geophil

After ten years in the making, here is the next version. Oh, not really. I wasn't aware that this old thread still existed. I have been using the Waypoint Converter on all my narrowboat trips and I updated it to changes at CanalPlan AC but never published a newer version so far. So, here we go then, for those of us, who still prefer some more ruggedised equipment than the ubiquitous smartphone. It has been tested with Garmin only but may work with other GPS devices that understand standard GPX and can decipher custom waypoint symbols the way Garmin does. What's new? Waypoint Converter reads the file format .csv (comma separated values), exported by CanalPan AC by default for some time now. Waypoint names can be much longer and add at least part of the wording of the waypoint description to the unique identifier, to take advantage of the larger screens and higher display resolution of the more recent GPS models. Custom symbols are now available in three sizes, small at 16 pixels, as before, medium with 24 and large with 32 pixels, again, for larger screens. You can download it here: Download Waypoint Converter A couple of more screenshots: On a Garmin Montana: In Gamin BaseCamp on the PC: Roland

Short, but enjoyable. Thanks for the hint, I would have missed it. ("Freesat" here in the West of Germany)

Going west from Skipton means a winding canal with really sharp bends and the locks starting almost right away (Gargrave). Going east means many, many swing bridges before you are finally rewarded with the staircase locks.

Did the Rochdale and a significant part of the L&L late April/early May. Planned for the Huddersfield originally, not the L&L, but couldn't get there due to the stoppage on the Ashton. Shire Cruisers suggested to head for the L&L instead, to make the best of our trip, even if we were not able to return the boat to Sowerby Brigde. Many thanks to them. Now for the Rochdale: We did it east to west. Overall, nothing unexpected, really. The locks weren't particularly heavy to operate. We did make some use of the extra bit of leverage, though, provided by Shire Cruisers' windlasses. On the Lancashire side there are a number of locks with paddles locked on the off-side, especially the flight between West Summit and Littleborough. Despite the reduced water flow flooding of the next pound and lock below was a common result of opening the remaining tail gate paddle. Some of the pounds are quite shallow, on both sides of summit, even with the water at normal level. We ran aground a few times. As a precaution we gave up on setting a crew member ashore well ahead of the next lock. That wasn't a guarantee, though. Suffered from a longer lasting grounding when picking up a crew member at the designated point (!) below Ealees Lock (I think). There are some additional underwater obstacles, mostly shopping trolleys. We also got used to frequent weedhatch operations. Found ourselves drifting in the canal one morning - below Littleborough. Looked quiet and safe enough for mooring. Otherwise not a single personal encounter with any bandits. Even the Rochdale 18 were harmless enough. Two short disruptions, running aground and a weedhatch job a few locks later. Made good progress nevertheless with BW setting the locks for us, about 4 hours in total. Continued down the Rochdale 9 right away. The night before we stayed at the River Irk aqueduct ("Rose of Lancaster" for food and drink). Getting from there to lock 65 to meet BW took us 90 minutes, just in time to meet the BW chaps, showing up at 8:30 sharp. Found 60 min travel time for this bit in one of the guidebooks which I think is next to impossible. Lock 64 was slow, the lift bridge was slow - creating a major traffic jam - and an underwater obstacle took its toll (shopping trolley? Must have been something more solid, I guess). The Yorkshire side is very scenic. There are several nice stretches on the Manchester side, too. And, in my opinion, nothing really ugly at all, apart from motorways, ring roads and stuff. We were quite slow in the beginning, due to the "except Wednesday" operation of the Rochdale 18 and spent extra time on the Yorkshire side, including a walk to Stoodley Pike but picked up some speed later. Daunting Rochdale? Not for us. Perhaps we had this "organised and energetic crew" itinerary planners talk about, but we were just three and no one suffered from sore muscles. Yes, I would do it again, any time. (Hope to see the Huddersfield canals and Standedge tunnel next time.)

One nice thing with some of the GPS models is their logging capability, already mentioned in this thread and elsewhere. With newer models and a SiRF III or similar receiver you no longer need a clear view to the sky. They just keep recording, producing a continuous journal are with locations and times, quite convenient for the wrap-up of any trip, including boating. Here is my version of the Stourport Ring (incl extension): I didn't mark any locks, bridges or other waterway features. Canalplan waypoints seemed quite accurate. Anyway, if the log is of help to ongoing software developments, I'll be happy to make it available. Roland

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Already more than 20 downloads. Not too bad for such a niche product. Doesn't the original eTrex support the standard set of waypoint symbols - or part of it? I found it easier for an automatic parser to concentrate on icons but I admit that semantic names for waypoints would provide additional information. However, this would have required a more thorough analysis of the waypoint captions in the Canaplan database. Roland

Where is the next lock? Just around the bend or still a mile away? Keep walking ahead to prepare it or get back on board? The Nicholson will provide this valuable information but you don't have it right now. What you may have with you is a GPS gadget and it can tell you if fed with proper data. We all know Nick Atty's excellent Canalplan website with its huge database, an important tool for planning a cruise on the British canals and rivers. One of the features of Canalplan is to export any calculated route into a more or less common file format and save it on your computer. I wanted to use this data on my Garmin GPS model, however, that turned out to be difficult. Therefore I decided to write a converter. I started with a first version three years ago before I went on my first ever canal holiday. Now I have created a new version of Waypoint Converter, with some improvements, and I would like to share it. It may not be of any use to the majority of readers here, but if you happen to have a Garmin GPS model and you calculate your routes with Canalplan, just download and try it. Waypoint Converter is an ordinary Windows application and it's free. Download Waypoint Converter What it does: From a route exported by Canalplan in PCX5 format it creates waypoints and route segments in GPX format. This GPX will look slightly different to the one Canalplan would produce and my variant will be readable by the Garmin MapSource software. The new waypoints will have short names (i.e. a letter code you provide and consecutive numbers) to avoid too much clutter on the limited size of the GPS display. The waypoint symbol will be chosen from the name of the original waypoint, using a simple parser, e.g. “Littleton bridge lock” becomes a lock, “Littleton lock bridge” becomes a bridge, but “Littleton bridge at lock” also becomes a bridge. The parser can distinguish a number of keywords, but there are limits of course. The symbols are taken either from the standard symbol set or from a custom symbol set I have created for the converter. This custom symbol set is provided as part of the installation package. You have to upload the symbols to the GPS unit before you can use them. Here are a few screenshots: A sequence of waypoints, converted from a Canalplan route (Stourport Ring) shown in Garmin MapSource, using custom symbols. A map with part of the route displayed on a GPSmap 60CSx (ignore any distance indications, I'm nowhere near any canal right now): Sequence of waypoints on the hand-held unit: A waypoint description: Roland

Just discovered this forum. We completed the Stourport Ring last week, clockwise, on a 11 day trip, including an extension down and up the Stratford Canal. We had booked a Viking Afloat boat, hence we started and finished at Lowesmoor Basin in Worcester. We moored in B'ham right in Gas Street Basin on a Thursday night. Felt safe and was rather quiet. The night before we tied up at the Wolverhampton 21 between locks 19 and 18. Wasn't the intention but we had sunk the handcuff key and it required a bit of a walk to get a replacement. Anyway, apart from a half-drunk bloke claiming to work for BW and telling stories about illegal mooring no one harmed or plagued us. (The real BW people are quite different and always friendly and helpful.) On the Main Line the only "event" happened at the Smethwick Middle Lock where two or three kids insisted on riding the roof down the lock. They seemed pretty harmless and our front door was locked. We didn't intervene too much and let them have their fun. At the north end of Wast Hill Tunnel while waiting for an oncoming boat we recovered a good piece of chain link fence from the canal including a bicycle which was wrapped into it. Tardebigge Flight excluding the top lock (lunch break near the engine house) took us 3 hours with only two of us working the locks. Well, I felt a bit exhausted afterwards. Roland