lydfordcastle

Just received this rather odd message from Warwickshire Police. https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/33403 Any ideas what 'incident' they're talking about?

This week I've received a birthday card fronted by a reproduction of a painting by Trevor Mitchell called 'THe Mail Train'. The picture depicts an LMS Class 5 hauling a Royal Mail train over a wide beam canal bridge beneath which is about to pass what appears to me to possibly be a L&L steamer carrying the name 'Jennifer' for the company 'B C Walls'. Can anyone offer any info on likely location and/or the boat

Thanks for the helpful suggestion. Do you mean moorings on the offside rather than the towpath side? Is there usually space there at weekends?

I've been invited to a birthday party to be held in June at the Holly Lane Social Club (B24 9LH) and I see it's within easy walking distance of a number of towpath access points on the Fazeley canal. Can anyone recommend a safe and quiet(ish) overnight mooring that's either within walking or taxi distance of the club.

Easy, just fill it with water and stand it on it's end.

Are all seals leaking or just one location? Have the seal seats become scratched or damaged?

I don't know much about 1950's/60's cars, nor old working boats but I'd be happy to offer my expertise on the bikini clad girl if you'd like to post the picture.

Eating at the Mason's Arms is also very good and like the Bollywood, best to phone ahead and book a table.

Amazingly exactly the same thing happened to me about 20 odd years ago but I experienced the added difficulty of having to wheel two severely disabled passengers down the flight for their dinner and then back up again afterwards. Despite my entreaties the husband and wife lockie team would not budge ; this was before volockies and before the footpath was as wheelchair friendly as it is now. So when I returned home I went into print to BW which I gather quite a number of other boaters had already done, and the lockie team didn't work for BW much longer after that.

Since the opening of the marina, the long-term moorings on the Hinckley side of the road bridge have been redesignated Visitor Moorings

Just to add to Alan's answer, if the farmer already has an agreement with C&RT then you need not apply to them for permission but you should specify the mooring when applying for a cruising license. If the farmer has no agreement, you need to apply to C&RT for a mooring license and the cost will be as Alan said. Such an application or renewal is not available on-line and has to be done by post or personal visit. Either way you can be pretty sure that one of the enforcement team, or whatever they are called nowadays, will eventually spot you wherever you moor and if you're not compliant, expect a letter.

Yes, bridge 50 is the footpath/farm access bridge on the bend behind the Barley Mow car park. Pretty easy to drive into the water there.

Not a dicky bird. So much for the assurance from the EA that they would investigate immediately (4 August) and come back to me.

I am a shiny boating man Peaked cap and captain's stripe Don't touch my paint, don't moor too close Or dirt I'll have to wipe Descending locks with fenders down Not sharing when requested Wasting water ? Bah, humbug Patience sorely tested. Slow down past me, tickover speed Don't care how long it takes Don't share my ring, leave a big gap You'll have to use your stakes Water points and lock landings Are just for me to moor C&RT Regulations Are for the unwashed poor I used to have a shiny boat ‘til Tim and Pru came cruisin' Now the dents and scrapes and dings Seem like I’ve been boozin'

And today completely out of the blue came another e-mail from C&RT confirming that as requested, they had now cancelled my cruising license and credited my bank card with 8 months unused license value. In this instance I decided that a phone call rather than a letter would be appropriate and although it lasted over 25 minutes and at one stage became rather fraught, the nice young lady in Leeds managed to get the refund stopped and my cruising license reinstated. However it was a close run thing.as the initial response was that I would have to apply for a new license, even though C&RT had cancelled my current one without my authority nor request.

Many thanks to everyone who responded. There's certainly enough 'tricks of the trade' here to help me solve the problem and I particularly like widebeamboys suggestion.

Any tips please on how to remove the bolts from the lugs that hold my stove door glass in place. I've tried squirting WD40 and freeing oil to no avail. Will I have to redrill and retap or is there a secret method?

I've just received an answer from C&RT to my original query together with an apology for not giving a correct response earlier. The forum might be interested to know that the refund calculation is simply full rate for all complete months unused minus a £30 admin fee.

If you think that was unpleasant you should have seen some of my Facebook posts about 'Remainers', but we won't go there.

And to condemn me for not writing a letter when that's exactly what I did is equally unfair, Mike the Boilerman. I suggest that you should read posts more carefully before embarking on a 'holier than thou' crusade. For example, can you see anywhere in my original post where I said I'd telephoned C&RT and spoken to someone? No, of course you can't because I didn't. That was something that a later poster assumed and I didn't bother to correct him as it seemed so unimportant to the problem I needed an answer to. No, I did the correct thing and originally wrote to them clearly spelling out what information I wanted from them and received the most ludicrous written reply which indicated to me that the person dealing with my query had read it about as carefully as you read my original post. Moral ? If you can't be nice, don't bother to reply to poster's queries. Oh and by the way, I also waited over a week after telling them (in writing) that I felt they hadn't answered my question, before posting on this forum so I think I've been overly fair to C&RT as they still haven't come back to me with an answer.

Thanks to all who have replied. Those who have suggested the 1/10 per month unused would seem to be correct as that calculation does fit more or less what I've paid and what I've been refunded. Thank heavens for this forum. It's such a pity that C&RT doesn't seem able to answer my question

My mooring permit ran from May to April inclusive and I gave them notice of my intention to move on 13 June stating that I would move before the end of August. I actually moved on 1st August but if they want to charge me for the whole of August I won't argue about that. That said, I should be refunded for 8 unused months or 66.66% of my annual fee. The cheque they've sent to me is for 56.52%

I've just moved from an offside linear mooring to a private marina where no license is required so C&RT have sent me a cheque that they say is for the unused months of my mooring permit. Trouble is I'd like to know how they've arrived at the figure for the cheque they've sent to me. I've asked, but so far the only response I've had is to be told that "It's calculated automatically". Does anyone know how they work it out?

A couple of weeks ago we waited nearly an hour for a pair of private boats to exit the top lock as they just couldn't seem to make the level to open the gates but eventually managed it. As she passed by us just moving off from the lock landing to enter the top lock, the rather plum-in-mouth lady steerer on the second shiny boat shouted across that she had emptied the bottom lock for us so we were clear to descend straight away, and then she added something unintelligable. It was only when we saw that our boat had dropped below the ground paddle of the top lock that we realised what the unintelligable bit of the shout had probably been. She'd left the bottom paddles of the bottom lock open and we were getting pretty close to sitting on the bottom of the top lock. Moral of the story? Even if someone tells you it's fine to proceed, always check first.