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Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.


DandV

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Dawn on Tixall Wide, Stafford & Worcester

 

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10:30pm Sunset summer solstice, Shropshire Union  (last night)

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Wheaton Aston, Shropshire Union

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Early morning - Tixall Wide

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Edited by bagginz
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I'm not sure if this quite fits within the format of the topic but I couldn't resist posting bit. It was sent to me by the friend whom I asked about the tractor illustrated earlier by John Liley, and it shows a similar Latil tractor at work Somewhere In France. I tried to blow the picture up in order to read its number plate and thereby find out where in France it was, but the index appears to have been roughly handwritten (as often used to happen in France) and in any case it looks as if it may be a private fleet number, not a standard registration.

   But what an atmospheric picture it is.

Latil tractor.jpeg

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The Peniche in Athy’s photo looks like it should be a automotor so it suggest that it is being towed into a tunnel. So not the St Quentin or Marne Rhin as these have electric tugs. The summit tunnel on the Marne Saone canal has a towpath which I believe was used by tractors but I have in my mind that the entrance canal was narrow for some distance.

Edited by Dav and Pen
Wrong info
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On 04/04/2020 at 14:32, Athy said:

It must be five years or more since it suddenly appeared. Rumour was that someone excavated a hole in the bank, inserted the boat and put the hole back (if you see what I mean). We must have passed it a dozen times or more and, though we have seen signs of habitation, such as washing hanging on that whirlygig, we have never seen an actual person there.

On this day 2018

L2781_20180622_0268.JPG.db986716449211169dbd62e11c2e4cc8.JPG

Another angle on an isolated canal and its boat. Southern Oxford Summit Compare #294

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More on the berrichons. In 1968 I travelled with a group of friends on a hire cruiser from Saint Line on the Nivernais. Even then, this was the only hire company in France, and by being based at Baye, on the summit, and lobbying hard, it thereby saved the Nivernais from closure.

 

On an ambitious circuit we passed, at Marseilles-les-Aubigny, the blocked-off entrance to the Canal de Berry, with several of its tradional craft moored out in the main canal. Then, at Le Guetin, there had been a stoppage of some kind, and in thequeue, was the berrichon Sirdar, the family on board certainly eating under an awning at the stern, though possibly sleeping somewhere underneath. The mule/horse combination that towed the vessel was stabled centrally on board, that being the regulation (the animals were not allowed to graze on shore either, though some surely did).

 

I shall post a couple of further photos on a following entry, asap.

 

 

PICT0537.jpg

PICT0539.jpg

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33 minutes ago, John Liley said:

More on the berrichons. In 1968 I travelled with a group of friends on a hire cruiser from Saint Line on the Nivernais. Even then, this was the only hire company in France, and by being based at Baye, on the summit, and lobbying hard, it thereby saved the Nivernais from closure.

 

On an ambitious circuit we passed, at Marseilles-les-Aubigny, the blocked-off entrance to the Canal de Berry, with several of its tradional craft moored out in the main canal. Then, at Le Guetin, there had been a stoppage of some kind, and in thequeue, was the berrichon Sirdar, the family on board certainly eating under an awning at the stern, though possibly sleeping somewhere underneath. The mule/horse combination that towed the vessel was stabled centrally on board, that being the regulation (the animals were not allowed to graze on shore either, though some surely did).

 

I shall post a couple of further photos on a following entry, asap.

 

 

PICT0537.jpg

PICT0539.jpg

These are utterly fascinating photos and I for one look forward keenly to seeing more of them.

 

I'm guessing that the hire fleet at Baye was run by a chap from Brighton called Pierre (or sometimes Peter) Zivy? I've heard him mentioned as the saviour of the Nivernais canal. I believe that Michael Streat was involved in the early French hire-boat scene too.

Edited by Athy
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On this day in 2002

L0914_20020622_0156.JPG.13e45d57cc780270524d627d0c72bf44.JPG

Factory Locks BCN Main Line

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and earlier that day, the start of that weekend's BCN Marathon Challenge at Wolverhampton Top Lock

Edited by PeterScott
unmerge a merge
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Berrichon Sirdar again, in the lower chamber at Le Guetin. Also the tractor, on which I have no further information, except that the group of Dutch and Belgian mariniers around were gnashing their teeth at the way the staircase was adminstered (uphill travellers would not not allowed to progress the following morning, even when there were no downhill boats left, because that was not their specified time of day)

 

Peter Zivy, who started Saint Line, had previously based his fleet of six on the Marne, but moved to Baye on the Nivernais having discovered the canal and been appalled that it was up for closure. He spent a good deal of money in doing so and subsquently moved to Englnad, but by then others were getting established. Prominent amongst them was Michael Street, who became the first hire boat operator on the Midi (encountering concerted hostility from the French tax authorities, to whom anything new must be suspect. Michael did win through in the end, but the process exhausted him;he subsequently sold out to Guinness, who weredeciding on "leisure" at the time).

PICT0549.jpg

PICT0547.jpg

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Computer will not let me attach two pics for some reason. I sent this pic a couple of years ago but it is relevant now. This is the stern of the Berrichon with its barely understandable shaft and prop arrangement. I think this boat is run by a group of enthusiasts. A google search will throw up more info on these boats.

2013-08-05 10.26.25.jpg

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41 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

On this day in 2001

L0873_20010622_0002.JPG.2e08c3a75e5b28e1db85a2ef3e655750.JPG

also Wolverhampton Top Lock, awaiting the start of the BCN Marathon Challenge the next day

 

And on the same day, Fulbourne on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, approaching its BCN Marathon Challenge start at Gas Street Basin.

Bcn01WEB.jpg

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44 minutes ago, John Liley said:

. Also the tractor, on which I have no further information,

 

PICT0547.jpg

...except that this time its immatriculation (registration) is clearly visible as being from département 58, the Nievre (as in Nivernais). On the other photo of a tractor towing a barge, which I posted earlier, I couldn't decipher the reg. even after expanding the picture - except that it started with 475, so possibly one of the same batch as this one. But the scenery didn't match my memory of the Nivernais.

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The first time we went to Saint Satur there was a Berrichon on the Loire itself. It had a full length cabin and belonged to the hotel who used it as a static bar. A few years later it was on the bank and is now gone completely I think it was wood. 
some years ago the then owner of NB Birmingham was approached to see if it could be taken by road to the restored Berry canal for a festival. It unfortunately came to nothing

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On 08/06/2020 at 15:56, Phil Knowles said:

lightship.JPG

On [8 June] in 2007

Liverpool docks - was this the infamous lightship?

On 08/06/2020 at 18:47, Mike Todd said:

LL Canning Dock.jpg

Looks much the same but this was it in June 2013. Planet was seized in 2016, I believe, but not moved out for some time. Look up forum thread which was lengthy at the time. I don't know when it was repainted between 2013 and 2017. The B A R was quite iconic at one time (even if one of its problems was sailing quite close to the wind over the regs for licensed premises, as reported)

On this day in 2009

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Liverpool Docks, with the lightship still not "B A R red" (although still red of course)  and maybe not yet infamous

 

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