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Llangollen 1976


booke23

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49 minutes ago, Athy said:

This would be the same Chas Hordern who later started the still-extant hire fleet, I guess.

+.

The very same! In fact when that film was made he had already been in business for 4 years. Chiltern was one of his original camping boats. 

 

 

  • Greenie 1
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57 minutes ago, max's son said:

Nice film,

 

how did they film the aerial shots was it early drones.

They hired a helicopter, removed a side door and the camera man would have been hanging out of it for the aerial shots! In those days I guess budgets for producing local TV documentary programs were quite large, as even before the advent of drones you tended not to see this in modern regional TV programs! In the credits the helicopter pilot was Mike Smith, who flew the comms helicopter in Treasure Hunt in the 1980's. 

 

 

57 minutes ago, max's son said:

also must have run fast to film the aqueduct from the top and bottom

 

Ha ha yes! I guess Chas had to go back and forward across the aquaduct a few times to get all the shots! 

Edited by booke23
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24 minutes ago, J R ALSOP said:

Proper windlasses, proper paddle gear and no ladders, proper boating.

 

I hadn't even noticed the lack of ladders!

 

I suppose to single hand the old boatmen would carry their own ladder.....or maybe climb up the top gate. Or use the gangplank from the cratch? 

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14 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

I hadn't even noticed the lack of ladders!

 

I suppose to single hand the old boatmen would carry their own ladder.....or maybe climb up the top gate. Or use the gangplank from the cratch? 

I expect they were unlikely to still be on the boat as it went in the lock going uphill, the boat left in gear to push the gates open and drive itself in to the lock.

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Llangollen today, single handler, screamed at my female partner not to touch the windlass until invited to, she had watched him come in helped the gates, and waited till he had tied up loosely, has a cockney accent, apparently verbally abused the lockie at Brindleu brook. She still helped him, but as he came out of lock, (he had turned it against us )and I had been waiting, he just waited in the middle, to the right, I waited for him to move, but just thought he wasn’t experienced and as a short pound I went around him opposite to port. Apparently he said this fellah is going the wrong way, but passed me and said a cheery hello. Watch out for him he is aggressive if travelling that way and knows not what he is doing. No reason for angry aggression , disagree politely .Llangollen is not a pleasure in parts at this time of year because of amount of boats in tight corners , shallow parts etc but mad man cometh.

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40 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I expect they were unlikely to still be on the boat as it went in the lock going uphill, the boat left in gear to push the gates open and drive itself in to the lock.

Doh, of course! I'd forgotten about that technique. I've even seen people single handing do this......step off the boat with the centre line as they enter the lock. Usually with the boat in neutral and let it coast in.     

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1 hour ago, booke23 said:

 

I hadn't even noticed the lack of ladders!

 

I suppose to single hand the old boatmen would carry their own ladder.....or maybe climb up the top gate. Or use the gangplank from the cratch? 

They didn’t have time to stop the boat to get off and a portable ladder or gangplank would be way too dangerous in any case.
 

There is a British Transport Film that shows an ex-GU motor and butty pair being worked double handed (i.e. one person on each boat) where the steerer of the motor aligns it into one side of the lock - a wide one on the GU - and shins up the bottom gate via the cabin slide as the boat enters the lock. 
 

Working boats were not braked to a stand before the steerer got off. They stayed in forward gear and a combination of drawing a top paddle and impact of the boat on the cill stops it. This seems to excite commenters on YouTube videos recreating such practices but such folk often fail to think about how unpowered boats (constituting by far the majority of working boats through history) were worked.
 

The alternative is to step off immediately below the lock and head up the steps, which I suspect is what the butty steerer in that film does, while taking a line with them to strap the boat to a stand. Of course you can’t stop a horse boat or butty unless you’ve first alighted from it.
 

Many single handers - myself included - prefer to avoid the use of lock ladders wherever practical. Their purpose is not as an aid to boaters.

 

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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13 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

They didn’t have time to stop the boat to get off and a portable ladder or gangplank would be way too dangerous in any case.
 

There is a British Transport Film that shows an ex-GU motor and butty pair being worked double handed (i.e. one person on each boat) where the steerer of the motor aligns it into one side of the lock - a wide one on the GU - and shins up the bottom gate via the cabin slide as the boat enters the lock. 
 

Working boats were not braked to a stand before the steerer got off. They stayed in forward gear and a combination of drawing a top paddle and impact of the boat on the cill stops it. This seems to excite commenters on YouTube videos recreating such practices but such folk often fail to think about how unpowered boats (constituting by far the majority of working boats through history) were worked.
 

The alternative is to step off immediately below the lock and head up the steps, which I suspect is what the butty steerer in that film does, while taking a line with them to strap the boat to a stand. Of course you can’t stop a horse boat or butty unless you’ve first alighted from it.
 

Many single handers - myself included - prefer to avoid the use of lock ladders wherever practical. Their purpose is not as an aid to boaters.

 

JP

 

This is very interesting, thank you for the insight. I know what you mean about lock ladders. With all the slime that grows on them they look like a liability if you were climbing them regularly.  

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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Interesting they had the 2 foot limit then and the lock was tight

Indeed. Chas mentions on a facebook post about this film that it was really pushing the limits on width and depth taking Chiltern up the Llangollen.....an exciting challenge! Demonstrated by running hard aground at the entrance to the feeder at Trevor and having to remove ballast.  The feeder to Llangollen and the canal before the Pontcysyllte aqueduct was completely rebuilt in the 1980's with concrete, due to a number of serious breaches over the years, so is no longer shallow! 

 

The first lock at Hurleston only got tighter as the years passed due to the walls shifting. It was completely rebuilt last winter (at a cost of over £1 million) so it's ok now. Timelapse of the rebuild here:

 

 

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, Athy said:

This would be the same Chas Hordern who later started the still-extant hire fleet, I guess.

+.

Chas Hardern was another local rival.

 

Just finished repainting one of his early fleet.....20 plus years of weathershield to remove before we started.

20200924_231336.jpg

Edited by matty40s
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2 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Still is...

20200924_233614.jpg

20200924_233812.jpg

 

 

 

 

Oh wow.......what a coincidence. My very first experience on the canals was a one week hire of Silmaril back in 2007, up the Llangollen and back. My profile Pic is her at dawn on the 2nd day of the hire. I have very fond memories of that boat and trip.

 

That's a great paint job. She looks fantastic. Do you own her? Thank you for posting!

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