adam1uk
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Posts posted by adam1uk
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Dave at BLS is an Eberspacher expert, so if that’s what you’re looking at then he’s a good person to talk to.
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There’s a useful guidebook you can get from the Avon Navigation Trust, showing you all the lock approaches, some of which can be a bit confusing. The other confusing thing is that Avon locks have two names — one a location, and one the name of the sponsor who helped pay for restoration. Locks on the Upper Avon have overnight moorings marked with blue poles. If you like nice remote moorings, sometimes on a lock island that you can’t get off of, then some of these are fantastic. The lower Avon has fewer mooring places, so a bit more planning is required.
Tewkesbury lock looks like a nightmare to get into, but the lock keeper will sort you out. Make sure you go far enough out into the Severn before turning, otherwise you’ll get stuck on the sand bar. In Worcester, you can moor on a pontoon on the river locks up onto the canal, or you can go up and moor above.
Depending on time and inclination, an alternative route would be to stay on the river and come off onto the Droitwich Canals.
As has been said above, make sure you leave yourself enough time to do the Tardebigge flight at the end of the trip.
Sure you’ll have a great time. The Avon is a lovely river, and the ring gives you lots of different types of waterways.
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8 minutes ago, frangar said:
I have just added a point to that effect.....There is already a widebeam in Welton Hythe however....and Im guessing it got there by water!
I doubt it, because there’s a narrow right at the start of the Leicester Line. I’m not sure how narrow it is, but I’d be amazed if a widebeam chanced it. -
3 minutes ago, frangar said:
Now this one apparently bound for Weltonfield or Welton Hythe tomorrow.....dont they know the Leicester line is a narrow canal???...Just ridiculous!
Notice Alert
Grand Union Canal
Location: Braunston Tunnel - Grand Union Canal
Starts At: Braunston Tunnel West Portal
Ends At: Braunston Tunnel East PortalTuesday 27 September 2022 07:30 until Tuesday 27 September 2022 09:00
Type: Booking Information
Original message:
Braunston tunnel will be closed to traffic from 07:30, possibly until 09:00 on the 27th September for the passage of a wide boat travelling from Braunston to Welton.
Boats may enter the tunnel if directed to do so by CRT staff at the tunnel portal or after 08:00 if no member of CRT is present.
You can view this notice and its map online here:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/23405/braunston-tunnel-grand-union-canalYou can find all notices at the url below:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices
To be fair, it doesn’t say they’re going to Weltonfield or Weston Hythe. It says they’re going to Welton — and the first bridge after the tunnel is Welton Lane Bridge, and the mooring there are Welton Wharf. And anyway, the Welton location is probably only given so people understand the direction of travel. -
There was a volunteer lock keeper today at Hawkesbury Junction. You know, that lock that’s almost a whole foot deep. Anyway, none of the five people on the hire boat coming the other way even bothered to get off the boat, having the lock worked for them. But when it was our turn I suggested that as it was the only lock of the day, I’d quite like to do it myself. To his credit, he left me to it, and only popped out again when another boat turned up going the other way.
I can understand CRT having a volunteer to raise their profile at what is quite a busy spot — but a lock keeper?
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1 hour ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:
Central Birmingham is fine in the region of the NIA, Oozels loop although can be a bit noisier towards Gas Street. The worst I've had in the centre was to wake up in the morning to find my mooring lines had been cast off, but on a canal in the middle of the city where is your boat going to come to any harm (unlike getting cast off on a river).
Agree with all of this. We like the Oozells St Loop, because the towpath along there is a dead end, so there’s not much foot traffic.It’s unfortunate that there are bollards in central Birmingham rather than rings to moor to, because it’s so much easier for people to slip your rope off a bollard. I have been known to use a cable tie round my mooring lines so they’re tight to the bollard; even if you are untied on the boat you won’t go anywhere.
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13 hours ago, Sea Dog said:
Crikey, no wonder half the folk on the cut think they're gonna be murdered in their beds if they dare venture out of their marina!
Autherley junction opposite Oxley "marina" is fine and I've spent many a night there to confirm that. If you go through the stop lock it's pretty obvious that opposite Wolverhampton Boat Club is the first sensible mooring spot and after that you're in rural Shropshire - the only trouble you're gonna have there is the Shroppie shelf!
Staffordshire actually. Brewood, Wheaton Aston, and Norbury are all in Staffs. Only a relatively short part of the Shropshire is actually in Shropshire, either side of Market Drayton. By the time you get to Audlem, you’re out the other side into Cheshire. -
2 hours ago, IanD said:
Tim Tyler. Here's the stern at the same early stage, note the long swim...
Aren’t you having a Finesse Boat? I thought they had Jonathan build their shells. -
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything from Nuneaton named as a highlight before.
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2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Yes.
He has been sentenced to 35 years but can apply for parole after (around) 1/3 of the sentence has been served.
There is an automatic release after serving 50% of the 'tarrif'.
Proposals are to change it - particularly for terrorists.
It is just not true that he'll be able to apply for parole after a third of the 35 years. For life sentences with a minimum term, parole cannot be granted until the minimum term has been served (the link you posted even makes this clear if you scroll down).
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I think you are right, there do seem to have been a lot of stoppages. My theory is that it’s because there was a year with very little use because of lockdowns, followed by a year of more use than usual as everyone took to the water.
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Another vote for Hawne Basin. We filled up there last week — at 65p per litre.
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4 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:
I've only ever seen them on the top lock, standing around nattering and drinking tea. The contrast with the volockies at Hatton and Tardebigge is stark.
Came up Atherstone today, admittedly in the rain. As the boat rose in Lock 2 I walked up to the top lock which appeared to be full. It was, with a top paddle up. I asked one of the five volunteers in the office whether the paddle was up for a reason. ‘Just to keep the levels up’, was his answer. I closed it. He then asked if we were coming up, and were we in Lock 2. I said we were, to save him looking, and he came with me to empty the lock. By the time we were coming into the top lock, there was a vlockie on each bottom gate, and one on each top paddle. So at least I didn’t have to work that lock. -
28 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:
Wish I'd read this post this morning instead of this evening. We were going up the flight and the lock above the tunnel needed emptying so the pound was high and the grab rail took a beating. What's really annoying is that back in 2014 I'd managed to scrape off a nav light in that tunnel. So today as I was shutting the top gate of the lock below after exiting I thought the pound looked high and asked myself the question "Shall I drop the pound a bit?", then thought "Nah, it'll be alright." But lets look on the bright side, at least I didn't bash the nav light this time.
Going through Ashted, one of us will be on the towpath with the centre line pulling the boat in to the towpath side. That’s been just enough to keep the handrails safe.-
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21 hours ago, northern said:
Here's the CTS you mentioned. Looks great...but it's gas free. I spoke with the broker who reckons Aga do buy-backs if I wanted rid of the stove. Then have gas retrofitted. Sounds like a hassle and not sure what I'd be getting myself into in terms of compliance. Plus there'll be no storage lockers. Shame.
Aga may well do buy backs — but I doubt they’d buy a Heritage Uno, seeing as how it’s made by a completely different company! The Heritage is designed to be suitable for a narrowboat, and people who have them love them. -
3 hours ago, Neil2 said:
Seriously I do think it's a good idea but why do CRT seem to have such difficulty recruiting people with some experience of canals or boating?
I remember ringing customer services once and having to explain to the "adviser" what, and where, the Bridgewater canal is, simply because it didn't come up on her computer records.
Probably because the Bridgewater is not a CRT canal.-
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On 09/09/2021 at 20:15, wandering snail said:
Has anyone in a deep draughted boat managed to get as far as the basin recently?? Now heading for Brownhills Festival but thought we'd have a go at this first. The BCN Society have no updates available and we are used to ploughing......
Passed you today on the Tame Valley. Didn’t have time to tell you about the work boats in the middle of the Rushall — hope you managed to get past them like we did. We did the Anglesey Branch yesterday and it was fine. -
3 hours ago, Bobbybass said:
I had this with my pump out pipes and also the vent pipe that never got touched by anything.
I argued with Leesan that the dry vent pipe had gone porous and stank with a strange sweet odour...they said it couldn't. I cut a six inch section and posted it to them to smell..
They never replied.
I can't imagine that introducing a six inch gap in the pipe did anything to reduce the smell...
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On 19/08/2021 at 21:19, jonathanA said:
Midland swindlers have a big marquee and one of the smaller chandler's have a tent near the boats usually. Craftmaster paints have a full range for sale and leesan usually have some stuff. There's usually a few of the restoration societies the bloke who makes stainless steel chimneys, Aten lighting. Various engine marinsers, battery/boat electrical suppliers , rope suppliers ( I usually renew our mooring lines ) ...
So it really is a struggle to find much boat related.....
Then there are loads of snake oil peddlers who are always worth watching just for theirs sales pitch and patter
This year, the Midland Chandler’s marquee is about a quarter of the usual size, and has other stands (including Craftmaster) inside it. The other chandlery tend down by the marina is not there, mostly because it was from Braunston Bottom Lock, which is no longer trading. The boating marquee is also smaller than usual and with fewer exhibitors. All in all, quite hard this year to find much to spend money on.On 19/08/2021 at 21:19, jonathanA said:On 19/08/2021 at 21:19, jonathanA said:-
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3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Not having any idea what a 'cranford toilet is I Googled it.
All Google comes up with is "Public Toilets at Cranford", OR, a toilet alarm system (ala Disabled pull-cord toilet system), or Chromed toilet-roll holders made by Cranfords.
Can you educate me ?
Just look back a few posts. It's all there.
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1 minute ago, doratheexplorer said:
You're right but I've never tried mooring there as I don't think it's safe. You can moor safely overnight at the sani station at the top of of Cape Hill locks but it's not exactly a pretty spot! Usually people overnight at C-d-B and push right through to Curdworth in one day. If you must have lunch at C-d-B then I'd have an early lunch at 12, get moving againby 1:30 and aim to get to Star City that evening and then have an easy day down to Bodymoor Heath or Curdworth the next day.
I would agree with this -- and if I remember correctly there's only really one mooring by the sani station at Camp Hill, and you won't know until you get there whether it's free.
I would opt for a later lunch at the pub, and then just stay there for the night. Or meet your friends for dinner rather than lunch.
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I really wondered where this was going until I got to the word Desmo.
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2 hours ago, Oddjob said:
We went through some locks with this boat around 14 days back it has one heck of a loud Diesel outboard engine also a inboard electric motor. He was in front of us after we stopped for water on catching him up he was going so slow I caught them up he lost his rag that I wanted to pass as he was sooooo slow I was having to go into neutral so as not to run into him. My wife on talking to the women while working the lock thinks she was east European and was working in London the guy said he built the boat himself. Odd couple glad that we have not crossed locks with them since!
You should definitely tell the police about this.-
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Winter 22/23. 3 month cruise
in Cruise Diaries & Reports
Posted
Blisworth.