SLC

Stillearning. Interesting that! Our dogs once went after a bitch in season. Escaped the garden, ran through muddy ditch, though hedge 200m away, through patio windows of neighbour and trampled 2 sets of muddy paws all over a brand new expensive carpet. We got such a rollicking we forgot to mention our insurance. We got the hell out after apologising!

We know Geoff and the IWA do a terrific job. IWA has an uncredited photo in their magazine showing improvement work being done. The number of boats passing through this year feels to be lower. In fact 10 days ago we were surprised how few there were on the main route. Indeed Stoke Bruerne was very quiet.

There appears to be 2 types of green stuff. One looks like reeds but the other is the stuff that does string out at the surface in great long lengths. That is almost unavoidable and has appeared in very large quantities of late. It looks like quite a bit has been dumped on the tow path after being extracted from the prop of a boat. I like a previous comment. You can avoid weeds and reeds but it will find you!

The ponds look clear but they are regularly emptied. But on the Arm beyond lock 14, the weeds are down the middle and I would imagine the sides present a real risk of grounding. It has got really worse during the past week or so.

Alan. To be honest I am not sure how to approach or navigate the GU here in Northampton. Certainly one boater was doing something at the front but on the other boat someone with long arms was exploring the inner sanctum of the weed hatch using a tool of some description. The latter was stood still. Are 2 tools required, a short on for use in the weed hatch and a longer one for prodding at a distance?

Love your footer Tracy. Too many people are over sensitive or read things that were never intended. One of the boats at least was trying to do this but it did not help that a boat has been moored up for at least a week between locks 14 and 15 so passage through the centre of the canal is not really possible.

Given the issues with weeds on the Northampton Arm this morning, 27 July 2023, we were wondering what is the best equipment / tools to have on board for dealing with the issues? Any other advice would be appreciated. One poor woman said she had short arms so did not have to bend down to hack out the reeds but more serious suggestions would be appreciated!

Saturday 29 July 2023. Two shortish narrow boats stuck on the Northampton Arm due to reeds / weeds. Between Locks 13 and 16 at least. That is, north of M1. In the last week this canal has rapidly become infested with reeds and other green material. Speaking with the boaters concerned, they have had to stop numerous times and life is pretty rotten. Personally I would recommend no-one else goes up the Arm until the problem has been resolved. Water levels look OK. Should I contact CRT - if only for their information? Incidentally, we regularly walk along this stretch and it is as bad as after COVID when the canals were opening up again. We would never bring our boat up here!

No. I just say yes! Actually my other half suffers badly with psoaritic arthritis and takes pain killers regularly. However, boxing or shadow boxing is good for her and exercises the lungs. I have suggested she tries shifting a few lock gates but....🤣

I have always thought that cyclists should have third party insurance cover but of course that is unenforceable. My wife has it as she regularly cycled but I guess we are one of the few that take our responsibilities really seriously. Same with our dogs, third party cover. At 67 my wife has taken up boxing so cyclists beware!

Regulation is pointless without enforcement. Clarity may help though.

Hence my last sentence!

As someone said this week, whenever he gets shouted at by an unlicensed boat owner to slow down passing their moored boat, he replies "I will slow down when you pay your fee!" I liked that but we would never knowingly speed past any boat.

Perhaps the CRT could have put more signs up - pedestrians always have priority! Recently Parliament passed a Bill to protect women from stalkers and men who follow them. In Newcastle the response was who is going to enforce this? A serious issue which no doubt gives MPs a warm and comfortable feeling of having done a good job but frankly they have done stuff all and this is a serious issue. The same applies to dog mess, litter, e-scooters - we have "rules" and "laws" but these are meaningless if they are not enforced and so the truth is they do not exist. Of course, we also have the issue of who will enforce these rules without fear of assault - I believe that locally a CRT person was killed while trying to intervene on a legitimate CRT enforcement matter. So depressing and official council response is to publish a press release saying we caught x number of fly tippers (or dog owners not clearing up their mess), they have been fined etc. X is less than 5 and appears every 6 months or so. Locally there is a spot where there have been 13 separate incidents during that period - just one spot down the road. Someone stated on another forum that in his opinion bicycles and pedestrians (on the Monsal Trail if I recall) are incompatible. So true.

If you do not have a bell and argue you do not need one by law, then I would argue that you are irresponsible. It is a cyclists responsibility to let pedestrians know they are approaching and I have been told that if the pedestrian does not acknowledge, you have to dismount and push your bike past them. Humm. Imagine every pedestrian ignoring a bell! But the point is, barging through is potentially dangerous and during shift changes, the majority and I mean the majority do just that. Which, in the interests of fairness, is not the case outside shift change hours! There are lovely people out and about and I will always try to accommodate them provided I know they are there. By the way, I am according to my wife going deaf. Does it ever occur to cyclists that this might be the case when approaching a pedestrian?

Have you ever walked along a towpath which is used as a cycle route to work? 70% never make their presence known to you and rarely do I hear a bell. It is terrible. I am not condemning all cyclists, my wife and I are keen cyclists, but the majority near us during rush hour are inconsiderate in their rush to get to or from work. We still meet cyclists, generally the lycra clad variety trying to beat their personal best and have even seen some competing in time trials. Yes there are many lovely people on bikes but...... Cyclists and their pressure groups, such as Cycling UK of which we are members, need to recognise the problems cyclists do cause. Even their own members.

During our latest "adventure" I was thinking that before long travelling the the canal network will be like trying to travel the country using preserved railway lines - lots of lovely sections but none joined up due to neglect. Apart from the lock at Stoke Bruene, there were several others which frankly were awful and that is just on the Grand Union. Before it was repaired / bodged, lock 13 at Whilton was a health hazard but at least it has been fixed for the time being. What price can you put on the company and the people you meet on the waterways, going through locks, sharing experiences and knowledge, socialising and so forth. It is not just money but the mental health, the physical well being and the sheer pleasure of being close to nature.

LTE manager requires a username and I have never seen or used that! In the past where download is less than upload a hardware reset has sorted it. Not with me. All very frustrating really. Edit: admin works. Now having a play to see what works.

Is it me or should our expectations be lowered? I get 3 bars on my B535-333, 20M upload but barely 5M download at best in early evening. With Smarty, I.e. 3, but nothing I do improves the situation. Reset, restarts. This problem is widely reported and I have found no solution. Changing router, phone company is a possibility but there is no guarantee of better performance. 4G is too congested imho.

Poor article imho. The economic argument is one aspect but the social and mental health benefits save the NHS over a billion. In the meantime we build a tunnel under Stonehenge costing £1.5 billion plus to protect one heritage sight. Currently at Stoke Bruene in the museum and the lock outside is a disgrace, a museum piece in its own right. Due for work this winter I believe.

When you think of the benefit the canals bring to society, the underfunding is a disgrace. Is it around 50p per year each person (and less than £2.00 per UK tax payer) in this country pays towards the upkeep of our waterways which brings several billions of pounds of benefits to society as a whole. The environment, nature, economy, health - the list goes on. Sometimes we pick on small things to slam the CRT but frankly, as LadyG states, it is small in the scheme of things. We have been let down by the Government and should direct our frustration at our local MP and vote at the next election accordingly.

Sounds like too many driving hours to me.....

We were so naïve we couldn't find the button for the horn! It is not very convenient especially if you are trying to steer, control throttle and bend backwards to reach it. However, we are more accustomed to steering and the need to use the horn before you get to the complicated bit! Interesting feedback which I appreciate though we are getting more familiar with the boat and waterways. Honestly! But nothing is as memorable as when a wife pushed the front out of the boat when leaving the mooring and toppled over as the boat moved away. Not our boat, not us but the couple were still chuntering as they eventually went past us....

We are very inexperienced boaters but it does surprise me how slow you have to go to prevent a wake which can damage the bank of the canal. Certainly less than 4MPH which leads me onto my first observation. Boats are going too fast in certain (imho many) circumstances. The Oxford canal surprised us how blind some of the turns are and on several occasions, although we were going very slow, struggled to avoid a boat in the opposite direction travelling too fast given that the bend was blind. Would the horn have helped? Should you use a horn? We did go through Braunston Tunnel with a very experienced boater and met a boat coming in the opposite direction ridiculously fast, a view confirmed by our colleague. It is not really necessary. Secondly, we were surprised how easy it is to ground our boat just off the centre of the canal. We did so at least once in spite of our best endeavours to keep close to the boat coming in the opposite direction who was in a reasonable position. (Should we have got a smaller boat with a lower draft than 27"?) However, in none of the incidents we observed did we see anything other than politeness. And we enjoyed ourselves and do not think we upset anyone else......