Granny Buttons

Berko to Cassio, less than half walking speed

Granny went from Berkhamsted to Cassiobury (near Watford) over the weekend (Canalplan route here - 11 1/2 miles, 25 locks) and is now above Cassiobridge Lock.

Inveterate walker Pete Collins (on his blog Pete's Walks) walked most of that route on Saturday, from Hemel Hempstead to Cassiobury and back, about eight miles. 

His reasoning for walking the canals will please British Waterways, as it's all good ammo in their war to justify more government funding for towpath maintenance:

Yesterday I did my second canal walk of the week! Again, the reason was the recent wet weather - I figured it would be more enjoyable to walk on the towpaths of a canal (which are usually at least partly hard-surfaced) than to plough through endless mud on regular footpaths.

It took him about 2 1/2 hours each way.   The same stretch will take you, as a boater, about six hours.

Pete doesn't mention Canalplan as a good resource for walkers, but it is.  You'll need to go into Options and set the locking time to zero (or perhaps to one minute, to allow for gongoozling) and set your preferred walking speed.  But it's great for walkers.

Ten Bob Note

Regular commenter Johnny Essex ticks me off for not including nb Ten Bob Note on my boatroll of regularly blogging boaters.

Ten Bob Note has been going strong for well over a year on the website Ernie's Place.  He recorded the process of choosing the builder, seeing the boat built, and writing about the various decisions he had to make along the way

[Update:  Ten Bob Note was bought through ABNB, sorry for my error.  I confused it with another boat blog I was reading.]

Ernie Williams writes here about how he got started boating, and how he bought Ten Bob Note through ABNB.  He's put the original brochure online, including a great selection of interior photos.

And in May 2007 he started the cruising log, and he's been recording his cruising ever since.  Bravo!

It's a great record - see this page, where he passes (and photographs) Granny Buttons at Hartshill.

The reason I hadn't put Ten Bob Note on my list was because it's not technically a blog. 

OK, I'm a pedant, but it's not a blog in the sense that one can automatically download the blog posts and read them offline.  All you'll read is a note that the page has been updated, and you still have to visit the website to read it.

But oh, all right Johnny, I accept it's an RSS feed.  Welcome to the feeds-only boatroll, Ten Bob Note!

BoatR - dedicated web search

Jason King, on Bristol Fashion, has set up a specialist web search that only searches a narrow range of boat-related sites, using the new Google Custom Search system.   He's called it Boatr, and it's on www.boatr.org.uk.  Good one, Jason! 

There's a post on the Google Blog that explains it, how you can set it up, and how to add the custom search box to your own blog (so that you don't have to visit the site). 

If you have Internet Explorer 7 you can also add it to the search box on the browser itself (saves you having to go to boatr.org.uk to begin with).

In theory, anyone can set up their own custom search engine this way.  The real problem is finding the multifarious websites.  Currently Jason lists 116, and he expects this figure to double in a week or so, and even perhaps reach 300.    A custom search engine relies on an editor to decide which sites are relevant.  Jason says he's going to open it up so that others can contribute.

Like living in a toothpaste tube

Nice quote on the Khyamanzi blog this evening.  NB Khyamanzi is stuck in the new Brinklow Marina for a month as it tests whether the bed of the marina is leak-proof.

This is the longest time I have remained static without at least a weekend cruise. I'm beginning to understand why some live-aboards consider it claustrophobic. I certainly could not live on a boat if cruising was not an option - my world seems to have shrunk considerably and I feel I'm simply living in a very small toothpaste tube.

Well, I hardly think a 60ft canal boat counts as a small toothpaste tube.  Perhaps a giant one.  But an amusing simile nevertheless.

Crazy trip down the flooded Severn

Walsall-based MySpacer EmptySouls blogs about a 'crazy' canal hireboat trip when he was 17:   

... Reaching the Stourport Basin, we found the River Seven in flood. This, incidentally is a regular occurrence as the surrounding area floods regularly, and will probably be the first to disappear when the ice caps melt. We could not join the river and had to wait overnight.

The next day, the waters had reduced to a more acceptable 'rapids' level so we attempted to trip. On reaching the end of the locks, with half a dozen other boats behind, we were asked by the gatekeeper if we had our anchor ready, just in case needed. What anchor? we replied.

Pillings Lock Marina, Loughborough

I learned today from Andy Edward's Khyamanzi blog that there's an excellent website and (better!) blog for Pillings Lock Marina near Loughborough.   Subscribed!

According to the proprietors, the website went live last July, and advertising started last September.  Advertising hits some targets, misses others.  It obviously missed me. I hadn't even noticed it until Andy blogged about it.

Bloggers on the protest cruise

Great post tonight from Mike on Globetrotter on the protest cruise outside the Houses of Parliament.  He's promising a gallery of photos tomorrow.  Hey, Mike, why not post them on a Flickr set, and link to them from your blog? 

Mike on Nuggler posted yesterday about his efforts to get into position for the cruise - I hope he posts about it tomorrow. 

J-Omega lists cost of keeping a narrowboat

NB J-Omega today itemised the costs of keeping his boat last year.  His total, includes annual assorted overheads like boat licence & insurance.  The figure doesn't include depreciation or capital costs, though.

I've never done that for Granny Buttons.  It's not difficult to do, but I'm simply not organised enough.   I do know I spent £119.17 on diesel (at 56p/l) for the engine and front heater tank  at Sherborne Wharf on January 2nd, plus £15 for a pumpout, and the card slip is burning a hole in my wallet right now.  And that's the only expense so far this year, so there's still time to start an accounts book for the boat.  But I probably never shall. 

That's probably why I'll never be rich. Wealth comes not from what we earn or what we spend, nor what we save, but what we husband.

Peter Duck and Kamikaze Yogurt Pots

New blog:

We are two guys living in Manchester who enjoy messing about in boats. We recently placed an order for our new narrowboat 'Peter Duck' and on this space we'll post all the latest news and pictures.

Their boat is from the New Boat Company.  Why they are calling it Peter Duck is explained in the second post of the blog.  (Prepare for a spoiler if you've not read the Arthur Ransome book)

The writer explains that he got into boating by having a GRP cruiser with an outboard motor, which he said a scornful narrowboater once called a 'kamikaze yogurt pot'.  This made me laugh.  I've heard of 'tupperware' and 'egg-whisk engines' and loads of other scornful terms - and equally sniffy words for narrowboats from GRP-lovers - but that phrase is new to me.  A good gag or a good catchphrase always stirs me into action.

Hadrian loses windlass at Whilton Lock

NB Hadrian say they lost their windlass last week while descending the bottom lock of the Buckby flight (Whilton Lock) last Wednesday.  So if you come across it with your Sea Searcher you'll know who to return it to.

It reminds me that I keep forgetting to  put Granny Buttons' name on my windlasses.  Windlasses eventually get lost one way or another - they are usually dropped in, or left behind in some way.  Some people make a little bit of pocket money with a Sea Searcher magnet!

Last Saturday I was working through the Tipton flight when some people on NB Essex came up behind and helped me.  I was glad for the help, but in the process I left my windlass lockside.  Harry Cutts (pictured helping me through the locks, wearing the red Waterways Recovery Group [wergie] shirt), won't have seen it , but it's possible that his friends behind came across it and picked it up, not knowing whose it was.  If so, they won't know it's mine because  it didn't have GB's name on.

Khyamanzi at Brinklow Marina

Andy on Khyamanzi reports that he's one of the first to moor up at the new Brinklow Marina.  He's certainly the first to blog about it.

There's always precious little information on the web about these new marinas.   Andy is the best source for this one.  The only other information I can find is from the Rugby Area Committee minutes of 2004:

a) In view of the proposed Marina development by Brinklow Marina Ltd, on a site situated off Cathiron Lane which has proposals for 180 parking places and 200 berths, what will be the County Council’s attitude towards 180 cars having access to this Marina along a very narrow picturesque lane?

b) In addition, as the development includes provision for a new bridge in Cathiron Lane to span the inlet to the Marina from the Oxford Canal, what specifications will the bridge have to have and how much land on either side of Cathiron Lane will be needed to give the bridge the stability it will have to have to accept the increase in traffic?

[Answers provided by David Lynn, Head of Warwickshire Engineering]:

The trip generation associated with marinas was looked at and they are fairly low generators of traffic when compared with other uses. In terms of congestion there doesn't appear to be an issue. The trip rate on a site shows around 100 trips, both arrivals and departures, on the busiest hour at the weekend.

There was some concern about the conflict between two way traffic movement close to the site entrance. This was the reason why the County Council asked for the passing bay between the site entrance and Tuckleys Bridge as a condition. It is intended that the new bridge should be adopted by the County Council and therefore will need to be constructed to County Council requirements.

Lyra is the new black

Narrowboat Lyra is tonight on the slipway at Streethay, having her hull blacked.   She's the second boat to blog about getting blacked at Streethay Wharf.   

The first boat to do it was this one, last year!

Is it because I's Heinz?

Sarah on Warrior was dismayed to find that Warrior had dropped off my blogroll boatroll this week.   "Is it because I's not got a RSS feed?" she asked plaintively.   

No, Sarah, not that.  It's because I'd set the roll to list 50 feeds and they were in alphabetical order.  And there have been more and more canal-related feeds and finally Warrior became No. 51 and was pushed off the bottom.   

Well, Water Spaniel came along this week, and it (and Warrior above it in alphabetical order) nudged me into action.  There are now room for 99 feeds on my boatroll. 

Come on, waterwebbers, please give yourself an RSS feed and let me list you!   If you don't have one, you aren't anywhere in my book.  I am now reading over 52 canal websites a day, simply because they have feeds.  Can you say the same, if you don't have feeds?   They make it so much easier to read websites, and I don't have the time to read websites without feeds. 

Incidentally, daily I check over 80 waterways-related websites - and a couple of hundred others - but the 52 are the hallowed ones that are directly related to canals and narrowboats.  I wonder who will be the 57th? 

Says Jim Shead:

HEINZ Built by C T FOX - Length: 47 feet 8 inches (14.55 metres)  Beam: 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 metres).  Metal hull.  Registered with BW number 48332 as a Powered.

Belle's blog does have a feed

NB Belle is close to being handed over to proud new owner Chris Wells at Barton Turns Marina.  I'm impressed with the look of this new Sandhills boat (a baby sister to Balmaha) and wrote about it six months ago. 

But when it was being build I had to 'visit' the site to see if there were any new pictures of it being built, which meant I didn't get around to seen the site for weeks at a time. 

I asked Chris last week if he'd consider having a feed on his blog. Turns out he already has - and it's here.  It's just not triggering my Internet Explorer 7 feeds, that's all. 

I'm happy now, so I'll stop moaning and Belle can go on my boatroll :-)   Great boat, Chris, oozing style!  I'm jealous.