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What have you found in the canal


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On the Bridgewater, another boater knocked to ask if I had a net, this little guy was a doing the doggy paddle and looked like he had about three strokes left before he'd collapse of exhaustion.

 

He was dried off with a hairdryer, kept onboard and released the next day, I was told.

 

The only time I've ever seen a mole it was floating belly up. Saw a live snake swimming somewhere near Nuneaton.

 

Non-animal related, had a black bra wrapped round the prop once and the morning after Halloween, stepped off my boat and saw this as I looked down...

 

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  • 1 month later...

On the prop: Huuuuumungus tarpaulin plus plastic chair (1 hour down weed hatch in Tipton), a thong, many nasty slimy things, many nasty spiky things, a pair of trousers (unoccupied).

 

Passing by: small dog (alive, being chased by frantic owners), plastic purple frog (new boat mascot), bright orange golf umbrella to match my roof, top half of a cruiser, numerous fenders, useful trolley, useful pram wheels to use as fenders, many many coconuts (not useful at all)

 

Rescued valuables: My favourite necklace. John's glasses. My own canoe, tied to paddle and chimney brush which I pulled off with centre rope (in front of a crowd, obviously), most of my chairs (thrown in courtesy of some small boys, rescued with help of other small boys. The cat.

 

No bodies, thank goodness, at least not IN the canal, only nearby

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I lost my last windlass some time ago. Just got really fedup, they cost some bucks.

 

Took magnet to lock.

 

Now I have 6. :-)

 

I lost my windlass in a lock a good while back. After borrowing a boaters SeaSearcher, I pulled a similar amout of other peoples windlasses before I found mine.

After that I got my own SeaSearcher and had many a happy 10 mins, while going down in a lock, searching for windlasses, eventually branching out into fishing for L&L handcuff keys. Once on the Wigan Flight a "very" heavy windlass came up. It turned out to be a sawn-off shotgun....it was quitely put back from whence it came! :o

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  • 8 months later...

Not found in the canal but in the mid Pacific, a 60ft yacht. The only thing visible above the surface was a mast, we lowered a boat to investigate and found the mast attached to complete yacht just a metre below the surface. I had visions of salvaging the vessel for my retirement, unfortunately there was no way of retrieval :(

 

Albert.

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We have all found the usual things in the canal, tyres,trolley's and bikes even last week we found two lads and their bikes in the canal on our travels to the Leeds and Liverpool, sending them on their after lending them towels and retrieving their bikes.

 

But yesterday we flagged down by bystanders as there was a cow in the canal,they had informed the farmer and it was obvious that it was standing on the bottom and was not in danger of drowning so we just cruised on.

 

 

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Was it in a tunnel and called buttercup lol

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Yesterday evening a large frozen chicken floated past our kitchen window. Makes a change from all the coconuts I suppose.

 

In other news I also had a nice chat with a woman who was taking her tortoise for a walk along the tow path. His name was Mango and he was moving at a fair old pace! I now desperately want a tortoise.

 

Was the tortoise living on a boat? (still trying to think up a way to keep my Tony with me when I move on to my boat...)

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Guest wanted

Was the tortoise living on a boat? (still trying to think up a way to keep my Tony with me when I move on to my boat...)

 

I think a tortoise wwould be quite good on a boat, it wouldnt feel rushed would it! and it couldn't escape. a few walks on the toe path to keep it happy.

 

My sister took the school tortoise home because it was being ill treated by some kids when I was about 4, 31 years later Speedy is still a sprightly fella! :)

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Rather more useful was the copy of the Nicholson's guide to the South East I fished out of the vegetation at the edge of the GU. One of the first editions with decent sized maps. It was slightly damp but a spell on the boat roof in the sun and it was perfectly useable again.

That reminds me, has anyone found my Nicholsons Book 3 that blew into the Coventry in early May? It was in a waterproof wallet....

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A 600 quid fold up mini motorbike, boy that's good fun !

 

a couple of years ago there was a constant supply of stolen mopeds and scooters dumped in the Grand Union on the Paddington arm, i had a good buisness fishing them out and selling the spares on ebay, theres nothing in there now, hopefully they caught the vermin doing the stealing.

 

my advice is whenever they drain a lock and pound be right there with your magnet and you will never have to buy a windlass again.

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We found a dead person under a bridge in Blackburn on the L & L, turned out to be a murder victim. After we reported it the young policewoman let us carry on, taking no details off us at all, which we found odd (we've seen enough detective TV stories to know!). We then got trapped in ice for a couple of weeks, never gave it another thought - until our daughter rang to say that the CID were looking for us!!! They only checked areas where there was a proper towpath though and we were way out in the sticks. So eventually our very own Morse and Lewis turned up at the nearest pub for a statement. Months passed. By then we were in Oxford when the Coroner's Office rang to request our attendance. We suggested that it was a long way....could they manage without us.....and apparently they could because we never heard anything else!!! Whew!

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On the rollercoaster that is the Rochdale canal, we've encountered more than i can remember.

 

Floating - kids toys, three million footballs, a bumble bee toy thingy (which became the boat trip mascot) a kitted out mountain bike from a drained pound (needs work though, may just ebay it), a playstation (same drained pound)

 

Stuck round the propellor - a thousand coal sacks, a bra, a bubble jacket (this alone cost about an hour of my life), some 'police line do not cross' tape (which may well come in handy) and a rather fetching baby carrier:

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Did I mention the road cones? enough of the buggers to make the entire M1 50mph...

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Two years back, on our last trip on a hire boat, we were on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal when all of a sudden the engine started to make a strange noise and black smoke came out of the exhaust. Our son reacted quickly and shut off the engine. We drifted to the bank, tied up and opened the weedhatch. To our dismay we saw that a cratchcover was firmly stuck round the propellor and shaft. It took my husband over an hour to get the thing off, using the breadknife as that was the only 'tool' we had. When we bought our own boat last year, the first present I give him was an all-pupose saw, we have not used it yet, I'm pleased to say.

 

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  • 1 month later...

We have had a car at the end of the engine arm - BCN

 

Some friends of ours kids managed a shotgun in a bridge hole with the sea searcher, much fun after calling the police!!

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I think a tortoise wwould be quite good on a boat, it wouldnt feel rushed would it! and it couldn't escape. a few walks on the toe path to keep it happy.

 

My sister took the school tortoise home because it was being ill treated by some kids when I was about 4, 31 years later Speedy is still a sprightly fella!

 

 

 

Dunno really. They are after all not very house-trainable. And in the summer they really just want to keep moving and eating. I suppose he could possibly live on the front deck, but it would be very small...

Edited by Windfola
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  • 1 year later...

When you pass through Worcester by the Football ground look out for a bowl with spoon and fruit jelly which slipped off Vestas roof in 1961 as we rolled over a 40 gallon drum.Dredging the Droitwich Barge Canal we recovered many things including a superb Barge Copper Kettle with a spigotted base to fit into the cabin stove in a storm Fortunately we didn't recover the bargees language when he dropped it.Sadly it was stolen from the Trusts Hampton Road office with a wooden Barge Sweep engraved Isaac Harris.

Additions, a large heavy safe which stopped us dead under a bridge on the Walsall canal, the back was burnt off.A large superbly decorated water can in Wasthill Tunnel floating upside down The children spotted the stripey base pattern.Les Allen, Oldbury, told me a properly designed can even if nearly full will float upside down if it falls off the cabin roof.

Edited by Max Sinclair
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