Jo_

I believe it is intended as a BBC4 programme so I assume there'll be a repeat of all episodes over whatever (?weekly).

Following lifted from his Facebook page: "We have a confirmed date and time for the regional transmission for ‘Canal Boat Diaries’ as 7.30pm BBC One on 18th November! .... "This will be a regional premiere ... with Episode 1 (Shardlow in Derbyshire to Stoke on Trent) will screen in the East Midlands, whilst those in the West Midlands will see episode 2 (Caldon Canal, Macclesfield, Peak Forest). At the same time, episode 3 will air in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (BBC Leeds) and episode 4 will be shown in the North West (BBC Manchester)! The very next day (all 5) episodes will pop up on iPlayer apparently — even before they’ve been properly aired on BBC Four! Very unusual but then it’s an unusual programme compared to most BBC documentaries! ... https://youtu.be/023llBlT7_4" So .... if I'm reading that right and you have Freesat and a superduper recording device, you can watch one region and record all the others !!! Or wait till the next day ....

If you get the sort of 'like with like' replacement will you always be hankering after the eco super one? When in doubt reverse the question - which will you regret and continue to regret NOT buying?! And tell all the neanderthals to go back to bashing their smalls on the rocks if they want. I'm with you girl - I like clean laundry. I like the freshness and feeling special when it's time to get the laundered togs on!

We've just been out for a couple of weeks and my GoWindlass is as brilliant as ever. And I saw three or four in the hands of boaters we met at locks - all of them extolling its virtues and reporting they had bought at Crick this year. I see it now has a revolving casing on the handle (which I had suggested when I first got mine) but now I'm used to mine I'm just as happy without. No problems with it at all. And absolutely there is no way I'd leave it at a lock - the dog, the grandchild, the husband perhaps ..... but not the GoWindlass!!

There's a Firewood Poem, isn't there. From The Times in the 1930s - Lady Celia something or other.

Well, I like it!! I ignore all the incorrect ways of saying things and the clatters and bangs and the wrong information about this and that. What I'm seeing is a pretty mismatched group of people who are discovering what a joy it is to be on the water, on a boat and be part of the landscape, the community, the history. Good old John Prescott is genuinely impressed with all the engineering side and I love that. Michael Buerk is astonished at how much he's come to enjoy it all. And I don't believe either of those two are putting it on. So it makes me remember my earliest days on the water. I was hooked after a week and I probably did most of the things they've been doing. But I don't care; I still feel exactly the same about going out on the boat as I did a couple of decades ago, so if they are picking up on just a tiny bit of what we all feel then I'm really pleased for them. Jo

Tweet from @CRTBoating yesterday afternoon ?: "It's a particularly bad bit of journalism and they have got some things hopelessly wrong. No we don’t provide fuel for free although we know of colleagues who bought coal for a vulnerable boaters when they had their benefits stopped."

We can't go out as often or for as long as we'd like because himself still works fulltime. But when we do head off for two or three weeks, I find it all enchanting! People are fascinating, we can usually stop round about where we'd planned to and often meet up with terrific neighbours, voluntary lock keepers are lovely, the boats we meet at locks (95% of the time) work as a team to help boats through, pedestrians hail us with admiring comments, fishermen grunt a hello, he's not had to go down the weed hatch (except for a regular check every couple of days), some boats do pass a bit speedily but since we tend to use a spring line and we've got a glass or two in our hands it hardly bothers us and, touch wood and whistle, we've never once been subjected to any nastiness day or night. It's not rose coloured spectacles. It really is like that up around us. And, of course, we tend to know a huge number of the boats we see which makes for a fun "spot your pals" game!

This in spades! We bought our first boat 10 years ago and bought second-hand because although we'd been on lots of different boats (holidays), all that gave us was a list of things we really liked and wanted. Designing your own boat is much much more than that. So draw up your 'must have's', your 'would be nice' list and then haunt the internet, hunt the towpath and go to brokers and see what's out there. We found our boat within a couple of months and it's practially perfect in every way. But if I did want to start again with a new build, I'd now now what changes I'd make in the best of all possible worlds to give us a boat that would fit like a second skin!!

I bought this for my Kindle. Great read - particularly all the canal travelling detail. Perfect 'curl up and enjoy' book for the kind of weather we've been having lately. Actually, perfect book for any old time! I'll be queuing up for #2 in November.

https://victory-narrowboats.business.site/ That's still there and it's the same lot, judging by (sparse) content

Never bothered with the warning lights - haven't a clue whether it works or not. Nor looked into the cassettes. I just know when it's time to change them and, if, I'm not completely sure then it's a quick unclip and tug and feel the weight! But that really only works with just a couple of us on board with regular routines. So I probably change/empty more often than I need to but I'd rather that than an overfull cassette.

Is it cassette or pumpout?

I use bottles of frozen water in the cooler. The gel freezer packs are really rather useless but if you freeze the 1.5l pastic bottles filled (and refilled when necessary) with tap water, they will last a couple of days. So I have a large insulated cooler box and just pack all the drinks stuff, particularly, in there which frees up fridge space for general items. I changed the fridge for a larder fridge and bought a small table top square freezer with front opening door and that gets packed up and it's where the water bottles go to refreeze of course!

I'll DM you my mobile Chris, so you can keep in touch. As far as I know there is no Heron Owners' Group. Jo

Nice one, Chris. If your long way round brings you up the Soar and along the T&M to Mercia Marina, come and see us! Our boats could do a recognition donut in the middle of the Marina waters!

Notice Alert Trent & Mersey Canal Starts At: Lock 14, Common Lock Ends At: Lock 14, Common Lock Up Stream Winding Hole: Junction Coventry Canal Down Stream Winding Hole: Below Bagnall Lock Tuesday 9 April 2019 16:00 until further notice Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Repair Update on 10/04/2019: We have tried to reinstall the gate manually but unfortunately this has not been possible. A gantry will be on site tomorrow morning for us to refit the gate. We will update again tomorrow. We apologise for the delay in resolving. Original message: The top end gate has come out of it's cup, it will need a gantry to reposition. We will provide an update by lunch time tomorrow.

My apologies. I meant Shaun Williamson. Shows how passionately I follow this stuff! Shaun is/was Barry from Eastenders and seems to appear in lots of TV things.

I assume that's what Shaun Edwards was on about this morning. He's on a narrowboat 'around the Potteries' and sworn to secrecy but is with an 'eminent politician, journalist and two show business legends'. He was chatting with our morning presenter on local radio. So if you're out and about on the T&M, keep your eyes open because I guess they're filming it at the moment.

I'm more worried about the air draft ... but it does look lovely!!

This was done in 2010 I remember ... that was A Slice of Yorkshire or something. It was gorgeous - no leaking lock gate, no broken paddle taped up in yellow and black ....

Having 'lily-padded' with toilet tissue for years, I found these and they are excellent!! Been using them for the last couple of years. And with 50 in a box you can pretty well predict the annual cost ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grove-Happy-Bowl/dp/B007EBW970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551214183&sr=8-1&keywords=happy+bowl+toilet+liner

How about using the time to look at the owned boats you pass, moor up with, share locks with, queue at locks with. Talk to people. Keep notes. If people know you're wanting to settle on a spec that will suit you and your needs, they'll be only too happy to tell you why their's is exactly the right sort of boat - and if you're pleasant and interested and let them talk - probably invite you on board for a look! Looking at boats for sale is what you do when you've a pretty good idea what it is you're after. Good luck!!

More Coltishall stuff to enjoy http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/coltishallpostcards1.html Looks like there was a little waterway behind the lock keeper's cottage which was good for the wherries. Thank you for all your plaudits. There isn't a curtesying gif but take it that I have done so in acknowledgement! How did I find it? I'm an academic and all the research I did and learned to do now translates into finding things. With the internet anything is possible - if you use it well. The original picture had too much 'stuff' - the elegant lady, the mast of the wherry - so I cropped the photograph back to the roof with the gable end features and the chimney and fed that image into google with canal and lock and cottage as supporting words. And up it popped - well, amongst other images. So it was just then a question of finding the chimney! Simples ?

Coltishall Lock, Norfolk Broads? I don't know it but this looks exactly like it