adam1uk

I waved — you were sat at the bow. I know it’s pointless shouting because no-one can hear you, and I certainly can’t hear any reply! We went up Grindley Brook, and it was a bit chaotic! No lockies on duty, but fortunately a few people who knew what they were doing sorted things out. Took nearly an hour and a half…

Passed you this morning, I guess not long after you’d set off.

Waterway Routes has it as a 60ft winding hole. I turned our 59ft there, with boats queueing — so I reckon that while 65ft might still be ok you might be beyond the limit with a 70ft!

It’s quite normal for people to be suspended from work while the facts are established though, isn’t it?

Thank you — this is the thing, it’s not really about me at all. But everyone thinks a podcast will be!

I would hope so, having spent the last 20 plus years on national radio! Some may be longer interviews. The next episode is entirely a chat with Richard Parry. Thank you. Tbh I wasn’t asking for feedback although, as I said, I was sure I would get some. I’m just asking for people to give them a listen, and hopefully if they enjoy them they’ll keep listening. Thank you!

I do.

Having retired (early, really quite early) from a career in radio, and moved on board, I have begun making a canal-based podcast. There are five episodes out so far. Rather than the sort of podcast where someone just pontificates, these are more like radio programmes — and they’re short so they don’t take a lot of listening to. Here is the link for Apple Podcasts. Here is the link if you prefer Spotify. This is the link for Amazon Music. It’s also on a whole load of smaller platforms including Cast Box, Overcast, and Pocket Casts. Just search for The Water Road. I’ve been a bit nervous about posting on here, but the reaction from other places has been pretty good so here goes. I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think of it.

Narrators don’t write scripts, they read what they’re given by producers.

Surely tall people won’t want cross beds though. Yes they can be as wide as a king size, but they’re going to be short.

We’re more than a week behind watching series 2, but some of the continuity is terrible. The girl who picked up her boat from Whilton with her parents was panicking about the bridge before Rugby Boats, then their first lock was on the Nene, and then they moored for the first night at Weedon.

I’m always surprised that places where you need to book in aren’t taken as sightings. In the past couple of months we have been through Harecastle Tunnel both ways, up Watford Locks and down Foxton. But we haven’t been sighted since September last year.

Yes they do, and it’s quite cheap. But the pontoons are a bit like a roller coaster, water is only at the end so you’ll likely need three hosepipes to joined together, and the chances are you won’t be able to plug in to electricity because they’ve only got enough for their permanent moorers. Staff and locals are friendly though.

That picture of Sandbach wasn’t this year — it was at the show in ‘Peaky Blinders’ colours.

I think AW closed their Thames operation there, because they were fed up with the river being in flood so much.

I know — I regularly send in new info, and wish more people would.

What’s the diesel price at the moment?

I suspect the reason it’s happening now is that CRT was hoping a new Labour government might be more sympathetic to increasing funding. But it’s become clear that (even though they might be more sympathetic) there’s no actual money to be handed over. So CRT is stuck with the settlement from the previous government, which means coming up with ways of raising money. incidentally, as the government spending review is concentrating on things that contribute to growth, you’d hope CRT would be emphasising the contribution of the waterways to the economy — with a whole range of businesses across leisure and tourism, as well as small scale manufacturing. That report that said spending on CRT was a good investment could be crucial to avoid further funding cuts.

Having an alias didn't work, then.

Here's the details of the tracking down of the Warks one, from the Warwickshire Rural Crime Team. Copied from their Facebook for the benefit of those who don't go there: On Wednesday 13th November the Rural Crime Team received a report of a stolen 40ft Narrowboat, it had been taken from the Wilmcote area near Stratford upon Avon between the 8th November and the 13th November. Even with the speed of narrowboats being so low (3 – 9 mph depending on the direction and flow of the water) it became apparent the possible search area could be huge and include many different waterways. Initially the team used our drone to search inaccessible areas near to Stratford as well as walking the tow paths and checking nearby marinas and boat yards. It became apparent that “Narrow”ing down the direction of travel and times of possible sightings was the next part of the puzzle, as such we released our FB post appeal. The response we got from the public was nothing short of phenomenal. The post was seen by over 500k people in less than 24 hours with hundreds of direct messages to the team. Vital information was provided with recent sightings of the boat and possible offenders in Stratford, Bidford on Avon, Tewksbury. With a confirmed direction of travel and significantly better idea of what days and times it had passed through specific areas of the canal and river network, we made contact with other agencies and businesses to see if the boat had gone through locks, docks and rivers. After many hours of calls to the Canal and River Trust , Avon Navigation Trust, waterside businesses and River Watch, we managed to establish that the boat had been painted white in an attempt to disguise her and had passed through the lock into the Gloucester Dock area at midday on the 14th of November. Now only 24 hours behind the boat and the stretch of canal we needed to search getting ever smaller, we had a fantastic response from the National Waterways Museum in Gloucester. After hearing about the theft and that the boat might be in the docks area, staff went out walking the tow paths looking. Amazingly they found the boat and immediately contacted our team. The team raced to the location (significantly quicker than a barge) and quickly secured the boat. Unfortunately, no offenders were with the boat but we’re confident it won’t be long before we’re having a chat with them face to face. The short of it is, we could not have found the boat without the incredible response from the people that live and work on or near the waterways, as well as the many other agencies that we are fortunate enough to work with. We will keep everyone updated on the progress of our investigation

I suspect the poster has probably made a decision and acted on it in the intervening 11 years…

This blogger, Paul, has done a couple of posts on his Starlink system: https://thesumpnersafloat.com/2024/03/10/starlink-on-a-narrowboat-part-1/ Personally, I’d try everything else, in order not to give Elon Musk any more money.

If you're going to put Cheddleton on, surely you also need Froghall, which is only a short walk from the moorings before the tunnel.

Noticed at the weekend that 75 minute Santa trips on the Chieftan trip boat at Stoke Bruerne this winter are £22 -- which makes a day at the BCLM look cheap.

Someone advocated this at an event with Richard Parry at the Crick boat show in May. He said they'd be prepared to consider it, but also seemed to think there would just be a whole load of other problems associated with it. I don't think any of the National Parks think they're properly funded.