BeckyJC
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Posts posted by BeckyJC
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Always worth phoning the lock keepers and asking their advice - they've been extremely helpful in my experience and are very familiar with the local conditions.
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Hi,
I got back to my narrowboat yesterday (Monday) evening, having left her at All Oaks Wood near Brinklow on the North Oxford, to find that several items had been stolen.
Missing:
4x 110ah lead acid leisure batteries. Can't remember the make - they were black - might have been beta-something but not certain.
1x 85ah Optima yellow top battery. Very old/beaten-up looking.
A load of diesel from the tank - it was almost full, guess about £100 worth missing
Small white/pale blue rowing boat - they took the boat but not the oars
Had anyone seen anything suspicious or been offered any of the above items in the last few days? I've reported it to the police but there is little they can do. The batteries/diesel would be difficult to spot now but it would have been pretty difficult to hide a rowing boat!
Appreciate any information you might have.
Thanks for reading,
Becky
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We have a Tracer too, and spent some time scratching our heads when initially installing it. Check the instructions, as if yours is the same as ours it is designed to run a street light system so will only charge the batteries during the daylight, and only supply power FROM the batteries during the darkness. We couldn't understand why everything appeared to be charging fine, but none of our electrics worked until night time! It is a setting that can be bypassed once you know about it.
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Saw a Little Owl at Weston on Trent a few weeks ago.
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Mine is Muddy Waters. Not sure if that is the blues singer or not as I didn't name her though!
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I do normally keep my bike locked to the boat, but I left the new (2nd hand, not shiny!) one locked to the sign as we were moored about a mile from the road and my boyfriend was going to cycle back down to the boat on it.
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Hi All,
Just a friendly warning / request to keep your eyes open please:
On Saturday (25th May 2013) I bought a black mountain bike with orange wheels (no brand name visible) from a shop in Beeston and locked it to a sign post right by the canal in Beeston (Rylands) - very visible, and locked with a decent, fat Oxford cable lock. It was a gift for my boyfriend but I rode it myself that day, went to buy new lights etc before locking it up at approx. 7:30pm. By the time he returned at 11pm the lock had been cut clean through and the bike stolen.
We have already reported this to the police etc, but be careful to keep your things safe if you're in the area - and do let me know if you spot a black mens mountain bike with orange Michelin tyres (pretty distinctive!) and orange-covered brake/gear cables.
Cheers,
Becky
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How about a side category for "Most creative boat signage"?
On a more serious note... is there any restriction on HOW the 6 hours break must be taken? Can it be taken as 3x 2 hour breaks outside pubs, for instance, or must it be one 6 hour block? Just in case I might possibly happen to be crew for anyone, and fancy a bit of night cruising.
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Thanks for all the replies!
As the mooring sounds "interesting" for more than a few hours, I think I'm going to skip the Chesterfield afterall this time around. Tide times aren't looking too bad, so I'm going to head straight down the Trent to Nottingham - just a slight change to the plan, eh?
Any recommendations for "safe" visitor moorings in/around Nottingham greatly received! Am I right in thinking that there are 14-day moorings somewhere near Sainsburys and the station in the centre? BW boaters guide says so, and I vaguely remember passing them before, but I no longer trust the guide - has let me down several times recently. On that note, if anyone knows of a good, reliable guide to visitor moorings (i.e. time limit, number of boats) it would be VERY gratefully received! I am trying to legitimately cruise the system, but do sometimes need to leave the boat for a few days and this is proving difficult in areas I don't know as a result of a complete lack of information. Nicholson guide doesn't usually give time limits / amount of space, BW boaters guides don't always reflect the actual situation.
Cheers,
Becky
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Hi All,
Looking at exploring the Chesterfield canal shortly, but a quick glance at the BW boaters' guide seems to show only 24hr visitor moorings! Presumably there are also places I can moor (i.e. not "official" moorings") for up to 14 days?
Appreciate any tips on where to / where not to moor - was thinking of spending perhaps a month or so exploring at leisure - is this do-able?
Cheers,
Becky
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Good news at last - BW are allowing some boats to pass through the Tinsley flight this weekend at last!
Update on Waterscape says:
UPDATE (23 October 2009): UPDATE 23RD October
We now have sufficient water levels to re-open the canal. We will be penning customers through that have been unable to move during the stoppage over this weekend. We will re check the water levels on Monday morning and if they are sufficient, passage on this stretch will be allowed as usual.
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More news:
Associated Regional Office: BW Yorkshire
UPDATE (16 October 2009): UPDATE 16TH OCTOBER
We have now repaired the pumps and they are working correctly, however, due to a collapsed culvert we are unable to transfer sufficient volumes of water to re-open the navigation at this time. We are Investigating this collapse and will update on the 21st October . British Waterways apologise for the inconvenience caused to customers.
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Just phoned BW again with hopes of being allowed up the flight this weekend, but sadly it isn't looking hopeful.
The repair on the pump yesterday was unsuccessful - they hope to have more news on what is going to happen next later this afternoon. So that'll make it a full month that I haven't been able to get to my mooring! Anyone know what the deal is re: getting my (BW) mooring fee refunded? Seems unreasonable still paying for a mooring I can't use!
Becky
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Deja-vu! Just phoned BW for an update, apparently the stoppage has now been extended as the wrong parts were delivered for the pump.
This is exactly the same as happened last October!
Fingers crossed it gets sorted soon - I make that 3 weeks now.
Becky
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Just checked the Waterscape site again, new update:
UPDATE (08 October 2009): UPDATE 8TH OCTOBER
Unfortunately there has been a delay in sourcing the parts needed for the repair work. We will issue an update next wednesday 14th October
Grrr!
Becky
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Just called BW office in Leeds for an update on this - the flight is still closed at the moment. They are waiting for parts for the pump, and hope to have it re-opened on Monday (not definite though, as they haven't started work yet...)
Becky
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Still closed - phoned BW office today and confirmed
B
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Still ongoing - phoned BW office in Leeds yesterday and they said still closed at the moment. Waterscape.com says that they will provide an update on the situation tomorrow.
Becky
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Hi,
Just been informed by Tinsley lock keeper than the flight is closed as of now due to water loss issue / problem with the pumping system again so had to cancel my passage for Saturday.
Not certain how long it will be closed for at this stage, he said "maybe a week but we really don't know yet", but asked him to keep me updated so will post news here.
Hope this helps,
Becky
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You could use the Rugby visitor mooring either side of Bridge 58 but use the towpath side because the non towpath side the moorings are limited to 24 hrs. You can catch bus no 4 into town from there.
It may be worth talking to Willow wren and Viking who are just a little way north of there on the Rugby wharf arm, they may have short term mooring available. There is good access to town from there.
Telephone; 01788 562183/569153 Fax; 01788 540540
Hire boats email to narrowboats@willowwren.co.uk
There are more visitor moorings at Newbold and I believe its on a bus route but don't know which one.
It may be worth talking to the people at Clifton Cruisers 01788 543570 they are also on a bus route to town and are very friendly and helpul
Brinklow marina is quite a bit further out and not on a bus route but they are very friendly and helpful
Tel: 07711 803430
Fax: 07092 311905
Email: moorings@brinklowmarina.com
Hope this helps
Regards
TC
Alternatively, the 14 day visitor moorings at Hillmorton are nice and there are regular buses into town about a 5 minute walk away. Newbold is also an option, I *think* there are buses there, but if not it's only about 15mins walk into town... Personally prefer Hillmorton to Newbold, but neither is bad. Brinklow is lovely, but further out.
Hope this helps,
Becky
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Personally I prefer cassette- depends on how you will be using the boat, but at least with a cassette you can chuck it in the car and drive to the nearest Elsan point if you're stuck (e.g. in ice, unexpected stoppages) for some reason. You CAN do this with a self pump-out kit and some containers, but that just sounds (and smells) like unnecessary faffing to me!
The idea of a huge tank of sewage on board isn't too appealing either.
You desensitise to emptying cassettes after a while. I'd still rather empty my cassette 50 times than brave a Glastonbury toilet once......
Hope this helps,
B
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We bought a couple of pairs of fingerless sailing gloves. They have padded areas where needed to stop the ropes rubbing through. Have not worn them much this summer but used them a lot last winter when the ropes where wet.
When it's wet, my sealskinz waterproof / breathable gloves are a godsend! Grippy enough to...er...grip things when necessary, and nice and warm (but not sweaty). Not cheap, but worth every penny when I was boating in the tipping rain a couple of weeks ago.
B
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Did you rip your gearbox out?
That was aimed at Beck, Dave just replied too quickly
No, didn't do any damage to my boat, got grounded numerous times though just trying to drop off / pick up crew on that stretch. It was really shallow when we were up there.
B
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Have to admit at being concerned about the OP's post as we will be passing through their 2 weeks today on Katie's Drum (a NB) en route from Silsden on to pass over the Pennines.
then I too though how the hell does a grounding rip out the gearbox on a narrowboat (as I'd assumed we were talking NB's) - clearly though we can't be
can it??I don't know the full details, but we ended up turning round at Gargrave on the 20-somethingth of July and heading back towards Skipton because a boat had been sunk in one of the locks there, thus preventing us from going on any further. The water was indeed very shallow when we were up there - boats having trouble tying up before / after the locks as it was too shallow to get into the bank.
B
Refuse storage on boats
in General Boating
Posted
I'm a big fan of "unshopping" - save all the recyclable packaging, then take it back to the supermarket on the next trip and "unshop" it into their recycling bins. Who knows, might even encourage them to cut down on so much unnecessary packaging if enough people did it. Wishful thinking?
Recently noticed that an increasing number of pubs seem to have (public) recycling facilities in their car parks too, a quick online search for "recycling near xxxxx" is generally all it takes to hunt them down.