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Stupid places to take your boat ...


TheBiscuits

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I remember once, turning towards Ashted at the TyPhoo arm, being shouted at by a very new shiny boat owner about 40 yds up it and very stuck, right in the middle. I started to go in forwards and was told 'you need to reverse in to pull us out' . I continued forwards and fortunately had my 'river ropes' on as we had been on the Thames. I was able to get within 20 ft of him, and was able to pull him back without too much trouble.

He was grateful, as he had been there about 3 hours.  He didn't realise how lucky he was, as it can be several days before you see a boat on that stretch. I always go up Garrison and Ashted  rather than Aston as it brings back memories of my former life.

We've been pretty well everywhere on the B.C.N. as the backwaters are interesting, and there's never any queues. The rubbish and weed can be a bit offputting, but as long as you don't gun the engine, you don't make too much mud and offensive smells.

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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

Best avoid the Coventry between Atherstone and Polesworth then. ?

Oy.

 

:)

35 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

Unidentified forum member at the end of the Digbeth branch of the Birmingham & Fazeley (otherwise known as Typhoo basin).

 

 

E6F47378-8E9B-4C39-862F-214674BF7000.jpeg

It's the only time I've seen him without a pint glass in his hand

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1 hour ago, Captain Pegg said:

Unidentified forum member at the end of the Digbeth branch of the Birmingham & Fazeley (otherwise known as Typhoo basin).

 

 

E6F47378-8E9B-4C39-862F-214674BF7000.jpeg

I can identify the forum member ?

28 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Oy.

 

:)

It's the only time I've seen him without a pint glass in his hand

He nearly hit you in a bridge 'ole on the Shroppie once I seem to remember. It was too early for a pint glass then.

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34 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Mystery location, where is this?  Clue; it’s not the BCN.

 

 

2F7EBB62-2408-445F-8D66-8A8A398AC565.jpeg

Overton Lake Peterborough ??

36 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Oy.

 

:)

It's the only time I've seen him without a pint glass in his hand

You cant see his left hand..

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14 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I can identify the forum member ?

He nearly hit you in a bridge 'ole on the Shroppie once I seem to remember. It was too early for a pint glass then.

Yeah I remember that, I suggest we nearly hit each other tbh, subtle but important difference:)

 

9 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Overton Lake Peterborough ??

You cant see his left hand..

That is a fair point 

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18 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

We have done nine of those

 

And the end of the Ridgeacre back in 2009

 

Bumblehole isn't on there, and that's one oft eh most challenging we have done recently

 

Richard

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12 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Overton Lake Peterborough ??

Yep, you win the prize.  One of those places that you start to think, am I supposed to be doing this, until you go round the island and find the mooring pontoons!

 

From the same trip, another out of the way place Ramsey

 

 

C926EA18-CAC5-4901-AE6A-23F169DEEAC5.jpeg

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3 minutes ago, RLWP said:

We have done nine of those

 

And the end of the Ridgeacre back in 2009

 

Bumblehole isn't on there, and that's one oft eh most challenging we have done recently

 

Richard

Beat you, we have done 12, but not all since this started so they would not all count.

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What, no mention of The River Foss in York ? Guides say it's navigable up to Wormald's Cut (about 1/4 mile above Castle Mill Lock on The Ouse) but a pair of narrowboats made it up to Huntington Road (about 1 mile further) a few years ago.. Reported in the local press and on here...somewhere... but I can't seem to find it now. Incidentally, we (The Bona Boaters - linkything below) have been to quite a few of those places.

Edited by Pete of Ebor
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3 minutes ago, Pete of Ebor said:

What, no mention of The River Foss in York ? Guides say it's navigable up to Wormald's Cut (about 1/4 mile above Castle Mill Lock on The Ouse) but a pair of narrowboats made it up to Huntington Road (about 1 mile further) a few years ago.. Reported in the local press and on here...somewhere... but I can't seem to find it now. Incidentally, we (The Bona Boaters - linkything below) have been to quite a few of those places.

Oh, good find!

 

Sadly the pictures have all stopped working, but the thread itself is interesting.

 

 

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I'm attempting to do the Silver Propeller challenge and have managed to tick off 8 so far and will be visiting Bradley Workshops next week.

 

I was a bit disappointed to find that with the current restrictions of lock usage leading from the Wolverhampton Level ,the local CRT office had in their wisdom decided to close Parkhead Locks to navigation . I've never visited the southern portal of Dudley Tunnel and that would have been another tick.(Complaint registered with CRT)

 

Being only 40ft long I did manage to navigate through Brandon Lock and tie up at a very pleasant visitor mooring in splendid isolation.Shame the town is a lot less interesting.

 

Over the years I have visited 24 of the 38 locations,but having to start out from square 1 at the beginning of last year makes this Challenge tough going.

 

Stupid place...... Bumblehole , it's not even a Silver Propeller tick and I didn't take a photo.

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9 minutes ago, Quaffer said:

I was a bit disappointed to find that with the current restrictions of lock usage leading from the Wolverhampton Level ,the local CRT office had in their wisdom decided to close Parkhead Locks to navigation . I've never visited the southern portal of Dudley Tunnel and that would have been another tick.(Complaint registered with CRT)

The reason is two of the pumps at Bradley have packed up, so controlling any loss of the Wolverhampton level helps

 

Richard

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2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

The reason is two of the pumps at Bradley have packed up, so controlling any loss of the Wolverhampton level helps

 

Richard

I was aware of the reason,but disappointed that the Parkhead locks were closed to navigation while the other locks leading off the Wolverhampton Level were only closed from 4pm til 8.30am.The person I spoke to said that hardly anyone  goes up the Parkhead Locks anyway which makes the water saving by closing this navigation seem pretty low.

I suspect the local team couldn't be bothered to padlock up and then  unlock  Parkhead Bottom Lock ,closing the navigation is much easier.

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13 minutes ago, RLWP said:

The reason is two of the pumps at Bradley have packed up, so controlling any loss of the Wolverhampton level helps

 

Richard

Parkhead is not listed in the locks having overnight closure though, and there is not a separate notice for it if we are saying it is completely closed at the moment.  I would not have thought that the number of boats going through Parkhead would had had a lot of impact on water levels (1 boat a week?), so surprised they have closed them.  So how are you do you find out they are closed, except when you get there?

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5 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Parkhead is not listed in the locks having overnight closure though, and there is not a separate notice for it if we are saying it is completely closed at the moment.  I would not have thought that the number of boats going through Parkhead would had had a lot of impact on water levels (1 boat a week?), so surprised they have closed them.  So how are you do you find out they are closed, except when you get there?

That's what happened to me,there is a notice attached to the bottom gate and the pair of gates were padlocked .

I complained that CRT should list the navigation closure on their notices service,but that suggestion has fallen on stony ground.

Edited by Quaffer
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I can think of a couple of reasons not to go up Parkhead locks. My one visit was with the NBT doing the 2016 BCN Challenge, and I was struck by the concentration of Canada Geese and their droppings at the top. I stayed at the top lock while two others went across to the tunnel mouth on Nuneaton, stirring up a huge amount of nasty black gunge as they went (the decaying remains of many years' worth of leaves?). They were gone a while because the lack of dredging made progress very slow.

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43 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Tixhall Wide?

 

?

If you look back Matty got it in one.  It’s a bit more dramatic that, the view from where we had come from.  It is great fun to be on a big ass lake, but then for you prospective seafarers it’s tame stuff.  Make sure you stop off there on your way up the Nene, good over night moorings.

 

C302CC23-67F4-4679-A0D8-07FDB264FE45.jpeg

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1 minute ago, Peter X said:

I can think of a couple of reasons not to go up Parkhead locks. My one visit was with the NBT doing the 2016 BCN Challenge, and I was struck by the concentration of Canada Geese and their droppings at the top. I stayed at the top lock while two others went across to the tunnel mouth on Nuneaton, stirring up a huge amount of nasty black gunge as they went (the decaying remains of many years' worth of leaves?). They were gone a while because the lack of dredging made progress very slow.

From memory, they did it the hard way and reversed up to the tunnel mouth

 

Richard

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