us (or to Carpe Vinum, thanks Darren for your donation). All the monies go to three local greyhound rescue charities who are desperately in need of funds.

We went to Liverpool two years ago and it was a revelation, absolutely loved it. We came in from Leeds in a 60' boat through the Liverpool Link, the whole journey was amazing and I have to say the Liverpool link was fantastic. We left via the Mersey, very possible in a prepared narrowboat in the right conditions but an exercise in logistics - see this page: https://indigodream.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/boat-blog-crossing-the-mersey-a-to-do-list/

I think you should put it on your score sheet, has to be logic there

Yes Indigo Dream is joining the fun this year but with a crew of just 4 greyhounds all of whom have been specially training all year to wear harnesses and tow the boat. Works well until the batteries run out in the rabbit or there are moored boats around. Seeing that we have such hard working hounds on board we doing a Darren and also fundraising, our page has only just been setup, hopefully works: https://www.justgiving.com/teams/IndigoDream

Oh so sad that one of the big love stories has had to end. RIP Les.

Hi interesting point. I googled and got the same answer as you. My memory may be playing tricks but I thought there was a discussion here about hull speed, I followed the links, got to a more complicated formula which include displacement and hull shape and that gave an answer of just over 7 knots for a 60 foot boat. If the 1.34 formula is right then I need a bigger engine! I see there is an 8 cylinder Gardner for sale on eBay. . . .