davel

There were 16 places on each tour and 4 tours during the day, all tours were fully booked and there was a full complement on the tour we were on even though it was a rather grotty day. Was it worth it -- Yes I think so, there was some interesting information but I would have liked to be able to wander more extensively around the site and have a nose around the winding hole where the outlet is.

I took some photos on an earlier visit a few days after the initial draining when the fish zapping guys were there. They towed a little dinghy along behind them with Genny and big bucket. This was the first pass, of three I believe, and this bucket full was caught in the first half of the drained section. There were loads of little bream and perch at least one pike about 15" long an eel about 3' long and 1 1/4" diameter a Tench about 12" long and a bream about the same, these were what I could see in the bucket or were caught when I was there. Back to today's visit. I don't know if it was yobs or the wind that threw the ready-fence panels into the cut but the guys were saying that this year they have had security patrolling the area as they were spending so much time dragging panels out of the water. We then climbed down into the aqueduct to see the work going on to the trough. The contractors were scraping out old mortar (and clay in places where the mortar had been pushed/flushed out) between the masonry to the a depth of at least 3" then refilling with Lime mortar. When the mortar has set sufficiently they then drill a hole at each corner of every block and inject waterproofing stuff to fill any voids behind the blockwork and drive the remaining water out. They were doing this at a rate of about 1.5m per day per man. They have dug out the canal bed at the western end and concreted up to the start of the trough. Presumably these are to tie one section of concrete to the next. Excuse the rubbish photos. It's a nice shot of the ready-fence panels though.

Had the tour now so here is an update and further information and photos. Thanks Josher for filling in with articles and other photos and apologies if I repeat stuff that Josher has mentioned. Aqueduct from South side ---- ---and north side. According to the BW personnel conducting the tour the piers were built on Timber piles the timber having been imported from Russia. Also they imported volcanic ash from Italy to mix with the lime water to give extra strength. The piers went down about 7m below the water surface and the piles a further 3m. Although there is a crack in the masonry which is in the same place in all five aches it is thought that this happened as the aqueduct settled soon after it was built. According to drawing that BW have the piers are hollow, I believe this is also the case with other bridges and aqueducts. Soon after it was finished (possibly the next year) the aqueduct suffered a breach at the eastern end resulting in a rebuild, with a stone that was dressed differently, from the last pier and from about 8 courses up from the current ground level. The original stone being on the left of the following images. And on the trough Also the last arch on the eastern was originally built over water but this was subsequently filled in so a railway line could be built to go under the aqueduct.

More pics and short video. Lune Aqueduct partly drained. The basin to the north of the Aqueduct. The outlet is in the corner of the basin about 1/3rd down and 1/3rd in from the right in this photo. We watched the contractors tirfor open the outlet then walked down to the river and shot this. The Channel is about 2' wide. I shot it in portrait then realised back at the boat that I did not know how to re-orientate it. You'll just have to turn your monitors on there side. Edited to add - I wasn't sure how this worked so clicked it and it links to photobucket were you can play it. This morning nowt but a trickle. Some of the debris left at the bottom of the chute. Lun - ar photo. Shot at 2 pm ish.

The Lune Aqueduct on The Lancaster Canal has been closed off for a few days now with a clay dams, but not drained till yesterday due to a covering of ice that would hamper the rescue of the fish. The plug (flap) was pulled at 8 ish am yesterday (Tuesday) and I went along about 2pm yesterday and took the following piccies. Road Aqueduct South of the Lune. Last bit of ice remains on the bed. South end of the Lune Aqueduct. The level had dropped about 3'. Section of canal between the two aqueducts. South of the road Aqueduct. Some Freshwater mussels left stranded. Some appear to be making their way towards the remaining water. The photos stopped loading part way through so I'll add some more later and try to get there occasionally to get updates. Edited to add which canal the aqueduct is on!

I asked EA for a pack several years ago which came through with a lot of information and also included a very good Crayfish identification guide.

I did this recently with our car whilst the gearbox was off. I just put jump leads across, but if it was a permanent thing I would have thought it would be easy enough to add posts to batteries or a better way of making the connection. Experts may be along soon to point out any drawbacks, but it worked for us as a short term solution. However, it won't be as economical an option as running yer Lister! but at least you could use Red diesel (at the lower rate of duty) in your car if it was not going to be on the road.

Cheers The splines have been stripped from the plate, but I'm hoping that the plate that bolts to the flywheel can be re-used.

Lancaster Basin stayed frozen over yesterday and then there was a light dusting of snow this morning.

No, it's a Ford BSD 333H Cheers anyway Dave

That's easy then, looking for a replacement now. Thanks for your replies chaps. Dave.

The last couple of days when I've attempted to start the engine the trip has thrown. A gentle tap with a spanner on the solenoid gets it going. The solenoid is a Lucas 12 volt unit. Is this likely to be an easy problem to sort out? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Sorry about the delay in replying but I was sorting out my Blackberry vodka! Hmmm Bastard Service berry gin has a certain ring to it. I can just imagine my mother saying to her neighbour "A glass of Bastard Service berry gin Mrs Fortescue?" Weight of opinion seems to be on the Viburnum which I had considered but didn't think the berries or leaves were quite right, but as Phylis says the leaf patterns can vary within a species. Thanks for your contributions folks.

Whilst out today I saw some red berries on what I thought was a Maple tree but also thought that Maple fruits were helicopter types. I picked a twig off and tried to identify it myself with my rather limited book and also on several sites on the interweb thingy but to no avail. Can any of you clever buggers help? The berries are semi translucent. I did wonder if it might be a Wild Service tree (Chequertree) but the leaf shape and colour of the berries did not seem quite right.

Wow five pages, my topics usually die a death very quickly after only a couple of replies if any! Thank you everyone who has contributed. I started the topic to find out if there was anything I should have done to get the boat in front to let us by being as we are still fairly new to this narrowboating lark. So in future I'll catch right up to them and Ange will ask if we can overtake them (at an appropriate place) and hope she doesn't get a mouthful of abuse! But it does seem that when in the situation of being a slower boat in front of a faster boat a lot of people on here (including ourselves) would wave them past at the first opportunity without being asked. I have in the past been in situation were I have been slightly faster than the boat in front and have kept well back because the difference in speed was too small to bother with overtaking. As we went through Galgate this morning we passed the boat in question which had turned round and was filling up with water. The photographer was still taking photos and took a couple of us coming through the bridgehole. As we passed we exchanged greetings and commented on the weather (as is the British way). We're fairly sure now that he was just a keen photographer and we were getting slightly paranoid and that if we had asked to overtake he would have let us.

Do you get to make any sized fender you want

Cruising today from Carnforth to Garstang, well only made it to Galate because we came up behind a narrowboat just South of Lancaster which was going incredibly slow. I was quite content to stay behind him at first because it was fairly bendy for a while and if I'm being followed by somebody who is obviously faster than me I prefer to let them past on a good straight. But they didn't. They knew I was there as they regularly looked round to check in fact the last couple of miles seemed to be some one looking our way nearly all the time especially the chap who appeared to be taking lots of photos of us. I don't like to beep my hooter or wave or crowd them to harass them into letting them past, but am I expecting to much from them thinking that they should wave me past at an appropriate place? I was only just going over tickover and had to coast some of the time when he was going past moored boats and approaching blind bridges. I kept a respectful two boat lengths behind them most of the time and never less than one boat length. Was I being impatient or was he being inconsiderate?

Our Raspberry Vodka went down well at the Lancasire Banter, then the kids finished it off when they borrowed the boat when we were on holiday. Got some Blackberry Vodka on the go and Blackberry and Elderberry Vodka as an experiment. Have some Sloe Gin already and waiting for first frost to make some more to see if it makes a difference. This year I have used 2:1 fruit sugar ratio as we found last years a bit sweet. Also as an experiment I saw mentioned somewhere about Werthers or Toffee vodka. I Bought some dairy toffees (200g)and added them to 70cl bottle of Vodka (after drinking some to make space for the toffees). After a week to 10 days the toffees had dissolved but the liquor seperated so had to be shaken before serving, but that was a bit too sweet. So next I tried 100g of Werthers in 70cl. After a week they had dissolved but was a bit sweet. Topped up with more vodka after our first sample and it was yummy. Nearer to Christmas I'll make some more Werthers Liqueur but with cheap whisky.

Ma & Pa recently attended a local Auction and scored this Kenyon lamp (complete with huge stubby candle) which they thought might go well on the boat. However as you can see it has no lenses, any idea where I might be able to get some from?

I hope she doesn't jam coins in them like our family does .