Granny Buttons

Canal Boat Project gets computer games-style steering.

The Canal Boat Project, a group of community boats which allows people with disabilities to take holidays on the Rivers Stort & Lee, is showing its latest wheeze this weekend.  Their boats have long had special lifts for wheelchairs, allowing them to go inside without manhandling down the steps (and for Daleks to pursue them).  But at Canalway Cavalcade they are demonstrating a new set of controls that allows someone in a wheelchair to steer the boat as well. 

I was given a taster of this today by Helen of the CBP.   She sat me in a wheelchair and I was shown which levers/joysticks to press for the thrust, the steering and the bow thruster.  You still need at least one hand free, but I can see how exciting it must be for someone stuck in a chair.  We weren't allowed to go anywhere today, it was too late.  But perhaps I'll get a go tomorrow if I queue up early enough.

It's still a prototype, or should that be 'first production model'?  Needs a fancy fascia and go-faster stripes, but I'm told it already works well and reduces the need for coordination and concentration.   

Just as well.  With fragrant, strawberry-blonde Helen sitting alongside to explain, and her slim midriff occasionally showing under tight vest, I couldn't muster all the concentration I needed to steer properly.  I'd best not have her as an instructor if ever I take the test for an NCBA boat handling certificate, with or without Playstation-style steering!

Drinks at Mary Nanette

Here's the friendliest bunch I've met at the Cavalcade so far.  'Mary Nanette' is a 45ft Springer liveaboard narrowboat with a very approachable crew.   Dunno about the skipper - I suspect he's a bit worried about the dubious characters like me that his crew are offering drinks to, and he disappeared below when I took the photo.

I thought they offered me a Kir when I passed by at 6.30pm (on my way to buy my supper at Sainsbury's), but, good grief, turned out to be almost-neat Plymouth Sloe Gin!   Diluted with a little vodka, they said in their defence. 

I was interested to see it's the only boat at Little Venice this weekend with traditional cocktail glasses.  Very civilised.

Free wi-fi link via Jason's

I'm moored opposite Jason's, 'London's Leading Boat Cruise Company' (it says here) in Little Venice, and I'm delighted to have a free link via their own in-house wi-fi network.  It doesn't reach quite inside the boat, but I'm happy as the proverbial, sitting here outside the boat, on the well deck, writing this and browsing at a passably tolerable 128mbs or thereabouts.

Jason (the boss's name, but the name's coincidental; it's been called 'Jason' since before I was born) is happy to have a free, public access for visitors.  And why not?  The network's called 'jasons', and it's great advertising for him, and a help for connection-mad businessmen.  The Delamere Terrace visitor moorings are the place to be.  Thanks, Jason!  Just my luck that yesterday I subscribed to BT Openzone at £25 a month solely for the chance to blog live at this show, when Jason lets me do it for free. 

Ironically, www.jasons.co.uk itself seems to be offline at the moment.  The restaurant boat is called 'The Lace Plate', and it's described in the brochure as a 'floationg restaurant' (sic).   I know what a restaurant is, but 'floationg' sounds like it ought to to be moored in an Oriental harbour.

Here we see the Jason's chef taking a well-earned 'five' on the back of the tripboat 'Holland'.  Well-earned?  I've no idea, and I've no idea how much Jason pays him, nor how hard he works.  But I promise I won't tell Jason if you don't!

London Farmers Market in Sheldon Square

There's a London Farmer's Market in Sheldon Square today.  What a contrast!  Sheldon Square is one of these advanced, magnificent, depressing 21st Century environments that I fear will be 22nd Century slums.  It's quite encouraging to have a farmer's market here.  Businesses like Nut Knowle Farm, for example.  The Paddington Waterways society thinks so too.  I asked the lady on their stand about it. 

"We're delighted to see a sense of life brought to Sheldon Square.  I hope they'll have a regular farmer's market which will serve to help the people of Maida Vale, Little Venice and Sheldon Square.  And you can quote me on that."

Not juicily controversial, but it'll do for Granny Buttons.

Incidentally, before you ask, no, Nut Knowle Farm wasn't selling Goat's Semen today, but check back to future Farmers' Markets in Sheldon Square. You never know.  And according to their 'coming' website, you should be able to buy it online soon.

Back aboard Granny and ready for the fray tomorrow

Well, I've arrived back at Little Venice, and back aboard Granny.   I found Birdsong breasted up - she's the home of Kevin and Anneke, continuous cruisers I first met at Oundle on the Nene three years ago.

There's the quiet, taut atmosphere of the eve of the battle tonight at Little Venice. Everyone's not quite ready to party, but looking forward to getting started tomorrow.

It's close to midnight, and I decided to go for a bedtime stroll.  Here's the view across the Browning Pool tonight.  There are still a few mooring spaces, and I guess a few boaters must be arriving tomorrow morning.

Well, not everyone's a-bed.  One or two are determined to start enjoying themselves early, as this crewman from the 1914 Woolwich motor Lupin is showing.

Close by, I chatted with a slightly less raucous group from the Lee & Stort  Navigation Society who were gently relaxing with wine.  They told me to watch out tomorrow for 'the human fruit machine'.   Can't wait!

 

Rochdale Observer brings me deja vu.

The Rochdale Observer hung the latest canal breach story on the 'hook' of Lawrence H. Suid, an American military historian who cruises the English canals.   Poor old Mr Suid was craned out twice in barely a week, having been trapped last week on the Huddersfield Canal, and now the latest Chadderton breach. 

I had dejay vu about this. When I started this blog, almost two years ago, I was stuck on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal because of a breach.  And like Mr Suid's boat, Granny Buttons was raised onto a low loader and carried around the breach.  It's a way round a stoppage, but you bite your knuckles raw at the sight of your precious boat bouncing around terrifyingly.  And the doors inside Granny have never fitted snugly since.

LSJ writes about Canalway Cavalcade

Back in January a friendly young French lady, training at the London School of Journalism, interviewed me about the forthcoming Canalway Cavalcade.  At the time I wasn't even sure I would be here at this Little Venice festival again, but as I spoke to her I realised I wanted to be and extolled my passion for the event.   Anyway, she's written an article about it for a local magazine, W9. (I think it might be the LSJ's magazine, not sure.   

Unfortunately it hasn't reached print yet (might be due to missed deadlines by some of the other students - clearly journalism isn't the same as publishing) so Clémence de Cambourg (what a lovely, noble cut-glass name, I'm in love already) has put her story up on Newspad instead.   "I know the internet is not the REAL paper, but you know how the internet is important today" she told me defensively.

Clémence, you did just beautifully, and as a blogger I have to  say I think online is a better medium.   Indeed, I look forward to seeing a London School of Blogging, or at least a blogging course at the LSJ. 

 

Surely latest Rochdale breach wasn't badgers again?

More on the latest Rochdale Canal breach is on the Middleton Guardian site, including:

The incident echoed the great Middleton canal tragedy of 1927, but this time no lives were lost during this sudden flood – thought to have taken place in the early hours of Saturday morning near the Rose of Lancaster pub.

Guardian gardening correspondent, Paul Peacock, who lives in Bay Tree Lane, said: “If I had not known what had happened, I would have said there was a bomb crater in the canal. The crater is between 60ft and 80ft wide. At least six mature trees have been swept away and a flight of stone steps have been obliterated from view by debris and mud. The rush of water has also destroyed the pathway from the towpath to the Irk below.”

Little Venice Canal Cavalcade & boat festival this weekend

This weekend I'll be at the Canalway Cavalcade in London, and hope to be updating Granny Buttons (from Granny Buttons) regularly throughout the weekend, Saturday to Monday.  Passers-by who read this are welcome to call in for their free packet of Chocolate Buttons. While stocks last, but I'll try to stock up....

London Duck Tours (no, really)

When I sold up and moved out of London, nearly seven years ago, I'd been a Londoner for two decades.  In my fifty years I've seen it gradually turn from the noble capital city of Empire into a septic soup of fast-buck opportunities, and I was a bit overwhelmed with the speed of life.   

But my recent stay aboard Granny this time has left me taken aback by the growth in tacky tourist rides since I left in 1998.  The London Eye is an imaginative folly, I can live with that (just about).  However, my jaw dropped last weekend when I saw London Duck Tours, a ride on converted wartime DUKW amphibious vehicles.  Painted a garish schoolbus-yellow, they carry you around the heart of the London tourist traps, followed by a short river trip from Vauxhall to Waterloo Bridge and back. 

What made me choke, I guess, was the 'duck in a top hat' theme.  The capital is now one big theme park ride, and there's no dignity left in 'old' London.  But Duck Tours have been running for ten years, apparently, and I never noticed them before.  Perhaps there were worse things around when I lived in London and I've simply grown more curmugeonly. 

I've taken Granny Buttons down that stretch of the Thames four times, twice alone, and it's much more fun and a better sight on a small craft.  And I went down the river simply for that - fun and sightseeing.  I shouldn't begrudge others the chance to do the trip on a novelty boat. 

But oh!, that ugly mustard yellow and that daft duck!  Why couldn't they have at least chosen the traditional red of the London omnibus and a nobler, more pompously imperial emblem harking to our own heritage rather than the ersatz one of Disney?

BBC Politics Show 'barges' through Britain

I don't really watch TV, so I've only just learned that BBC TV's Politics Show is boating through Britain on a narrowboat, reporting from the towpath on the election scene.   BBC Breakfast TV did something like this last year too for the European and local elections, as I reported at the time.

Poacher's Pocket turns Foxton Gamekeeper

After I wrote last month about the new Foxton Locks pub development, the new lessees Chris Tandy and Stephanie Hamblin introduced themselves: 

We are the new lessees at 'The Foxton Locks Inn & Brasserie'.  We can assure you we will be offering quality & value food & drinks (including 3 real ales) from 10.00am through to evening closing, 7 days a week.  We open on 26 May 2005.  Scottish & Newcastle have invested £800,000 in Foxton to create what will surely be a flagship destination on the waterways.  Regards, Chris Tandy.

Chris isn't a neophyte at this game.  He already runs the Poachers Bistro at Thurlaston, so if you want to see how the Foxton site is likely to be run or to develop, pop along there. 

Don't forget to hold Chris and Stephanie to S&N's promise for the Foxton Inn:  'Once completed the pub will be able to accommodate the expected high volume of drinkers and diners but keeping the traditional cosy feel of a canal side pub.'

Another Rochdale Canal breach

"Where's our garden gone?", is the plaintive headline in the Oldham Advertiser this week, reporting on yet another breach, this time on the Rochdale Canal.  No sooner have they patched up the slippage at Slattocks last year, than a small aqueduct collapses, severing the canal.  British Waterways initially suggested it might stay closed for 'a couple of months', but Martin Icanneverrememberhissurname reports the local BW manager as saying "months rather than weeks". 

As mentioned in my previous post, Shire Cruisers offers one-way cruises, and just as well, because you won't be able to do their South Pennine Ring route for some months now! You can always watch it vicariously, though, as I suggested earlier.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Standedge Tunnel

When I took Granny Buttons over the Huddersfield Canal last year, it was one of three boats in the convoy through Standedge Tunnel.  One of the boats had a dog aboard, and dogs aren't allowed in the tunnel, so the affectionate owners elected to travel by minibus with the dog over Standedge Moor instead.

The upshot - a passenger module capable of taking twenty people  had a passenger complement of four - myself, and the crew of the Shire Cruisers boat Surrey.  (scene pictured, I'm the guy in front)

I remember mentioning at the time how extravagant this was - must have cost BW about £200 a boat to tow us through - and why didn't they sell simply 'ferry' tickets for the spare seats?  Only jobsworth regulations, I was told.  Well, the word used was 'safety', not jobsworth. 

But now you can buy a through ticket.  They are calling it a 'hiker' ticket, but a better name would perhaps be hitchhiker.   Except hitchhikers normally don't pay, and a hiker ticket will cost you £6.   In terms of time versus entertainment it's perhaps on a par with a cinema ticket, except its far more realistic and you'll have to provide your own drinks and popcorn.  Save the popcorn until after you've hiked the 3+ miles back across Standedge Moor.  Or hitched.

Says the BW announcement:

For those for whom a 500 yard trip simply is not enough, ‘hiker’ tickets can be booked for trips through the entire tunnel.  Costing £6, the hiker ticket is available whenever boats are passing through the tunnel on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  The through trip takes around three hours, which visitors spend aboard the glass-roofed viewing boat.  Advance booking is essential for hiker tickets; call 01977 554351 for details.

The short boat trips are run on weekends and bank holidays until 25 September.  The boat leaves at 11.00am, 11.45am, 12.30pm, 1.45pm, 2.30pm and 3.15pm.  Charges are £2 for adults, £1 for children (free for under 5s) and £1.50 for seniors.  The free interpretation centre is open on all weekends and bank holidays, and daily from 18 July to 2 September from 10.00am to 4.30pm.  The water taxi runs subject to availability of volunteers.

Incidentally, Nick White and his parents on Surrey were on a one-way  trip from Portland Basin to Sowerby Bridge.  Shire Cruisers offers these one-way cruises, and they are probably the best way of doing a one-week hire trip of the Huddersfield Canal.