Tim Lewis

Missed the weekend bit! Tim

One of my earliest canal holidays was with a large group of young(ish) beer loving lads on a Middlewich Boats boat (Oak). I'd be tempted to do the Cheshire Ring, plenty of pubs to visit and plenty of locks to sober you up! Tim

GU boats are not getting away with anything, what we have done is educate BW as to how wide a narrow lock is. Tim

BW update issued on Waterscape yesterday here. Tim

Its a great bit of canal, a few pictures from my weeekend in April here. Enjoy your trip Tim

Correct (Southern Stratford Lock 51 (I think) Tim

Thanks very much for that, we've not had a good year for being set adrift/broken into. Tim

Thats what we use on Fulbourne, not sure that we have put them in the right place though: We have also used steel bars, see: http://www.pbase.com/timlewis/ballast_installation Tim

Sorry about that - was sorting out my pbase albumns when I accidentally deleted a folder instead of a picture - here they are again: Athestone 1986 Coventry Canal 1st January 1986: Tim

Your British Waterways License (Assuming you have one) is all you need to navigate the River Trent. Do however realise that the Trent downstream from Newark (Cromwell Lock) is tidal so please do your research as to timings and safety precautions. Tim

Eventually found the time to sort some pictures! Here Enjoy Tim

The bow of my (Steel) boat is 71 years old! Tim

A google search came up with: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/cheshireringrace/ Tim

A couple of we weeks ago we sent someone (me) ahead from the last river lock to set the lock, only a ten minute walk - remember to take your BW key to get into the basin/lock area. Tim

BW have a section on Freedom Of Information requests on their web site: http://www.british-waterways.org/listening...information-act Tim

There are better pubs in Stone than the Wetherspoons, the Star by the Lock is good but my favorite is the one by the bridge who's name I've forgotten (The Swan?) which has a good range of real ales. Tim

Thats what being bought by British Waterways does to a (once great) pub On the Caldon the Boat at Basford Bridge is a good bet, the Black Lion at Consal Forge was always an 'experience' but I hear that it may now be under new management. Tim

Scuse the ignorance but this is correct how do baseplates get thin/pitted. We used to paint the baseplate on Fulbourne and when we came to re-paint there was a surprisingly amount of paint still left on the bottom, bitumen is harder to knock of on a soft canal bed than you may imagine. As others have said finding a place where you can get access to the bottom is the main problem. We used the dry dock at Uxbridge a couple of times but the gap is not fantastic. Using a boatyard that cranes boats onto high trestles is prob the best option. One of the best/easiest I know is the gantry crane at Debdale marina near Foxton. Tim

As I partly own a 71 year old Harland & Wolff boat still with its original hull I would also like a shipbuilder to build mine! Tim

It's a shame you didn't do the tideway on Sat as this was the day of the Great River Race when literally hundreds of boats of all sorts row from Richmond to Greenwich, it is a spectacular sight! The weekend was also the Thames River Festival which it sounds like to wandered into. The highlight for me was a two hour trip on a the Sailing Barge Lady Daphne which went under a raised tower bridge twice (For £10) - will post some pictures when I get the chance. Tim Edited to say that I also had my first trip on one of the Thames Clipper Catamarans to the O2, we went after it went dark and my they can shift when they get in a bit of open water!

I seem to recall from a review of this boat that the owner (Who I think had some connection with the builder) refused point blank to say haow much it cost. Tim