Planning to become a narrowboater

[Jerra]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

You spelt West incorrectly

 

Well we are west of Yorkshire so OK north and west.

[LadyG]

I bought my first house in Northallerton, it's in North Yorkshire, when I was seconded to Kenton Bar I stayed in digs in Jesmond Road.

Ripon, also in N. Yorks is a long commute to Newcastle.

Edited November 9, 2020 by LadyG

[LadyG]

In (yes, another) former life I was in IT, this was relatively early days, and a lot of the work involved bouncing ideas off one another, we employed salaried and contract staff, I don't think our work would have got anywhere if there had not been a team of developers.

You don't want to paint yourself in to a corner.

I don't know how much electricity you will need day to day, but you will have to find out, and work back from there.

Before you imagine yourself moving every week with gay abandon, there are some serious difficulties, this autumn I am moving south (from the North East), because "The Winter Stoppages" , ie planned maintenace, in addition to  C-19, are making the decision for me, you have to appreciate that it is a life of freedom, and a life of restrictions.

Are you going to need a car? Some folks would rather sell their souls than do without, I've given mine up after driving almost every day for fifty years.

Edited November 9, 2020 by LadyG

[bizzard]

I once new a lady who went to Northallerton to entertain the troops at the barracks, she also liked train spotting. And she weren't comparing train numbers copped with em either, I reckon she was copping something else instead.

Edited November 9, 2020 by bizzard

[peterboat]

34 minutes ago, LadyG said:

In (yes, another) former life I was in IT, this was relatively early days, and a lot of the work involved bouncing ideas off one another, we employed salaried and contract staff, I don't think our work would have got anywhere if there had not been a team of developers.

You don't want to paint yourself in to a corner.

I don't know how much electricity you will need day to day, but you will have to find out, and work back from there.

Before you imagine yourself moving every week with gay abandon, there are some serious difficulties, this autumn I am moving south (from the North East), because "The Winter Stoppages" , ie planned maintenace, in addition to  C-19, are making the decision for me, you have to appreciate that it is a life of freedom, and a life of restrictions.

Are you going to need a car? Some folks would rather sell their souls than do without, I've given mine up after driving almost every day for fifty years.

You are not in the North east where you are its east midlands at best, I was born in the west riding of Yorkshire but for some unknown reason its morhped into South Yorkshire! Barking to say the least

[bizzard]

10 minutes ago, peterboat said:

You are not in the North east where you are its east midlands at best, I was born in the west riding of Yorkshire but for some unknown reason its morhped into South Yorkshire! Barking to say the least

Barking!!! that's down ere in East London.

[Teabag]

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

In (yes, another) former life I was in IT, this was relatively early days, and a lot of the work involved bouncing ideas off one another, we employed salaried and contract staff, I don't think our work would have got anywhere if there had not been a team of developers.

You don't want to paint yourself in to a corner.

I don't know how much electricity you will need day to day, but you will have to find out, and work back from there.

Before you imagine yourself moving every week with gay abandon, there are some serious difficulties, this autumn I am moving south (from the North East), because "The Winter Stoppages" , ie planned maintenace, in addition to  C-19, are making the decision for me, you have to appreciate that it is a life of freedom, and a life of restrictions.

Are you going to need a car? Some folks would rather sell their souls than do without, I've given mine up after driving almost every day for fifty years.

You were in IT?  Was that your own company, did it rise or dotbomb?   

[SirCy]

3 hours ago, LadyG said:

In (yes, another) former life I was in IT, this was relatively early days, and a lot of the work involved bouncing ideas off one another, we employed salaried and contract staff, I don't think our work would have got anywhere if there had not been a team of developers.

You don't want to paint yourself in to a corner.

I don't know how much electricity you will need day to day, but you will have to find out, and work back from there.

Before you imagine yourself moving every week with gay abandon, there are some serious difficulties, this autumn I am moving south (from the North East), because "The Winter Stoppages" , ie planned maintenace, in addition to  C-19, are making the decision for me, you have to appreciate that it is a life of freedom, and a life of restrictions.

Are you going to need a car? Some folks would rather sell their souls than do without, I've given mine up after driving almost every day for fifty years.

Some solid advice there regarding electricity. I must admit I've not been paying huge attention to how much I use, though averages I've gotten do seem to imply my computer at least does not pull as much as people seem to think it might... but I do need to make certain, and of course with limited electricity even my seemingly minimal usage might be too much.

 

Regarding all this about the northeast/Yorkshire region, I refer you to the age old argument of "if you're south of me, you're not northern".

I don't want to give away my exact location, but rest assured it is north of Northallerton, though I know folk from there.

 

 

Jokes aside, I realise there's a lot of debate about what is and is not northern, and I do find that somewhat silly at times, but with reference to canals I can certainly say where I am currently is quite some distance from the canal network, no matter how north it claims to go. There are rivers, some pretty major ones, and of course I mentioned Tees Barrage earlier, but again none of this is connected to the larger network, unless there are some unmarked and forgotten passages from the River Tees I could find myself on.

 

I'm not certain about recent history, but given the extent of the Danelaw I do believe there must have been some kind of navigable riverway that heads south from here once upon a time. I might look into this, but perhaps it would be something for the powers that be to look into for extending the canal network further? There are a lot of major and historic waterways up here that I'm sure could justify bridging the gap?

 

[SirCy]

With that said; I do believe I would have to travel for any sort of interaction with the canals at this rate, be it a short stay, buying, or training... so I'm not overly worried about going to the absolute nearest place to learn the ropes, given I'd be travelling a fair bit for it anyways... might as well go a bit further afield to get a better deal, no?

[LadyG]

9 hours ago, Teabag said:

You were in IT?  Was that your own company, did it rise or dotbomb?   

It was a brief career, an annual contract extended to eighteen months, then, thankfully, a decent pay off.

I had inherited a Dragon and an apple mach1, it was a case of  "in the land of the bilnd, the one eyed man is  God"

 

[LadyG]

8 hours ago, SirCy said:

With that said; I do believe I would have to travel for any sort of interaction with the canals at this rate, be it a short stay, buying, or training... so I'm not overly worried about going to the absolute nearest place to learn the ropes, given I'd be travelling a fair bit for it anyways... might as well go a bit further afield to get a better deal, no?

Learning boat handling on your own boat is best done on a canal, and not a river.

The Humber  the Trent and the Ouse are best avoided 'till you are confident in your boat, ie boat handing and boat reliability. You need a good centre rope, well I have one either  side, plus two bow ropes and one stern rope, and it's best to practice coiling and throwing these ropes 'til it becomes natural. I always coil clockwise.

Commercial rivers as found in t'North will require you to know the basic Colregs:  these are The Rules of the road. Essentially you generally pass port to port and don't get in the way of 'girt big barges'. You must use lights in poor vis, red to port, green to starboard and white 135 degrees to stern. Keep a lookout behind and know the sound signals. 

Once we are all free of disease, just ask, and someone will let you spend time messing about on their boat, which will get you 'hands on'.

Generally speaking the best prices for a buyer will be in the north, but bigger choice probably middle of England. Prices are rising due to rising demand, good boats are snapped up, but you need to be circumspect, you will not be investing in an appreciating asset, you will be be buying a boat 'Bring Out Another Thousand'

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by LadyG

[doratheexplorer]

On 08/11/2020 at 12:43, SirCy said:

 

Anyone who is Continuous Cruising, how is connectivity out there? I've heard people using their mobile phones as a tether, but is that really reliable?

 

Me! Me Sir!

 

I work from my boat and cruise.  It works but consider a few things.  You may need to moor in very specific places to get good signal.  I enjoy walking and cycling, so I often scout ahead to recce good mooring spots before moving my boat.  My ideal spot has:  Good signal (I use the speedtest app), good depth of water, something solid to tie up to, somewhere to park my car fairly nearby.  Once I've found my spot, then I move.  I also have two networks available to tether to:  One is my personal phone with an unlimited data plan, one is my work phone on a different network.  When I find a great mooring spot, I tend to scribble it into my trusty Nicholson's map as a reminder.

 

The coverage maps on the networks' websites are not reliable.

Edited November 10, 2020 by doratheexplorer

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

so I often scout ahead to recce good mooring spots before moving my boat. 

And folks think its a simple life, just start and stop whever you want, maybe it was in the 19th century but in the 21st .......................................

[doratheexplorer]

47 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

And folks think its a simple life, just start and stop whever you want, maybe it was in the 19th century but in the 21st .......................................

You can do that if you want.  I enjoy strolling along the towpath, so why not reap the benefits of doing so?

[Tracy D'arth]

Always moor in range of the wifi in McDonalds.

[doratheexplorer]

38 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Always moor in range of the wifi in McDonalds.

 

Never moor anywhere near any McDonalds!

[SirCy]

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

Generally speaking the best prices for a buyer will be in the north, but bigger choice probably middle of England. Prices are rising due to rising demand, good boats are snapped up, but you need to be circumspect, you will not be investing in an appreciating asset, you will be be buying a boat 'Bring Out Another Thousand'

Options come at a premium, I guess it would be a good idea to keep an eye out on the market. Are there any specific brokerages or sites that are specific to the North? Most I've seen operate either the entire country or most of the globe... though I suppose it is a pretty niche market in itself.

 

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

Once we are all free of disease, just ask, and someone will let you spend time messing about on their boat, which will get you 'hands on'.

Do people commonly do this? I would have thought with it being a person's home or a holiday option, that people would be less willing to let someone roll with them just because they asked. Though I guess the obvious "if you never ask, you'll never get" applies here too.

 

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

Commercial rivers as found in t'North will require you to know the basic Colregs:  these are The Rules of the road. Essentially you generally pass port to port and don't get in the way of 'girt big barges'. You must use lights in poor vis, red to port, green to starboard and white 135 degrees to stern. Keep a lookout behind and know the sound signals. 

Yeah I've seen the lights, similar thing with aircraft too. Built up a sort of understanding seeing all the ships on the Tees and in the North Sea but never had a proper course on that.

[enigmatic]

1 hour ago, SirCy said:

Options come at a premium, I guess it would be a good idea to keep an eye out on the market. Are there any specific brokerages or sites that are specific to the North? Most I've seen operate either the entire country or most of the globe... though I suppose it is a pretty niche market in 

You can filter by region on a site like Apollo Duck

 

When it comes to actually looking at boats with a view to buying, driving around the many marinas in Cheshire or Northamptonshire is probably a good place to start, since you're not going to get a boat that's especially near to you anyway 

 

14 hours ago, SirCy said:

Jokes aside, I realise there's a lot of debate about what is and is not northern, and I do find that somewhat silly at times, but with reference to canals I can certainly say where I am currently is quite some distance from the canal network, no matter how north it claims to go. There are rivers, some pretty major ones, and of course I mentioned Tees Barrage earlier, but again none of this is connected to the larger network, unless there are some unmarked and forgotten passages from the River Tees I could find myself on.

 

I'm not certain about recent history, but given the extent of the Danelaw I do believe there must have been some kind of navigable riverway that heads south from here once upon a time. I might look into this, but perhaps it would be something for the powers that be to look into for extending the canal network further? There are a lot of major and historic waterways up here that I'm sure could justify bridging the gap?

Your nearest part of the navigable network is probably the Ripon Canal. Long, bumpy way from there to the Tees, and elsewhere there are plenty of canal restoration projects struggling for resources that have actual canals that just need dredging and locks rebuilding and new roads being moved out the way...

[SirCy]

31 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

Your nearest part of the navigable network is probably the Ripon Canal. Long, bumpy way from there to the Tees, and elsewhere there are plenty of canal restoration projects struggling for resources that have actual canals that just need dredging and locks rebuilding and new roads being moved out the way...

Ah what's a little bit of sailing across dry land?

But yeah, I understand now why it may be an empty dream to see canals up here then. Its a shame that the network gets so little love from the wider population.

[doratheexplorer]

36 minutes ago, SirCy said:

Ah what's a little bit of sailing across dry land?

But yeah, I understand now why it may be an empty dream to see canals up here then. Its a shame that the network gets so little love from the wider population.

Not entirely empty dream.  99% maybe.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Contour_Canal

[SirCy]

16 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Not entirely empty dream.  99% maybe.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Contour_Canal

Pretty interesting read. Gave it a quick Google to see what other information I could find and there seems to be a lot of stuff dating through the 20th century, and a few forum posts on here about it... kind of curious why it was never done, but I have to guess the obvious one of funding. But with agriculture in the south being helped, as well as reviving shipwrights and steelworks in the northeast...

 

I suppose there had already been a lot of discussion about this though, and why it wasn't done?

[doratheexplorer]

5 minutes ago, SirCy said:

Pretty interesting read. Gave it a quick Google to see what other information I could find and there seems to be a lot of stuff dating through the 20th century, and a few forum posts on here about it... kind of curious why it was never done, but I have to guess the obvious one of funding. But with agriculture in the south being helped, as well as reviving shipwrights and steelworks in the northeast...

 

I suppose there had already been a lot of discussion about this though, and why it wasn't done?

 

I can see the benefits, but the cost would be astronomical.  In the same ball park as HS2 in some ways, but longer and wider.

[peterboat]

1 hour ago, SirCy said:

Pretty interesting read. Gave it a quick Google to see what other information I could find and there seems to be a lot of stuff dating through the 20th century, and a few forum posts on here about it... kind of curious why it was never done, but I have to guess the obvious one of funding. But with agriculture in the south being helped, as well as reviving shipwrights and steelworks in the northeast...

 

I suppose there had already been a lot of discussion about this though, and why it wasn't done?

After the war they were already closing the canals down, they had thousands of ex military lorries to use what did they want an even bigger canal for?

[Graham Davis]

3 hours ago, SirCy said:

Pretty interesting read. Gave it a quick Google to see what other information I could find and there seems to be a lot of stuff dating through the 20th century, and a few forum posts on here about it... kind of curious why it was never done, but I have to guess the obvious one of funding. But with agriculture in the south being helped, as well as reviving shipwrights and steelworks in the northeast...

 

I suppose there had already been a lot of discussion about this though, and why it wasn't done?

 Because railways came along!

[Machpoint005]

On 08/11/2020 at 12:42, dmr said:

>> You forgot to mention aggressive and continually stoned/ drunk.  <<

That accounts for most of the shiny-boat brigade, then.