john6767

I think we have a plan as to what we are doing. We should get to Pelsall around lunch time on Friday. If you can save a spot (50ft) for us to breast up that would be great. As to food, Sally is baking, so I believe we will have cake for afternoon tea, and cinnamon rolls and fruit loaf for breakfast.

Having worked for Dunlop tyres and understanding the makeup of a tyre, I can say that trying to feed it off has got to be the first choice. Cutting through it will be very hard work. It went on over the prop so hopefully you will be able to get it off too. Try and get one side of the rim at the back of the prop as near to the shaft as possible and then lever the opposite side over the prop blade.

To answer your questions. You can start anywhere you want on the BCN, but there are bonus point for starting at particular locations. The Challenge is 24 hours travelling time over a 30 hour period, starting 8AM on the Saturday and finishing at 2PM on the Sunday. You can go anywhere on the BCN, and the top end of the GU ie the Garrison flight, which for the last 2 years has been "honorary BCN" for the Challenge. This year though the Birmingham and Fazeley was only counted in from Curdworth where as in previous years all the way from Fazeley counted. Stourbridge is not on the BCN, the BCN ends at the bottom of Delph locks, so whilst you could go to Stourbridge you are not going to get any points for it!

Thanks for confirming that, that is what I understood, but was not certain.

iOS6 on iphone 5 here, and I have checked again and it is doing that for me. I am using Safari but I just tried it with Chrome and that is the same too. So whilst the title and the timestamps both are links it seems that touching anywhere in the area does the same thing for me, unless you hold down on then on th 2 links and you can open in a new page etc.

That is interesting, for me on iPhone, with a thread with no dot or star, touching anywhere on the message area takes me to the end. If I have unread posts and there is the dot or star then it takes me to the last unread post. I don't think at least on iPhone, specifically touching the dot or star is any different to anywhere else in the title area. Perhaps there are differences on other mobile devices?

I saw the news item, but the reviews of the app in the app store were not good, so I left it for now. Teething troubles perhaps. I presume the company gets paid by the supermarkets for the returned trolleys?

Yes it is confirmed that the finish will be Hawne Basin next year.

Absolutely you should, the bridge one is fantastic.

So have I, congrats!

Here is the timelapse video of the full 24 hours of our BCN Challenge, well it is almost the full 24 hours but someone forgot to start the camera on the first day, so it starts approximately 30 mins in! At the end there is a short video clip of us in the top lock at Longwood. Enjoy.

Can I check if anyone who has booked Pelsall has received anything back from the BCNS. I have not and when I looked yesterday I see that the cheque has not been cashed. I have emailed Dave Pearson but no response. Should I be concerned?

I was thinking about the short term licenses, 7 days for £50, it costs that much for 2 or 3 days on the Thames (depending on boat size of course). In annual terms compared to CRT's I would agree with you it is expensive on a per mile basis, perhaps you should be making a case for the increase in CRT licenses they are just far too cheap!

They are not too expensive though, http://www.avonnavigationtrust.org/assets/files/Licence%20Info%20rev%200%202013.pdf

Am I correct in thinking that the Elsan above lock 52 is actually in the Valley Cruisers buildings but it is a CRT one.

Strange you had no luck. I found it really easy to find class A solid blue engineering bricks at the local builders merchants E H Smith and when I went to buy them they asked me if seconds would be OK, which of course they were. There was not much wrong with them either. I notice that they have a branch in Hemel Hempstead, have you tried them? They are 3.2kg which was the quoted weight, which I confirmed as correct. Obviously ones with holes in would be lighter, so you really want the solid ones in my opinion.

But heaving with boats or with people. Lots of people but few boats when we came up a month ago, and the sun was shining then too

I use solid blue engineering bricks for trimming ballast. They are 3.2kg each, and I did weigh them to check. Seconds from a builders merchant are cheap, a Ton would equate to something like 317 bricks, which would cost, if I remember correctly, something like £60 as seconds, so its not a massive investment. They are also easy to tranport as you can move them in a few goes. I can't see the point in going for expensive storage radiator ones, they can't be much different density wise can they.

Bottom of Ryders Green was as black as usual, really nasty, and with lots of floating rubbish. What I really did not get was the guy fishing by the top gate of the bottom lock amongst the rubbish, strange place to choose. Bottom of Titford too was not nice, but I quite like the Titford, is such a shame it was so rubbish strewn this year. I don't think I hit the bottom at all on the Walsall or on Ryders Green, in fact the only time was out of the blue on the W & E when the boat lifted up out of the water (well not totally out you understand) so there was something sizeable under there.

Coming into Walsall basin last Sunday, unfortunately did not get a pic facing the other way

Whilst those are quite cheap there are probably better buys available for the same of similar price, which for example are rechargeable, and include the sub channel capability, Amazon and Ebay have loads, for example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OREGON-SCIENTIFIC-TP329-RECHARGEABLE-TWIN-PMR-TWO-WAY-RADIOS-WITH-CHARGER-/380644926902?pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_SpecialistRadioEquipment_SM&hash=item58a034a5b6 which granted are strictly not new but refurb, but I bet you can't tell the difference. Doesn't reburb in those cases just generally man they have had the box opened and been returned, so the main stream retailers can't now sell them as new.

Based on my 60 second visit last weekend Walsall Basin certainly looks a lot better with the Premier Inn in place, "a first for Walsall" perhaps (BCN Challenge clue ). They do need to work on cleaning the rubbish up, there was quite a lot floating around, and it soon degrades if the effort is not put in to keep it all clear like they do in the centre of Birmingham. As to the Walsall canal, I thought it was not bad at all this year, and I am planning to go back that way to Pelsall in a couple of weeks, as I think that is the fastest way there from Birmingham.

A few more pictures from the finish

In the case of casual towing, I agree with you the some will not ever have thought about if they are insured or not, but if you have a motor and butty then I don't think that is going to be the case.