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47 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

Yes, it was me persuading my (then-)colleagues that having the Silver-Propellor location in Pinkston Basin would add more voices to the number of navigators wishing to do the journey, and improve the chances of having it more easily available.

 

So it's down Spiers Wharf Lock ,...

L2698_20171015_0496a.jpg.31b24ad98a8c113faf4c77d93aef0748.jpg

 

 ... Along the Speaker Martin section at the lower level ...

 

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... and up again at Craighall Road Lock

 

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Interesting that it is now Spiers Wharf lock.  When it was opened (by the then speakers of the House of Commons)  it was called Speaker Martins lock but perhaps its name was changed when he fell from grace ? . Yet another occasion when we were in the company of the Wee Spark and whisky was consumed! Speaker Martin was on the Wee Spark in the lock doing the official opening when Jimmy presented him with a large glass of whisky and of course the rest of us in the flotilla raised our glasses too. 

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At 3.30am oL1129_20050724_0027a.jpg.b9f084d143818782e12844548b37ce6a.jpgn this day in 2005, River Clyde, Glasgow, and then a little later

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On 14/07/2020 at 16:22, haggis said:

Oh, I remember that trip up past the weir in the Clyde. It was pitch dark (you can only go over the weir at very high tides) and that was us celebrating with Ronnie's champagne when we got back....

And So To Bed

Edited by PeterScott
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On this day, last week.
A little cruise on the Staffs and Worcs.  Met some friendly boaters, cleaned the side of the boat I can't normally reach when in the marina, watched a narrowboat steerer put the bow into a lock landing, put a crew member off with a bow rope and then try to jump the three feet or so from the stern to the towpath, with the inevitable result, met some friendly boaters at the locks and passed through some beautiful scenery.

boat1.jpg

boat2.jpg

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One thing which hasn't changed in 40-plus years is that, where there's a congregation of traditional boats, there will be a chap who looks like the one at the extreme right of the top picture.

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21 minutes ago, Athy said:

One thing which hasn't changed in 40-plus years is that, where there's a congregation of traditional boats, there will be a chap who looks like the one at the extreme right of the top picture.

That was the late Tony Warwick who was involved with David Blagrove in the coal trade.

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On this day in 2011

L1773_20110725_0171.JPG.7173ee5885fc94dfe356d46915fc5de8.JPG

Atherstone lock 6 Coventry canal

Not a bright idea to leave a windlass on a raised paddle, and even worse if it's a DoubleDunton. It does emphasise that the sidepond paddle is in use, for the few years that this was allowed.  Compare  #457 (1978)  #1087  (2015) #476 (2017) 

Edited by PeterScott
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22 hours ago, PeterScott said:

L2698_20171015_0496a.jpg.31b24ad98a8c113faf4c77d93aef0748.jpg[to] Pinkston Basin  [at Port Dundas] ...  it's down Spiers Wharf Lock ,... Along the Speaker Martin section at the lower level ... and up again at Craighall Road Lock

 

 

21 hours ago, haggis said:

Interesting that it is now Spiers Wharf lock.  When it was opened (by the then speaker of the House of Commons)  it was called Speaker Martins lock but perhaps its name was changed when he fell from grace ? ....

P3077407.JPG.8c765cdccd14b4b24f3596a15b8ebebb.JPG

 

The Scottish Canal's sign was still there in March 2020, so Speaker Martin's Lock is the best official name we have.

Michael Martin resigned the office of Speaker on 21 June 2009, was created a life peer on 25 August 2009 as Baron Martin of Springburn, of Port Dundas in the City of Glasgow, (so maybe the lock at the Port Dundas end of the link would be a better commemoration) and when he died on 13 October 2009 the House of Commons tributes included IainDuncanSmith's, which I enjoyed at the time: "...  I had the misfortune to be elected leader of the Conservative party. ... I know just how difficult being the Leader of the Opposition is, .... Michael took me to his room and chatted away to me about the difficulties. During our conversations, we settled on the fact that both of us were the first Catholics to serve in our positions. He was very proud of that, as was I. Our roles did not quite end in the way we might have wished and that is one thing that I am very sad about. This House was going through a very difficult time and it was inevitable that the Speaker would, to some degree, become a focus of that. I want to put on record my view that this decent man was taken to task in a way that I did not think were his just deserts. He took on his shoulders a lot of what had happened. I think his early departure is something the House may someday want to look at and ask whether it was fair to him in the way that he had been to it."

 

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Long ago on a trip up the Shannon, friends and I got as far as the entry lock to the Ballinamore & Ballyconnell Canal, opened in 1860 and closed again nine years later, having passed just eight boats in that time.

 

On a later voyage, on Lough Erne, we looked at the other end, where the locks lay buried amongst the brambles. There seemed no hope in recovery, but, in the spirit of cross-border co-operation the Republic and Northern Ireland together rebuilt the whole thing.  The Shannon - Erne link reopened in 1994. Will there, now we have left the EU, be a customs post part way along?

 

 

Ballinamore.jpeg

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10 hours ago, Dav and Pen said:

Working down the Braunston flight with lots of helpers. July 1977. Tadworth and Alton then with the Narrow boat Trust. Watneys red barrel at the Nelson things do change for the better after all.

 

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 Watneys Red was the only British Beer available on our one month sea voyage to the UK in 1974. We retreated to Fosters, Victoria Bitter and Heinikin for the remainder of the voyage. Once ashore, tried Worthington E, once. It was not until we found a CAMRA handbook, and reset tastebuds, that we began to  appreciate British Beers.

Mind you those huge tins of Watneys and Worthington were great for low cost  party catering where the taste of the beer was secondary to its functionality.

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8 hours ago, John Liley said:

Ballinamore.jpeg

Long ago on a trip up the Shannon, friends and I got as far as the entry lock to the Ballinamore & Ballyconnell Canal, opened in 1860 and closed again nine years later, ... On a later voyage, on Lough Erne, we looked at the other end, where the locks lay buried amongst the brambles. There seemed no hope in recovery, but, in the spirit of cross-border co-operation the Republic and Northern Ireland together rebuilt the whole thing.  The Shannon - Erne link reopened in 1994. Will there, now we have left the EU, be a customs post part way along?

On 02/05/2020 at 19:16, PeterScott said:

L10162a.jpg.67d8bb699879904a0c6f9f64f57287f1.jpgOn [2 May]  in 1994

 

Winding (actually trying and failing to wind) below between lock 9/10 Kilclare Shannon-Erne Waterway

 

The trip boat had intended to go through the new lock, wind above, and then take our organised group, in Ireland to help celebrate the opening of the new Shannon-Erne Waterway, on a trip on the lake. The new electric-and-accesscard-mechanism had failed, so no wind, no boat, no trip. ...

 

L10167s.jpg.3779421c83b76995afeb9d2c3fdd49fd.jpg

 

The local boatclub were brilliant and transferred all the celebratory drinks-and-nibbles on to their own cruisers and the forty-or-so of us set off in a flotilla for a revised trip.

 

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These were the channel markers, until we reached the (unmarked) international border in the lake, after which the port and starboard markers were wholly different symbols.

 

A quirky reminder that we were on the island of Ireland.

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39 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

On this day 2010

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Warwick GU. The hull shape doesn't seem to have caught on.

We used to pass it (or its twin brother, if it had one) from time to time.moored somewhere on the North Oxford if memory serves. It had an interesting history (perhaps there was a thread about it on here?) though I don't remember the details.

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We had our 50ft NB in Ireland 1998 and 99. Went across the Shannon Erne link and the card system for the locks bit hit and miss. My photos must be in the loft will try and find them. Did well from the Hire boats who gave us their cards which had some credit left on them. Moored for the winter in Shannon harbour at the magnificent  price of 100 Punts for the year which included navigation Licence. The old roller made an usual garden ornament 

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