Tim & Pru New Series

[keble]

I have just watched the second programme, which was interesting. It was disappointing that the piece showing the late Sonia Rolt was captioned Sonya Rolt. The correct name on the plaque should have given a clue.

Me too, I felt there was far too much about them (Tim and Pru and family), not enough on canals.

I hope it gets better but I suspect, as others have said, that the TV folk push their agenda.

It is a ratings game after all.

[Barry]

Yes I've noticed that recently too, now im not in a tearing hurry but it's polite to make reasonable progress and get out of someone's way.

 

Top Cat

 

Lemontoes and I were stuck behind a chap single handing a full length boat down a flight this summer. He was incredibly slow, bowhauling his boat into the lock each time and being very cautious about everything he did. I offered to work the lock for him so could drive the boat in but he didn't want to, insisting that by pulling the boat in he could watch the boat approach the gate better and stop it better. At the top of the flight he had been fifth in the queue and a large gap qiuckly grew with the fourth boat now a couple of locks ahead.

 

Eventually I explained to him that the two boats I was with were on a schedule and said we would be grateful, if there was a long pound ahead, if he wouldn't mind if we passed him so we could meet our schedule. I suggested to him that with the difference in speed of working between him and us he wouldn't actually lose anything. He said "But I will lose something - I'll lose my place in the queue".

 

There was nothing we could do except shrug, bite the bullet, and help him as much as we could.

 

And then at the bottom of the flight he pulled in for water

Edited November 4, 2015 by Barry

[Laurie Booth]

Me too, I felt there was far too much about them (Tim and Pru and family), not enough on canals.

I hope it gets better but I suspect, as others have said, that the TV folk push their agenda.

It is a ratings game after all.

I think the program is nicely balanced.

[matty40s]

Coming down Buckby on Sunday, I walked to lock 10 with Kathy steering behind me.

The lock was 1/4 full so I looked under the bridge and there was a boat just pulling into the lock landing.

I emptied the lock, and then opened the gate.

A minute later still no boat and No-one had come up.

I walked down under the bridge and 3 dogs were running around next to a boat securely tied to the bollards. The bloke looked at me, I waved him in, and he just looked away and walked down the back steps.

I closed the gate and filled it, chuntering.

As we left the lock, bloke and missus having cup of tea on back deck, he starts to intie. Two approaching boats can neither use lock landing, or want to let him join one of them going up.

The next set of boats is a tied pair.

And then another pair of hire boats - a single party.

☺

Edited November 4, 2015 by matty40s

[john6767]

Coming down Buckby on Sunday, I walked to lock 10 with Kathy steering behind me.

The lock was 1/4 full so I looked under the bridge and there was a boat just pulling into the lock landing.

I emptied the lock, and then opened the gate.

A minute later still no boat and No-one had come up.

I walked down under the bridge and 3 dogs were running around next to a boat securely tied to the bollards. The bloke looked at me, I waved him in, and he just looked away and walked down the back steps.

I closed the gate and filled it, chuntering.

As we left the lock, bloke and missus having cup of tea on back deck, he starts to intie. Two approaching boats can neither use lock landing, or want to let him join one of them going up.

The next set of boats is a tied pair.

And then another pair of hire boats - a single party.

☺

I thought you were suggesting this was Tim and Pru, until you said they were having a cup of tea.

[alan_fincher]

Me too, I felt there was far too much about them (Tim and Pru and family), not enough on canals.

I hope it gets better but I suspect, as others have said, that the TV folk push their agenda.

It is a ratings game after all.

 

 

I think the program is nicely balanced.

 

Me too, Laurie.

 

I think the balance is fine, and I really like linking the story to the long history they and their family have had with the canals all their married lives.

 

Their continuing passion for the canals even in their 80s shines through, and I think all the different series of Great Canal Journeys are doing huge amounts to sell the canals to the public, and is free advertising for CRT, and probably a lot more effective than much of their own

 

Certainly hire boat operators I have spoken to have said the series has almost certainly increased trade - something many of them desperately need.

[Guest]

 

 

Certainly hire boat operators I have spoken to have said the series has almost certainly increased trade - something many of them desperately need.

 

One of my daughters friends has watched the series and asked her the other day 'Do you think your Dad would lend us his canal boat for a week'.

 

She of course answered 'Even if he still had it I'm sure the answer would be no'.

 

She knows me well.

[mayalld]

Me too, I felt there was far too much about them (Tim and Pru and family), not enough on canals.

I hope it gets better but I suspect, as others have said, that the TV folk push their agenda.

It is a ratings game after all.

 

The "them" stuff is frequently used as a hook to slot in some old pictures, so all to the good.

 

And, for me, the human interest side of it is what is going to sell canals to the general public.

[IanM]

I thought you were suggesting this was Tim and Pru, until you said they were having a cup of tea.

 

They are out and about somewhere, I saw them leave on Saturday afternoon.

[mango]

 

... and a few other continuity issues eg saying it is downhill from Solihull all the way to Braunston.

 

I also got a bit annoyed of the numerous recaps at the end of each ad break. Doesn't anyone watch a TV programme from beginning to end any more?

Some of the pieces were not exactly in sequence either. Continuity mistakes in film attract criticism but seem very common on this sort of TV programme.

[ditchcrawler]

Some of the pieces were not exactly in sequence either. Continuity mistakes in film attract criticism but seem very common on this sort of TV programme.

As the TV people are not boaters they dont think anyone will notice

[Laurie Booth]

As the TV people are not boaters they dont think anyone will notice

And of course the people editing won't know the continuity.

[Athy]

Perhaps they would more accurately be called "Continuity decisions" rather then "mistakes". About 98% of viewers don't give a mosquito's tweeter whether the lock flights and pounds are shown in the right order, as long as the finished programme makes enjoyable viewing.

[MartinC]

Perhaps they would more accurately be called "Continuity decisions" rather then "mistakes". About 98% of viewers don't give a mosquito's tweeter whether the lock flights and pounds are shown in the right order, as long as the finished programme makes enjoyable viewing.

 

Well said

[mark99]

Perhaps they would more accurately be called "Continuity decisions" rather then "mistakes". About 98% of viewers don't give a mosquito's tweeter whether the lock flights and pounds are shown in the right order, as long as the finished programme makes enjoyable viewing.

 

 

Indeed, being a chatty fellow I must have been asked a couple of dozen times by passers by about this programme. Not one of them has knit picked the sequence or continuity.

[Scholar Gypsy]

Perhaps they would more accurately be called "Continuity decisions" rather then "mistakes". About 98% of viewers don't give a mosquito's tweeter whether the lock flights and pounds are shown in the right order, as long as the finished programme makes enjoyable viewing.

 

I could have done with this term last week, when I gave a talk on how to get from Oxford to Cambridge by narrow boat.

 

I apologised in advance for the continuity errors - going uphill in the summer in one lock, downhill in the autumn next etc. Yet I still got called out for inserting an old photo from the top of Napton hill, dating from 2009 when the lock cottage was painted a different colour - apparently.

[MHS]

We've just watched the Ireland episode. It looked fantastic scenery, and a guaranteed warm welcome in the local hostelries. Has any member of the forum cruised over there? We could be very tempted.

[Flyboy]

We've just watched the Ireland episode. It looked fantastic scenery, and a guaranteed warm welcome in the local hostelries. Has any member of the forum cruised over there? We could be very tempted.

The Tuesday Night Club has done a lot of Ireland. I think some of their members are on this forum. Have a look at their blog, loads there.

 

http://www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk/tour.html

[nbfiresprite]

This Sunday, the Gota canal in Sweden

[mark99]

We've just watched the Ireland episode. It looked fantastic scenery, and a guaranteed warm welcome in the local hostelries. Has any member of the forum cruised over there? We could be very tempted.

 

 

Been on Shannon. 150 cruising miles 6 locks or so.

 

Lough Derg is 26 miles long - vast.

 

It's frontier country.

Edited November 13, 2015 by mark99

[johnthebridge]

We've just watched the Ireland episode. It looked fantastic scenery, and a guaranteed warm welcome in the local hostelries. Has any member of the forum cruised over there? We could be very tempted.

It's a completely different world. We took our boat over in 2007 and would never return to the English waterways now. If you want to know anything specific, please ask and I'll endeavour to help.

[alan_fincher]

It's a completely different world. We took our boat over in 2007 and would never return to the English waterways now.

 

Yes, but if we were all to do that you might feel differently!

[ditchcrawler]

This Sunday, the Gota canal in Sweden

Can't find it listed

[Keeping Up]

I'm looking forward to seeing their Gota Canal episode; it isn't listed for this week and I wonder if it's going to be in the next series. We went there in 2013 and had a fabulous time. Here's my account of the trip http://www.keeping-up.co.uk/Travel/Sweden/Gotahome.htm

 

I hired a cruiser on the Shannon in 1973, from Athlone south to Killaloe. Quoting my own website: "The highlight of the trip was crossing Lough Derg, which is 25 miles long (as far as Dover-Calais) and can get quite rough in bad weather. The weather was quite kind to us, but on our way back we met a cruiser that hadn't filled his fuel tank enough so although he was OK in calm water, in the slight choppiness of the Lough he kept on sucking air into the system and losing his engine. So we took him in tow back to the head of the Lough, and he offered us a drink to say thanks; my parents didn't drink but I was happy to accept his invitation. At a nearby club he asked me "Do you prefer Scotch Whisky or Irish Whiskey?" When I said I preferred Scotch, he called for a large Scotch Whisky, plus a large Irish Whiskey, plus a pint of Guinness - and the same for himself. He instructed me to sip the Whisky, then the Guinness, then the Whiskey, and the Guinness again, then to say which I preferred. I did so and said I preferred the Whisky, so he told me to try again. He did the same, and when the glasses were empty he called for the same again saying "We'll just keep on going until you prefer the Irish Whiskey", and when I protested he said that his father owned the club so the drinks were all on him. By the time I admitted that I preferred the Irish Whiskey I could barely walk back to the boat, and had to sleep on the floor because every time the boat rocked I fell out of bed. We made a late start the next morning!"

 

[Tony Brooks]

We hired a yacht from near Carrick on Shannon nearly 50 years ago and the people were really friendly but the rural parts around the Shannon were more like the 1920s than late 1960s. I would go back but a very calm cruise across Loch Ree has ensured my wife censured any plans to do so. She gets jumpy on the Thames so being out of clear sight of land is out.