adam1uk

It really doesn’t.

Or you could get a signwriter to do it -- because they'll be able to get it right with minimal fuss and the end result will give you joy whenever you set eyes on it.

The chart formed one of the sequence rounds on the BBC2 quiz, Only Connect. Surprisingly, the team knew it.

If you clicked on the link, you’d read: This project would not have been possible without funding from Visit Wales and the National Lottery Heritage Fund

You don’t need to assume anything if you read the link. Then you’d discover that: Each site is unique and is either graded, a scheduled monument or both and will be lit up by expert lighting company Enlightened of Bristol for two hours each evening from 7.30pm - 9.30pm.

What occurred to me is that they didn't bother cutting the grass on the offside in those days.

Aesthetic is worth paying for sometimes!

Compton. There are moorings above and below Compton Lock. I’m not sure there’s really anywhere else practical to moor between there and Aldersley Junction. We did this the other day, wanting to get up the flight early, but we couldn’t get one of the bottom gates at Compton Lock to close and eventually called out CRT. It was 10.15 when we left Compton Lock, on a Saturday, so it was 11 when we started the locks. With no other boats around we had a very quick passage up the locks, with very friendly locals, and no problems apart from one pound needing some water run down as it was almost empty. We stopped that night at Tipton, outside the Health Centre — somewhere I would never have considered a few years ago but is now fine. The Health Centre even has regular visits from a security guard who walks around. Old Main Line is more interesting than the New, but we did Brades Locks between the two this time as we haven’t done them in a while, and wanted to add a sixth staircase pair to our tally for the trip.

That photo is not a boat on the Trent. It was taken by my friend Neil from nb Herbie, of no Leo on the Thames near Tower Bridge in 2012. Proof here.

The other day on the Stratford I had walked ahead to the next lock and found a boat having just left, including closing the gate. I immediately pulled the gate open again, but while I was doing it I heard the clicking of a paddle at the other end of the lock. I called out to the boater, who said, I’m sorry I thought you were fishing.

My notes from the Crick Show say that the Shearwater (built by Collingwood but ‘presented’ by New and Used Boat Co) start at £89,950 — but that the one on show had extras taking the price to £99,970. So that price must have been on display at the show. I also noted that it had a 95kgf bow thruster.

This is not quite right. The Shearwater is a class of narrowboat built by Collingwood and retailed by a couple of companies — Narrowboats Ltd is one, and New and Used Boat Co is another. The OP hasn’t told us whether he’s dealing direct with the manufacturer or one of the reatailers.

As an update to our incident several pages back, this week we chased up the complaint as nothing had been heard. It has not been dealt with, having apparently not even been looked at until we followed it up. There has been a verbal apology for the incident itself, and an email apology for the way the complaint was handled. Volokies are to be reminded that they are not in charge, should only help when asked, and should not swear at boaters. This will all apparently go out in the end of season briefing. We now regard the matter as closed.

Yes, this is true. The weedhatch is a chute through the back deck and is not open to the engine hole. Even if you left the plate off completely, water still wouldn’t get into the boat. Another advantage is that access if fairly easy — but on the other hand you do need quite long arms to reach down there.

The steerer in the photo is on a narrowboat passing between Matty’s boat and the widebeam. I imagine that when he’s not passing a wide boat moored on a bend, he can see perfectly well where he’s going.