Moving over Winter

[Goliath]

Has anyone been boating much this winter?

 

I seem to have had some of the BCN to myself this past month or more. 

I see a few local boats have shuffled  but otherwise I ain’t passed a boat since 🤷‍♀️ dunno when. 
City Centre was the emptiest I’ve ever seen it. 
 

I try and find a different place/area to winter each year, the BCN is obviously good because there’s plenty of service blocks and there’s miles of canal to move about on.
 

I’d be interested to know where others who keep on the move choose to head for the Winter. 

 

 

 

Edited January 28 by Goliath

[Mad Harold]

4 hours ago, Goliath said:

Has anyone been boating much this winter?

 

I seem to have had some of the BCN to myself this past month or more. 

I see a few local boats have shuffled  but otherwise I ain’t passed a boat since 🤷‍♀️ dunno when. 
City Centre was the emptiest I’ve ever seen it. 
 

I try and find a different place/area to winter each year, the BCN is obviously good because there’s plenty of service blocks and there’s miles of canal to move about on.
 

I’d be interested to know where others who keep on the move choose to head for the Winter. 

Perhaps it became known that you were wintering on the BCN and everyone made themselves scarce!  😄

 

 

 

[matty40s]

Quite a few boats moving today post ice melt....pump out has been non stop locally...

[enigmatic]

Saw hire boaters moving yesterday evening. Past what was - theoretically - a stoppage. It's basically Spring already!

 

In all seriousness, I was the only narrowboater on the Thames and more or less the only boater actually moving on the Oxford until I got to Braunston (where, tbf, I was very impressed by someone who decided to break the inch-thick ice in reverse).

Stopped because of excessive ice for a couple of weeks and because of being away for the boat for another one, but some people don't realise how nice a sunny winter's day is for cruising. Bring on the Coventry and BCN!

[Bristolfashion]

I cannot believe how long this ice has persisted on the Aylesbury Arm! Two weeks and the first boat has just gone through - and the chap reported that it wasn't the easiest ice breaking! Hopefully, between here and Aylesbury will be ok today - I need a shower!

[rusty69]

Just now, Bristolfashion said:

I cannot believe how long this ice has persisted on the Aylesbury Arm! Two weeks and the first boat has just gone through - and the chap reported that it wasn't the easiest ice breaking! Hopefully, between here and Aylesbury will be ok today - I need a shower!

Welcome to the forum. 😀

[Grassman]

I'm on the T&M shuffling between Great Haywood and Willington and this winter when it hasn't been iced over, there definitely seems to have been less boats on the move than normal.

[Bristolfashion]

20 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Welcome to the forum. 😀

I've escaped the Politics section - hurrah!

[Mike Hurley]

Looking at you tube everyone is on the Llangollen.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

Looking at you tube everyone is on the Llangollen.

 

That'll be because the Baton Twirlers have told them that if they are on the Llangollen they can claim their £400 heating grant.

[matty40s]

Just got back from the Weedon Ring, lots of boats moving again this morning, I met 2 coming the other way at the bridge near the winding hole !! 4 widebeams surrounding the water point too.

[Kiwidad]

14 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Just got back from the Weedon Ring, lots of boats moving again this morning, I met 2 coming the other way at the bridge near the winding hole !! 4 widebeams surrounding the water point too.

I did the Weedon ring on Friday to avoid the rush

[ditchcrawler]

We chugged from Alvecote to Gt Haywood, Wolverhampton, Curly Whurley and back to Alvecote over Christmas and New year, didnt see a boat moving for three days

[Goliath]

4 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

We chugged from Alvecote to Gt Haywood, Wolverhampton, Curly Whurley and back to Alvecote over Christmas and New year, didnt see a boat moving for three days

There’s something nice about it though. No racing or holding back for bridge holes. 
You can guarantee a mooring outside the pub 👍

 

I think I’ve been down the weed hatch just twice in a month or so on the BCN,

which I think is down to no traffic stirring up the muck. 
 

 

[Bristolfashion]

Well, we got to Aylesbury from 3 locks up today, but there was still some reasonably thick ice around. I think it's all (mostly?) gone now - the superb Sunday lunch in the Kings head was a compensation!

[Naughty Cal]

Surprisingly the only boats we saw on the move in York this weekend were a few rowers and their safety boat.

 

No trip boats about and no private boats.

 

No idea why. It was lovely weather for it and the river was benign enough.

[Francis Herne]

Seconded on the BCN being dead currently. I was moored on the New Line at Smethwick for over a week, on the boat almost all the time, and saw three other boats. Two of those were Dudley Canal Trust boats being taken for blacking and the third was a friend I'd arranged to meet with.

 

The Old Line locks are closed of course, so that's every movement between Birmingham and the rest of the BCN. Wolverhampton and Staffs & Worcester closures can't help.

 

Similarly at Withymoor and Windmill End the week before I saw four boats in a week, two of whom I knew.

 

On the other hand, before Christmas there were *three* unconnected boats in Ryders Green flight at precisely the same time - with the canal frozen over! I'm told that's more typically the number of boats per month down there in winter...

Edited January 29 by Francis Herne

[Goliath]

I’ve been watching the Dudley Tunnel boats coming and going from the museum. 
They go down to Hockley Port for blacking.

They’ve been using Bittle to break the ice for the following electric boat.

From what I understand the electric boats have enough power to just about get to Hockley  Port.

Breaking through the ice with Bittle leaves them a clear path and save them battery power.

 

I went down the mainline Thursday (?) Tipton to Dudley Port Junction and then on through Netherton Tunnel.

The ice was really quite thick where the Dudley Tunnel boats had been with layers of ice that had broken and refrozen.

It was dead stressful because I’d only just fixed another coolant leak, and giving it all the revs I was having to do I thought I were gonna pop another leak.

But thankfully all was good and I didn't loose any coolant.

 

 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Goliath said:

There’s something nice about it though. No racing or holding back for bridge holes. 
You can guarantee a mooring outside the pub 👍

 

I think I’ve been down the weed hatch just twice in a month or so on the BCN,

which I think is down to no traffic stirring up the muck. 
 

 

We found the same, a good blade full on the W&E when I hit reverse to hard, I think it was the remains of an anglers bivi 

[agg221]

5 hours ago, Goliath said:

There’s something nice about it though. No racing or holding back for bridge holes. 
You can guarantee a mooring outside the pub 👍

 

I think I’ve been down the weed hatch just twice in a month or so on the BCN,

which I think is down to no traffic stirring up the muck. 
 

 

I'm sure much of the BCN is clear because we dredged it all out with our prop during the BCN challenge!

 

Our mooring is between stoppages at Tyrley and Adderley so we can only go 45mins or so each way. We did go down to Adderley to wind as I wanted to work on the other side of the boat, which required breaking about 2" thick ice. Fortunately we have an iceboat...

Alec

[David Mack]

5 hours ago, Bristolfashion said:

 the superb Sunday lunch in the Kings head was a compensation!

Is that the National Trust owned pub? Good but a little more expensive than the competition.

[Bristolfashion]

13 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Is that the National Trust owned pub? Good but a little more expensive than the competition.

Yep, that's the one. Worth evey penny - beer, menu, ambience & staff all excellent. 

[nicknorman]

We cruised from Fazeley to cenral birmingham last week, overnight stop at Star City on the way - no other boats there. A bit icy star city to couple of locks up Aston, then it was OK. Whizzed up Aston and Farmer's Bridge with every lock in our favour. Yes the centre was very quiet, only one boat moored on the mainline on Brindley Place side, 2 or 3 on the NIA side. Just the one up the Oozels loop. We stayed a couple of days then wanted to get back. Mainline had been a bit icy so we waited until the afternoon to leave. Despite 48 hrs having elapsed, the locks were all still full from our earlier ascent, so we whizzed down (1:15 for FB) but nearing the bottom of Aston it was getting rather icy again. We stopped again at Star City (no other boats) and that night was -6 so we waited another day as the temperature was increasing. Despite it being above freezing next night and +7 during the day, ice was reluctant to clear but we set off after lunch crunching through it. However it was hard going and we gave up at Cuttle Bridge Inn (edge of Minworth) for the night. Overnight it remained above freezing but still the ice persisted. We set off again in the afternoon and as we descended Curdworth things improved and it was clear at the bottom. So it took us 5 days to get back to the marina when really it is a 1.5 day trip!

Still, it was all good fun. But we only saw 1 moving boat!. The 600Ah of Li battery power came into its own - we could still use the air fryer, the electric kettle, the toaster etc and not need to run the engine at all when we were moored for 48 hrs at a time.

Only slight problem is that we now have some shiny metal showing at the bow. Then again, we haven't had it out of the water since 2016 (it's 2-pacced) so I suppose it is time. I've been prompted to enquire at Streethay...

Edited January 29 by nicknorman

[Goliath]

Given the close to erratic steering of my boat going through ice I wondered how two boats meeting from opposite directions would cope. 
Being only 48’ my boat tends to weave a little when breaking ice, I imagine a longer, heavier boat would keep a straighter line. Thick sheets of ice tend to push me to one side into the thinner ice. 
 

I was glad I didn’t meet anything coming the other way.
Mind they would have broken a path for me but I wonder how easy they’d have been to pass. 

[Tim Lewis]

16 hours ago, Bristolfashion said:

Well, we got to Aylesbury from 3 locks up today, but there was still some reasonably thick ice around. I think it's all (mostly?) gone now - the superb Sunday lunch in the Kings head was a compensation!

 

Was in the Kings Head on Saturday night but must admit to having eaten in the Spoons beforehand!