Typical day on a canal boat

[ditchcrawler]

I thought the question was very similar to what is the average day of someone living in a house

[Starcoaster]

On 7/8/2017 at 07:59, Robbo said:

@Starcoaster wrote this a while back which is pretty much spot on!

 

I had no idea you could do that @ thing to tag someone here! I got a ping alert...

[MtB]

@Mike the Boilerman Just testing to see what happens!

[Peter-Bullfinch]

We are a couple, retired now, and we live most of the summer from late March to October on our boat. In our early years we chased around the system often travelling every day. Now, many years later, we travel slowly.

Today was I suppose typical. Last night we moored in a beautiful spot looking towards the hills on the Lancashire plain. After breakfast, whilst I sorted out ropes and mooring pins and checked the engine over, my wife wandered off to get the first lock ready. We chatted to a fisherman and the dog walkers passing.

The next three locks slipped by and we paused a little to talk to boats coming our way. Two locks were with volunteer keepers which we enjoy. We had met this pair  a number of times in the past. We chatted with them about the adjacent disused dry dock and hoped that one day it could be re used.

We stopped to fill up with water and then the next bridge was an electric swing bridge. Only three cars held up which is a poor score!

I made lunch. I enjoy cooking in our small galley where everything is close at hand.

We stopped and got our chairs out in the shade under a small ash tree. We read and did the crossword....its an onerous day so far.

The tow path has been busy all day with walkers and cyclists aplenty. Another boater wandered along for a chat. She passed earlier then moored and had been for a walk.

We are having a walk soon and will stop for a pint in a pub nearby.

We will listen to the radio perhaps later on and whilst we could watch TV we rarely do.

No little maintenance jobs today unless you can call mending a boat chair a boating task. Yesterday was full of maintenance.  The water pump broke and that was a priority to fix.

 

[Ray T]

This is one of many "vlogs": http://cruisingthecut.co.uk/

[David Mack]

On 7/7/2017 at 20:03, Marie-Claude Tremblay said:

 

And Bewildered, I would love to book a hire boat when I visit the UK again. However, I doubt I have the budget for this! A hire boat means that someone else (the operator) is "piloting" it?

 

On 7/7/2017 at 20:11, johnmoly said:

Not the operator, you are , or one of your crew. That's if I have read your question correctly !. If not been on a boat before the hire company will provide you with some training before you take command.

As others have said the majority of hire boats are self steer, but there are also a few hotel boats about where crew steer the boat, work the locks, provide meals etc, and you can either sit back and let them do all the work, or join in to help at locks. Hotel boats tend to attract older boaters, often single, whereas self steer boats are usually hired by couples, families and groups.

Edited July 9, 2017 by David Mack

[Robbo]

6 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

As others have said the majority of hire boats are self steer, but there are also a few hotel boats about where crew steer the boat, work the locks, provide meals etc, and you can either sit back and let them do all the work, or join in to help at locks. Hotel boats tend to attract older boaters, often single, whereas self steer boats are usually hired by couples, families and groups.

Lady Teal @ http://www.ladyteal.co.uk/, is one such hotel boat that runs on the Leeds and Liverpool for anyone that’s interested.

[MtB]

Hotel boat is an excellent idea. Skippers of these will generally be a mine of information and they generally get involved with their guests, its part of the deal and hard to do otherwise!

[NB Lola]

Our typical day,  Saturday just gone.

We decided to leave the marina.  In making the decision we had to have a plan as we are holiday and weekend boaters only.  We decided to head to Fradley Junction.  So, breakfast at 8 am and then the 3 hour trip to do about 4 miles.  Engine checks first, belts, coolant and oil.  

A leisurely journey admiring the countryside at its very best.  A fleeting sight of a Kinfisher!  My day was made.  Through a few locks and, expecting to motor to Alrewas, we found a great mooring at Shadehouse lock where we moored up, had lunch and chilled on a nice warm day.  At 4:15 pm (because I could not wait any longer!) we walked down to the Swan pub at Fradley where we had a few beers, early dinner then a walk back to the boat to do some more chilling.  Sunday morning was up at 8:30 am down 3 locks, turn the boat around at the Swan and head back to our mooring.  We needed a pump out so did that first then back onto our mooring and a 40 minute drive home.

[Athy]

15 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the question was very similar to what is the average day of someone living in a house

\yes it is, but the answers will be (as we have already seen) much more diverse.

[rusty69]

12 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

@Mike the Boilerman Just testing to see what happens!

Well, what did happen ?

@rusty69

[Robbo]

4 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Well, what did happen ?

@rusty69

Try @ [space] then you’ll get a list of names when you type. Like @rusty69

Edited July 10, 2017 by Robbo

[rusty69]

4 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Try @ [space] then you’ll get a list of names when you type. Like @rusty69

@rusty69

When I type @[space],i get the quotation box and timer circle, but nothing else (on phone) 

[Robbo]

Just now, rusty69 said:

@rusty69

When I type @[space],i get the quotation box and timer circle, but nothing else (on phone) 

If you get the quotation box and timer circle, the list of names will appear there when you start typing a name.

[rusty69]

13 minutes ago, Robbo said:

If you get the quotation box and timer circle, the list of names will appear there when you start typing a name.

@Robbo

Ah. Got it. Thanks 

Edited July 10, 2017 by rusty69

[MtB]

On 10/07/2017 at 08:35, rusty69 said:

Well, what did happen ?

@rusty69

@rusty69 Nothing at all jhappened!

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

@rusty69 Nothing at all jhappened!

@Mike the Boilerman

Maybe you can't quote yourself. I got a notification that you quoted me

 

 

[mrsmelly]

16 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the question was very similar to what is the average day of someone living in a house

 You are a proper weirdo...........why the hell would someonel ive in a bloomin house when they can live on a boat?

[MtB]

On 10/07/2017 at 09:23, rusty69 said:

@Mike the Boilerman

Maybe you can't quote yourself. I got a notification that you quoted me

 

 

 

I get 'notifications' whenever anyone quotes me. I was expecting something additional to happen when someone writes @Mike the Boilerman. But nothing additional happened when you put @Mike the Boilerman in your post. I just got the normal notification that you'd quoted my post.

[rusty69]

@Mike the Boilerman

 

How about now? 

[MtB]

Nope, nuffin!

I wonder if it's because I'm still on Win 3.1. No hang on, I upgraded to XP the other day...

[rusty69]

9 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Nope, nuffin!

I wonder if it's because I'm still on Win 3.1. No hang on, I upgraded to XP the other day...

There are a number of options in the notification settings under the account settings menu:-

Someone quotes a comment or post I made

And:-

Someone mentions me in a post

 Check these. Failing that, its time to enter the 21st century and upgrade to Windows Vista! 

Edited July 10, 2017 by rusty69

[Marie-Claude Tremblay]

Hi everyone! 

I was away for the week-end but now that I am back, I have read all of your replies.

@Bewildered: hiring a boat would be great. If only I could go to England right away to do a search and meet boaters on the spot! Not sure I'll be able to do it for work, but this is something I am considering for a personal trip to England, at least trying a hotel boat if I am too nervous to steer it. 

@Peter-Bullfinch: thank you for sharing and for the picture as well!

@Ray T: I did watch a few videos from the vlog Cruising the Cut. It was helpful!

@NB Lola: thank you for the summary of your day!

@David Mack, @Mike de Boilerman : a hotel boat sounds nice and probably more affordable for my wallet. I will definitely look that up for my next stay in England (I am planning to go back sometime next year). 

I will continue to work on my script this week. 

Thank you again for your help!

[Athy]

21 minutes ago, Marie-Claude Tremblay said:

 hiring a boat would be great. If only I could go to England right away to do a search and meet boaters on the spot! Not sure I'll be able to do it for work, but this is something I am considering for a personal trip to England, at least trying a hotel boat if I am too nervous to steer it. 

 

We used to moor our boat in our marina which had a hire fleet. On a Friday, we would see a succession of boats leaving with crews looking terrified, trembling, pale, hanging on for dear life and screaming for their mummies as they struggled to tame the great surging steel monster. The following Thursday we would see docile, well-behaved boats arriving back under the command of relaxed, smiling, confident-looking crews. Yes, they were the same people.

In other words, everyone is nervous at first but the feeling soon passes. Give it a try!

[NB Lola]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

We used to moor our boat in our marina which had a hire fleet. On a Friday, we would see a succession of boats leaving with crews looking terrified, trembling, pale, hanging on for dear life and screaming for their mummies as they struggled to tame the great surging steel monster. The following Thursday we would see docile, well-behaved boats arriving back under the command of relaxed, smiling, confident-looking crews. Yes, they were the same people.

In other words, everyone is nervous at first but the feeling soon passes. Give it a try!

Oh so true.  My first experience was reversing out of Diglis basin onto the Severn.  What a baptism that was!