ValandPete

Yes, thanks RichardH. I'm appalled at the behaviour in the video, cannot understand it. I would call CRT out if I could not get out of that lock. In my experience they are v responsive if navigation is not possible, came quickly on BH when we were stuck below a lock flight Val

If you moor at Brighouse use the mooring rings and tie off on the boat, not the bollards! Set adrift. No probs when tied to rings tho. Marsden lovely place to wander around and have ice cream. Val

We are just leaving Little Venice after a week on the bookable Rembrandt Gardens mooring. We have been up to Hertford and Bishops Stortford. We have found that it is true: London is crowded. Boaters have moved west as well as east. Moored boats from Mitre Bridge. Only space to moor is at the Greenford water tap. Not seen a mooring spot in LV, Islington, Camden. Possible if you are lucky to moor at Victoria Park but unlikely. In our experience it is only possible to plan to moor above or below Picketts Lock. We did squeeze in on the high bank below Tottenham Lock. May get in around Stonebridge Lock and Ponders End. I have found it quite stressful. Already at 8am been asked how long will be on LV water point!

I totally agree with your post Mrs Trackman. We do the same. We had a bit of a dash to get up Hatton at the beginning of Jan before it shut so we could get to Birmingham. We had been held up by ice. We did find a route through but only by travelling over Christmas/New Year period. I will have a look at the proposals when I get a chance.

Gorgeous boat. Good luck with your venture and hope to see you when we are back In your neck of the woods. Val

Glad you enjoyed the trip. Don't think we will do it again any time soon, getting into Keadby Lock between two narrowboats already in there was scariest experience of my life! Hope it went well for you and enjoy your return trip. Val

We wish you all the very best for the future John. Val and Peter

Think you need bit of perspective. We have travelled the vast majority of the network over the last five years and have been untied once in that time plus three years summer cruising before that. That was tying up to bollards where rope can slipped over without actually untying the rope. Val

We really enjoyed it too. Also enjoyed visiting the pilot ship Edmund Gardner. Have to book that too at the museum. Val

I totally agree with you zenataomm. This flight of locks is the one I dread doing, to the point where now I try and plan so we go up or down early in the morning. It is chaos every time we have done this flight during popular cruising times. Give me the Wigan Flight, Tardebigge anytime altho Hatton is stretching it a bit! Val

We had a share in a concrete hull 42' narrowboat named Jim Hawkins in 70's I think it was. According to listing still being licensed. Val

My understanding is the last ones had to go out on 24th, last Fri. We are wending our way to Hertford, just hoping they are there poste restante on Thurs or Fri. Val

We travelled up a few locks on the Thames with Tiger Moth I think, before the winter stoppages last year. The owner is charming and great fun, we all laughed a lot. Told me he was a champion brick layer and I found it really interesting as he described the different bricks and styles of brick laying used in the various lock cottages. Hope to meet him again one day. Val

Turned into a frustrating mess for me. Council ignored emails asking about the process, what we would need to do, docs we would need to produce etc first of which I sent on 7th Feb. We went to the council house in person filled in the form and posted it to them beginning of March. Email chasing this up not answered for days, request for supporting docs sent to boatyard we are claiming local connection to not our correspondence address. Emailed copies of passport only to discover the form we initially filled in does not request a postal vote as I thought. Now have to print off form and post back to arrive no later than Mon 5pm. Printer cartridge dried up. Will not give up tho. Lap of the gods whether we then get the postal votes from correspondence address via poste restante in time to return them before cut off date. Val

I have registered to vote for the first time since giving up a home mooring. It cannot be done on line, a form has to be filled in and given to the electoral registrar in the place you are claiming a local connection. It is easy to do. I was concerned about what appeared on the register however I have established that nothing other than your name appears. The column where an address would normally appear is merely left blank. Val

We use Boatmail who can provide an "ordinary" address. Lots of Orgs and businesses will not accept a PO Box. We get our mail sent PO poste restante periodically, however hard I try there are still some things that come by post. We have informed all we need to that it is a correspondence address and the bank and DVLA are happy with that. The important thing is to make sure they all have same address. If, for eg you want to open a new bank account you will need your address to match on your driving licence and bank statements and to provide passport as you will not be on electoral roll in the usual way that confirms your address or have utility bills. TV Licencing also insist on a land address even tho it is online now. We did not want to rely on friends for years of mail posting and our son rents and moves around so not ideal. Val

If you could get through the locks I am not sure you could navigate Savick Brook which has very tight S bends. You need to check the dimensions CRT state. I remember being glad we were only 58ft when we did it! Val

To collect from post office all we have ever been asked for is photo id so use driving licence for that.

We have used Boatmail for five years now and can recommend John's service. There is the option to use an "ordinary" postal address that is acceptable to DVLA, banks etc whereas a PO address is not as far as I know. We cc so have our post forwarded every so often to PO poste restante which works well on the whole. Val

"And then..." I thought something was going to go wrong!?. Happily not and I hope you enjoy your boat and your travels. Val

Happy Birthday from us???. Hard to believe our BSS is due again! Not on GU unfortunately so won't see you this time, perhaps in four years? ?. Val and Peter

I got this too. Most interesting to see email distribution does not appear to show that any boating Orgs were included in this "consultation". I really hope CRT improves its method of consultation. Val

I agree with AndrewIC and Alf27. We have been twice in the past but because we did not go last year were not emailed by CRT. CRT have a consultation site yet don't use it. CRT have access to Orgs representing boaters but have chosen not to use all of them for consultation. IWA aware of the proposals yet I do not recall seeing anything about this proposal until it was in the newsletter this week. This lack of consultation dismays me. It happened recently with proposal to change VMs in Oxford to residential status. That was not on CRT website either. Only because a member posted it on here was I made aware. I got the info and responded. It was clear that this proposal was only disseminated locally. I feel it is an unfair and exclusive way to go about implementing changes that affect all boaters who cruise. These are not local issues they affect all boaters. Val

NABO got an extension until 12th as the first they knew about it (as I did) was from IWA newsletter yesterday. Apparently NAG knew in December. Not sure what that means but clearly another consultation that is not widely disseminated. Nor is it on CRT website under consultations. IWA have already responded. Val