adam1uk

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.

Also, it’s not clear whether you’re dealing with a staff member or a volunteer. I understand that on the Thames, the employed lock keepers have a white shirt, and the volunteers have a pale blue polo shirt. It’s a shame that both staff and volunteers for CRT wear the same blue — with just a sometimes-hard-to-see Volunteer designation on the sleeve.

He had a name badge on — only a first name, but a name all the same. They should be able to identify him from that and the fact that there appears to be a rota.

Arrived at Stoke Bruerne top lock this afternoon, going up. These are our local locks, and we do them many times a year. We know that with a single boat going up, the calmest way is to open the ground paddle on the same side as the boat, and the gate paddle on the opposite side. That keeps the boat into the side of the lock. There was a volunteer lock keeper at the lock. As soon as the gate was shut, he lifted the paddle. He didn’t ask if we wanted help, and he didn’t check with me at the helm if I was ready. My crew went to the other side of the lock and lifted the gate paddle. He ordered him to close the paddle, pointing at the little sign which warns of turbulence. My crew said we knew what we were doing, and this would be fine. The volunteer became somewhat apoplectic, and eventually called my crew a stupid a***hole. My crew asked him to step away from the lock and leave us to it. He said he was in charge and it was his responsibility to make sure we used the locks properly, as he worked there. My crew pointed out that as it was our boat, it was our responsibility to work the lock, and he didn’t work there, he volunteered there. Eventually he did step away, but only to tell gongoozlers everything we were doing wrong. And he couldn’t resist repeatedly coming back to pick holes in each action. Apparently the paddles were even wound down incorrectly. He’s going to report us to CRT for using the lock incorrectly. An email of complaint has been sent to CRT, pointing out that he didn’t follow volunteer procedure, and that he was a really bad representative of the Trust. This was by far the worst example of a volunteer lock keeper we’ve ever encountered. He was in great contrast to the very nice volunteer who was helping a novice down the locks, that we’d met just an hour earlier.

The Isis in the photo is a share boat. One of the former owners told me they paid for a mooring on the Thames using a credit card, and following the instructions on the sign put Isis as their reference. A couple of days later they were contacted by the credit card company because the US authorities had been on, asking why they were funding terrorists. They pointed out that Isis was a boat, the money wasn’t going to Isis it was going to the local council in Marlow, and you can’t buy many weapons for £6.

Have a look at canalplan.eu which will give you an idea of how long each stretch takes.

I’d be cautious of stopping around King’s Norton. People seem to moor quite happily in the university area these days. Anywhere in the centre is fine (my preference is the NIA side of Broad Street rather than the Gas Street Basin side). When you go down Farmer’s Bridge Locks and the Aston Locks, keep going until beyond Minworth before stopping for the night. Although this sounds like a lot for a day, the Farmer’s Bridge and Aston Locks are really quick, and if you have crew to set ahead you can get through the, really quickly — in fact Farmer’s Bridge is probably my favourite set of urban locks. Birmingham is actually a really nice city, and well worth an explore, even if you only go up to the garden and viewing area at the top of the new library.

The sign calls them tunnel mouth trips, so I don't believe anyone thinks they're actually going all the way through and back.

What he said was that there were checks every two days, which is what spotted this problem; a big inspection every year; and a really big inspection every ten years. These are carried out by independent engineers, not to save money, but because it's a statutory requirement to use someone from a panel.

I believe that’s one of the Soulbury Three Locks, not Stoke Hammond lock.

Philip Roth was famously considered not a good enough source to correct an entry about one of his own books.

There's another Co-op not far from the Caldon at Endon. Just after the obstacle course of the 'roundabout', bridge, and sharp right hand turn (where there's an old arm with moorings in it), there are some good moorings. Walk back to the bridge, take the path across the fields to the main road, and the Co-op is down the road to the left.

Having done it in a week on a hire boat (albeit many years ago) I can assure you it is doable. It's such a popular ring I'd have thought a few dozen hire boats do it every week.