"Sacred canals" - just add coconuts and candles -

[Laurence Hogg]

One day navigation will become a topic CRT might like to consider as a use for a canal ..........

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/blog/waterfront/sacred-canals

[Martin Megson]

I know they make a loud bang as they bounce off the prop

[benfordboy]

Its pretty normal for River Soar boaters - Been asked many a time if we make bounty bars in Loughborough or process coconuts in Leicester - Have had many a raised eyebrow when we explain the truth behind the floating coconuts !!

 

With Water from the Ganges being added to the Soar yrs ago , it has become a Holy place for the scattering of ashes. Barrow Upon Soar is one of the favoured places - We tend to pass the funeral boats on a neutral throttle so to respect the ceremony. Some however do not, religion aside, I wonder if they would like someone roaring past their Grandma's funeral hearse in a turbo sports car.

[Guest]

One day navigation will become a topic CRT might like to consider as a use for a canal ..........

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/blog/waterfront/sacred-canals

They are simply explaining something that often gets asked about, including on here.

 

Seems pretty reasonable to me.

[matty40s]

With Water from the Ganges being added to the Soar yrs ago , it has become a Holy place for the scattering of ashes. Barrow Upon Soar is one of the favoured places -

 

 

 

glad I wasn't around in that flood.

 

Barrow Boating has an old converted lifeboat which is used for Sikh and other Indian celebrations and parties.

[FadeToScarlet]

Personally, I think they're onto something; I'd happily have my ashes scattered in the cut.

[benfordboy]

 

glad I wasn't around in that flood.

 

Not just the lifeboat - I think the best one is the boat with the 'shed' on that needs the webcam on the front so the skipper can see where they're going !

 

Frank at Barrow Boating has certainly helped out the Hindu community with their needs. Some see this as offensive but does it really cause offense? Not to us, every one to there own

[ditchcrawler]

Personally, I think they're onto something; I'd happily have my ashes scattered in the cut.

What happens when you get dredged?

[Sabcat]

What happens when you get dredged?

I don't think he'll notice.

[patty-ann]

What happens when you get dredged?

Depends if a) dumped on towpath to fill holes...becomes racetrack for cyclists

or b)find your way onto farmers field...back to land and nature.

Edited November 11, 2014 by patty-ann

[jeannette smith harrison]

Personally, I think they're onto something; I'd happily have my ashes scattered in the cut.

This has been done for generations in the working boat community.

scattered from the back of a moving boat

or

bio degradable mini canal boat with ashes in the hold pushed off from the bank

&

by the time it reaches the middle will sink

Then down the pub or club for a true boatmans funeral.

What happens when you get dredged?

You are fish food long before then, so still moving around the Cut.

[bassplayer]

I like the idea of my body leaving that way. Maybe being tied to the top of my boat then the boat being set on fire and pushed out into the middle of the Grand Union?

 

Probably better to be dead first though eh?

[magnetman]

i like the little biodegradable

Boat idea

Could be half a coconut filled with ashes an unleaded petrol.

 

 

I thought the coconuts were Hindus not Sikhs.

 

There is an ex Thames police boat near Richmond which can be hired for funerals

[alan_fincher]

I like the idea of my body leaving that way. Maybe being tied to the top of my boat then the boat being set on fire and pushed out into the middle of the Grand Union?

Have you been watching "The Bargee", which covers what allegedly takes place on the cut "when our Chief dies".....

 

......."Lovely blaze he made".

[magnetman]

Years ago there was a discussion on here someone said the coconuts have money in them.

 

Not sure about that myself.

[NickF]

Really interesting to read about Barrow, A couple of years ago I came across a boat that had just scattered someones ashes between Barrow and Mountsorrel, I was in the Peter le Marchant wide beam "Symphony" and was left wondering what the etiquette is as you pass the flowers and remains of the ashes floating on the surface. The river is not all that wide there so it is not easy to go round. I opted for slowing down and trying to avoid as much as possible but the river is narrow up there and inevitably we went through some of it at a discreet slow pace in neutral.

 

I have consulted the Boater's Handbook and it offers no advice on the subject!

[WJM]

The 'Windrush 46' from Eel Pie Island can be seen most Saturdays anchored just below the island with a Hindu group onboard. At a certain point a trail of flowers and dust trails away from the boat.

 

 

I have consulted the Boater's Handbook and it offers no advice on the subject!

As a regular canoeist on the GU around Southall I have on occasion portaged around Hindu groups rather than plough through their ceremony. Not an option in heavier boats though!

[The Toad in the Hole]

Not really a boaty issue, but I was climbing in north wales and somebody emptied their father over me from the summit of Tryfan. They were mortified (not unlike dad), though apparently dad was a climber who would have thought it hilarious. Again, not really an issue on the Soar, but popular spots for ash scattering are starting to have some eutophication/ ecological issues from the additional nutrient input.

[Dharl]

As part of a charity I used to skipper a vessel that used to take parties on the Lower Thames to scatter ashes of their loved ones in return for a donation to the Charity. Used to go either below the Thames Barrier to Gallons Reach or the preferred option to go upstream to moor opposite the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park. Had occasional Hindu family's but normally was people who had connection with the Sea or the River Thames such as former Naval personal, Thames Lightermen etc.

[Ray T]

This has been done for generations in the working boat community.

scattered from the back of a moving boat

or

bio degradable mini canal boat with ashes in the hold pushed off from the bank

&

by the time it reaches the middle will sink

Then down the pub or club for a true boatmans funeral.

You are fish food long before then, so still moving around the Cut.

 

I suppose one day me boating, it will have to stop

By then I’ll know I’m past me prime

They’ll carry me up the Junction if they have to carry me fly

And by then I’ll know I’ve had me time

Wrap me in a canvas, put me behind the mast

Give me a clean road, won’t we travel fast

With the black crepe blowing in the wind this trip will be me last

I’ll have finished moving up the cuts

With the black crepe blowing in the wind this trip will be me last

I’ll have finished moving up the cuts

 

http://www.waterwaysongs.co.uk/moving_up.htm

[jeannette smith harrison]

Ray

Thank you I have not heard this one for a long time.

Being born into the boating community @ a very late era I can only

remember seeing this happen a few times (fly boating a body)

The body would go from say London or where ever the person had died to where it was to rest often

Braunston

It never stopped moving.

All boating family's along the way would have heard of its passing & would come out to

show respect even if it was in the early hours

all locks left open ready.

The body would be carried by his own kind to a house of family or boatperson where it would

 

be laid out ready for to be carried to the church. Most old boatmen wore

earing's & a heavy gold or silver chain this was not linked with gipsies as

ofter thought but was to pay for his final journey home no matter where he was.

[Laurence Hogg]

I would love my ashes to be scattered when the time comes in my childhood haunt which was a place of great pleasure to be alongside. The canal was full of wildlife much more than anyone could imagine today and there were still coal boats to be seen.

A wonderful place to be at rest - if only BW hadn't filled the Bentley canal in!!!

[ditchcrawler]

This has been done for generations in the working boat community.

scattered from the back of a moving boat

or

bio degradable mini canal boat with ashes in the hold pushed off from the bank

&

by the time it reaches the middle will sink

Then down the pub or club for a true boatmans funeral.

You are fish food long before then, so still moving around the Cut.

Are you sure about that?

[b0atman]

The Soar is a flowing river and the ashes will travel in time to the Trent and the Humber and then out to sea maybe back to their own country.

My father and one of his brothers ashes where scattered into the sea because as ex merchant seamen they could then go anywhere in the world as they had done in their early years.

[magnetman]

Material.dumped in the Soar could end up in the Ganges?

 

I hope that doesn't work the other way round