Tim Lewis

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

Are you saying that all lock furniture should be standardised, a lot of us have been fighting for many years to get this mentality out of BW. If you want to see the result of 'standardisation' get hold of a copy of 'Our disappearing heritage' published by the HNBOC, a copy of which was sent to every BW engineer at the time, it looks like we need to send out more! Tim

How will they address it except by removing them, on my recent trip round the Midlands Canals its looks like they are not far off completing putting them in! Tim

Dukes lock is not special, every lock I passed on the southern Oxford on a recent trip was being fitted with these style bollards. Tim

I replied to this address and got a reply thanking me for replying to the moorings trial consultation! Tim

I think you need to look at your metric to imperial conversion Tim

I think you'll find that it was a bit more than a boaters complaint that caused baffled to be fitted, Article here Tim

Robins Timber Tim