mykaskin

Good news the traffic is starting, bad news regards the problems encountered but as you've said it's par for the course. The dredging below the lock was probably done to spec, but any loose in the area soon builds up a scour again below locks (assuming scale makes no odds). It's important to ensure that you can eat your dinner off the lock apron and below and put some big holes where it gets shallow to stop it filling quite so quickly. You want to try carrying on pleasure canals with a deep boat - not sure you'd be able to flush a 500 tonne barge in with the paddles however... Cheers, Mike

Ah good old Bob on the back, he was a good chap and a great sense of humour!

There isn't much trade on the upper river, and it's limited to high water, however when leaving Hull Marina you want to time your arrival at Goole 2 hours before high water or later otherwise it will cost to use the lock. Don't arrive later as you might have to wait for a gap in the commercial traffic. Check the weather carefully and buy current charts from ABP to ensure you know where the channel is. If you do run aground on a rising tide however you will just have to wait until you're floating again but best avoided. It's not a problem on any sort of boat so long as you plan the trip. Talk to local boaters and see if someone who knows the river wants to come along. I know of a good pilot if you want one. Cheers, Mike

Hi everyone, Braunston historic rally isn't happening this year, so here is a video from 2009 that has never been released before: It's on a 'Premiere' which starts at 6pm tonight (in 30 mins time), so watch it with friends: Youtube clicky Cheers, Mike

Hi everyone, Join a Bolinder powered narrowboat for a trip along the canals of the Midlands: YouTube Clicky There are several parts, Day 1 and 2 are available now. More coming later hopefully - it has taken me 8 years to get this far! Cheers, Mike

As an aside - there is a useful tool for downloading iplayer content (without any DRM): https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer

Having a deep drafted historic boat, and now dragging a butty around makes it somewhat harder to moor up. The butty is deeper than some modern narrowboats, so end up needing to push a lot of water out of the way. Going astern on the motor to bring the pair to a stop easily ends up pushing you back out, even if someone has managed to get off the front. Sometimes, it's possible to jump ashore before the whole lot gets pushed out again. When mooring with the motor alongside the bank, especially at lock landings, having the boat moving slowly forward and strapping with the back end rail line works a treat. When there is no such luxury, I've often found it's easier to reverse into a spot. The forward thrust to bring the boats to a stop help suck the boats into the bank better. Obviously, every mooring is going to be different, so size it up on a time by time basis.

I met Jim and Annie on Elizabeth when I first got Victoria - I was breaking the ice back south along the GU and they followed. Then met up again at Ellesmere Port that Easter and became good friends. Elizabeth is a very interesting boat, and I do hope it goes to a good owner.

It's a embedded youtube player with a large preview image. This is the direct link: YouTube clicky Cheers, Mike

You'll find with a lot of fresh coming down the incoming tide at Stockwith will be quite gentle, and the outgoing flow will be quite fierce I'd say. To give you an idea of a flooded tidal trent at that end watch this video about 2 mins in: Cheers, Mike

You don't get Aegirs when there is so much fresh in the river, you're lucky to get any upward flow and certainly not above Owston Ferry.

My money is on: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5642076,-1.0670117,3a,15y,81.19h,88.48t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMdfi85M5Yi5yMbz3VIV8Gw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Newton Middle Lock: https://canalplan.eu/place/ro8g Mike

Enjoy a drone trip around the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct: Pontcysyllte Aqueduct Youtube Clicky

There wasn't much still water, and the back of the boat was in the main stream. I have a video from the bank too, which I keep meaning to edit together with this one. You can see my Dad has a much easier job with 50 foot modern boat. I later had to do the same turn mostly loaded on a much bigger tide, but without a winch it wasn't going to happen, so had to wait for the tide to finish running so hard.