adam1uk

My last experience at Hillmorton, I was on a boat waiting above the bottom lock with a boat coming up in it. The lock keeper was paying so little attention that she failed to notice that the young family on board had opened the paddles at both ends.

Jules and Richard are using Bletchley instead of Towcestervt the moment, as Towcester’s engine needs significant work. Richard told me that once it’s fixed, they will use the two boats to mean they can operate both sides of winter stoppages.

BSS guidelines here and Soliftec guidelines here both say the flue should be insulated. They are only guidelines, though, which is why I said ‘supposed to’. Certainly when I needed a new flue on my stove, the boat yard would only let it be a single wall one because they were replacing like with like. I’m not sure anyone is ever likely to check (or even know, probably), but if you want to abide by the latest guidelines, then it’s pretty clear what flue you should use (note, should, not must, because they are only guidelines)

If it's a double wall flue, then you are supposed to replace it with another one -- and they are expensive. If it's a single wall flue in an existing installation, you are allowed to replace like for like.

It may be up to the boater to make a declaration, but HMRC made clear there was nothing to stop yards selling at only one split. If the boater didn't like the split offered, they should shop elsewhere -- just like they would if they didn't like the price.

They only ever sold at a 60/40 split, so you may not have wanted to buy from them anyway.

There’s nothing to stop you going to Salford by boat, except for a bit of organisation and a fee for Pomona Lock. We did it last September. Nice mooring close enough to the Holiday Inn Express that you can easily get on their Wi-fi!

I’m surprised no-one has pointed out that the Four Counties and Llangollen options aren’t available to you, because of the breach on the Middlewich Arm. The Caldon is one of my favourites, and it gets better the further you go. Lots of locks to get there, so if you want an energetic week this could be a good option. I’m sure Anderton are fine about their boats going onto the Weaver. It’s lovely down there, and of course you get the trip down and up the boat lift. As others have said you could combine this with a trip into Manchester. There would be lots of lock free miles, so it depends whether your crew are happy to sit and watch the world go by, or whether they’d like more to do.

I was talking to a very good volunteer lock keeper at Watford who was on his own. He told me there are 45 volunteer lock-ins there, but they have real problems covering some days. Few people want to volunteer at weekends, when it’s busiest. And apparently some of the longer serving volunteers then pull rank and claim they have first choice of days. The guy I was speaking to not only volunteers as a lockie, but also does a couple of days a week mowing, gardening, and painting. If only more of the volunteers were like him.

I wonder if that’s the same woman who was there last time I was at Hillmorton. I was coming down, and waiting for a hire boat coming up at the bottom lock. They were taking ages, but even from some distance away I could see that paddles were up at the top and the bottom. The lockie was so busy chatting she hadn’t noticed. I had to phone my mate who was on his way down to the lock so he could point it out to her.

It's funny how one person's well designed is another's poorly designed. Some of my extended family moored their share boat at Aston, as the design of the fuel and pump out point drove them mad. For a start, if there's a boat on the service point it pretty much blocks the whole marina; and the one way system meant that at the end of a holiday, they'd go in, fuel up, then have to go out the exit and back in the entrance to get to their berth. Their syndicate moved the boat to somewhere else.

Quite -- anyone wanting to be in Islington would probably regard them as not really being in London!

I don't think there's any evidence of residential moorings going unsold in London, is there? Indeed, people seem to be prepared to pay very large sums for them.

I heard a couple of weeks go that Andy Munro had died. I think he was only 54. I had no more information than that.