Granny Buttons

Still no new on Rochdale Canal repair, says Oldham Advertiser

The Oldham Advertiser is reporting still no news for the repair of the Rochdale Canal:

Among the worst affected was homeowner Jude Harter, who saw part of her garden swept away.  Although this was more than two months ago, there is still no sign of the situation being remedied.

Jude Harter said: “Nothing has happened and we haven’t been told when work is going to start.   I am worried because children have been playing on the collapsed area and it could be very dangerous. Something certainly needs doing before the summer holidays start.  The canal is still totally dry with no sign of that changing.”

Engineers from British Waterways, which is responsible for maintaining the canal, are waiting for reports on the damage before they decide how to fix it.

Steve Pugmire, an engineer, said: “We have not put a timescale on the repairs as we don’t know when the design reports will come back. The embankment is made of sand which has caused this problem. Obviously, we don’t want to use the same material as was used before, so we’re looking at either using concrete or steel to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

A spokesman for British Waterways added: “Some advance work has been carried out and design work for repairs is due to begin as soon as possible.”

Granny has a new digital camera!

I've put off going digital for so long, because I had such champagne tastes on a beer budget.  Now I've taken the plunge and bought a Nikon D50.  There are good reviews on this camera on dpreview.com and imaging-resource.com.  Never mind why I chose it - your mileage will probably vary - but it should allow me to be a bit more up-to-date in my posting of pictures.  I still have eight films to process from the last week with my old camera.

Murder in Little Venice - life imitates art

Ugh.  Bits of a drug dealer have turned up in a black plastic rubbish sack in the Regent's Canal, near London Zoo.  The BBC has developments on this story today, including identification of the body.  I hadn't meant to comment on this story, but I had a nightmare about it last night, and every boater must feel a sense of dread when he gets a jammed propellor and feels a filled plastic bag or a piece of clothing around it.

The Regent's Canal from Lisson Grove to Cumberland Basin isn't Little Venice as such.  But that didn't stop Leo McNeir from using exactly the same stretch of canal for the discovery of a floating murder victim, in his novel Death In Little Venice.  Leo McNeir, a lexicographer who is also a keen canal boater, has written quite a few whodunits based on the the waterways.  I enjoyed Death In Little Venice when I read it last year.  As yarns goes it's not quite a Grishamesque page-turner, but accomplished enough that you'll enjoy it.

It's paradoxical that a crack-peddler in this case of life-imitates-art should be called Marvin Gentles.  I don't think a fiction author would have dared give his characters such an improbably euphonious name!

From Bath above to Bath below

I went from the visitor moorings above Bath, down the Widcombe (Bath) flight of locks, and tied up below Pulteney Weir.  Just a couple of hours cruising.  I got Granny's diesel engine tank filled with 120 litres at 45p/l, the first fuel since Little Venice.  I'd estimate another fifty miles of cruising before it was truly empty, making a full capacity of perhaps 150litres.  What's that in real money - 35 galls?

Above the 19'6" Deep Lock I met the flight lockkeeper, deep in conversation with IWA Restoration Chairman Vaughan Welch.  They appeared to be discussing this year's IWA Lockkeeper of the Year awards.  It looks a well-maintained flight, although I'm not judge. 

One of my shortest day's cruising, but one of the most invigorating.  What a splendid site it is, at Pulteney Bridge.  The weir, incidentally, roars constantly, almost like traffic, and I was woken a couple of times in the night by emergency vehicle sirens too.  It's not as peaceful as it is beautiful.   But Pulteney Bridge is a wonderful place to stay the night, probably the greatest urban mooring in England. 

The moorings are charged at £5.20 a night, payable at the local leisure centre.  The girl at the counter looked slightly bemused when I came to pay the next mooring, as though I was brave and foolish for volunteering the money.  Certainly no one came round to collect anything, and I'd be interested to know how much the council makes in mooring charges. 

I spend most of my time fretting about finding a wi-fi signal, and mostly failing, but there are some fascinating evening excursions to take in Bath, if the fancy takes.  Try Bizarre Bath:

"...the unique evening entertainment that appeals to everyone. You'll laugh yourself silly when you join the celebrated stroll which takes an irreverent look at the city of Bath. You'll experience unforgettable mysteries, thrills, and surprises that stretch the traditional image of the city."

or The Great Bath Pub Crawl.  Special mention for 'most irresistibly punning restaurant name in the universe' must go to Bath's Nepalese restaurant 'Yak Yeti Yak'.  Although I see it's also the name of a political cartoon strip in the Nepali Times ("News from Nepal as it happens").  Not sure which came first, although the Bath restaurant certainly gets a higher hit rate in Google.

Lock gears on the Kennet & Avon Canal

I’m in a café in Bath, trying to catch up on my posts after four splendid days on the Kennet & Avon canal.  One recurring comment from other boaters is how extraordinarily hard the new lock gearing is to wind – and particularly the paddles in the lower gates.

The gears, which bear the imprimatur of veteran engineers Llewellin Gears of Bristol, are 3:1 reduction, which means for every old turn of the windlass, it now needs three.   This ought to make them easier to turn, but it isn’t. Not only that, but it takes a humungous 56 turns or more to raise and lower the paddles, and you quickly run out of puff.  It’s not just me; even older, weaker female boaters were cussing them in front of me this month.

Well, hush my mouf!. Just I sat down to write this post today, up pops a press release from BW’s Gloucester office, headlined 'Responding to concerns about the lock gearing on the Kennet & Avon canal'. What a coincidence!  Says the press release:

British Waterways had installed new lock gearing on the canal following an extensive consultation exercise:

The gearing was designed to reduce the effort required to use the mechanism.  However, several problems have come to light following the installation, and an investigation has shown that some of the work has not been up to expected standards.  The remedial works programme includes:

• A complete review of all of the lock gearing mechanisms along the Kennet and Avon Canal by 30 June.
• Repair or replacement of all incorrectly fitted gearing, by 31 August.
• Replacement of all short spindles with a tapered version by 30 September, to prevent windlasses slipping.
• The trial of a new clamp on the paddle rods to further extend their life.

Eliza Botham, Service Manager for the South West, said: “We recognise that we haven’t met customer expectations, and we are genuinely sorry for this. The waterway teams are working hard to ensure that we put right all the badly fitting gearing within the next few weeks and explain to all our customers what we are doing.  The locks that have had the gearing correctly installed, such as on the Bath Flight, are working well and are enabling boaters to enjoy the waterway at a relaxed pace as they should do ... we will continue to monitor views on the lock gearing over the coming months.

Well, up to a point, Eliza.  It's nice to know we are being heard, so, kudos to BW for that.   But the Widcombe (Bath) Flight - which I came through today - is just as problematical as the others. I speak with some experience.  I've done the entire canal almost singlehanded in the last month (in the middle of which I had a heart operation) but I'm still pretty fit, far fitter than other boaters I met on the way.

The Caen Hill lockkeeper was cursing the paddles a couple of weeks back, and today I met the Bath lockkeeper at Lock 11. This lockkeeper was far politer about these gears than other BW employees further back, but he too admitted that - phew - even he found the gearing on the lower gates of each lock on the Bath flight 'hard going'.

None of the boaters have had a good word to say about these gears. They aren't just hard to work, they are very, very SLOW.  Frankly, fifty-six turns to raise and lower paddles is just too long, too tiring. It's not only the torque; even if the torque was practically zero, you'd still be exercising yourself to death on the turns.  And if you want to drop them quickly in an emergency, well forget it.

Avoncliff to Bath

Avoncliff Aqueduct to Bath.  Stopping at the Dundas Aqueduct - a piece of pocket splendour - for a pump out, and to photograph the start of the Somersetshire Coal Canal.   

The scenery on this section is absolutely glorious, some of the best the English Waterways has to offer, with just one lock in fifteen miles, from Bath to Seend.

At Dundas I met Andrew Sinden, a gardener who lives afloat and keeps a veritable forestful of plants on his narrowboat, complete with an extraordinary lawn on the roof.  He apologised for the lawn's overgrown, slightly scruffy appearance .  "I've been so busy with my customers, I haven't had time to mow the roof this year", he explained.  "The cobbler's always got holes in his own shoes". He was about to start mowing that very afternoon.  And he uses shears to do it, in case you wondered.  He also (here's a good tip) recommends blacking yourself with bitumen, not paint, if you are a narrowboat roof and you want to be a lawn.

I took photos of the world's only grass-roofed narrowboat, and as usual they sit in my camera, awaiting processing.  When I reach Bristol, I finally intend to buy a digital camera.

Stopped at the George Inn at Bathampton for a sundowner before finally halting at the entrance to the first of the Bath tunnels for the night.

Semington to Avoncliffe

A short day's cruising, but a splendid day to do it.  From Semington Top Lock through to Avoncliffe Aqueduct, past Bradford-on-Avon.   The sky was cloudless blue, the scenery gorgeous, and the local inhabitants outnumbered by grockles.

Bradford-on-Avon is the first of those pretty Cotswold villages you encounter on the K&A, a picture-postcard in stone.  The K&A here is so pretty and kind - tickle the view with a camera and it laughs with a memorable picture.   

Bradford is also said to be the first place going west where you encounter the famous - or infamous - liveaboard crusties of the waterways.  I've not seen many so far, but the BW lengthsmen have promised more licence-jumpers, the closer you get to Bath.  So far I'm not too intimidated.  The problem, for me, isn't simply licence-avoidance; it's scruffiness, intimidating looks, fierce dogs and long, long lines of boats that one is forced to slow down for.

I tied up just this side of Avoncliffe Aqueduct, alongside a cottage called The Farriers.  Tip for boating laptop users: the occupiers of The Farriers have made their wi-fi wireless networking setup unprotected and open for use.  And they are happy for boaters to use it.  Thanks!  The 24 hour moorings there are especially plum for boating bloggers. 

But it's a great place for absolutely everyone to moor.  Tremendous!  Beautiful scenery, with a cute little pub - the Cross Guns - on an unrivalled setting, and two delightful little shops.   The Wharf Cafe is a Sunday-only affair, a private house that just one day a week becomes a little cafe, with a secret garden - a 'little bit of heaven' says the lady owner proudly - hidden away.   Seek out this secret garden if you are there.

Sells Green to Semington

A late start for me from Sells Green on Saturday afternoon after collecting my brand new bow button/fender from Richard and Victoria on Vox Stellarum (The Fender Boat).  I drove the car to Chippenham to find a place to park it for the week before returning to the boat by bus.  Commuting by car from Norfolk - and travelling to and from the car as I take Granny Buttons around the country - is by far the largest cost of keeping my boat.  And parking the car safely while I'm aboard is a headache.   Few car parks seem wise to my situation.  Park & Rides don't allow overnight parking, whilst many rail station car parks are eyewateringly expensive.  Chippenham, for instance, is £4.50 a day, with no discounts for weekly parking.

Another big thankyou today, this time to the lady at the Chippenham Tourist Information office who told me about a place to park in Chippenham which isn't metered.  It's a parking space for a local housing estate, but there always seem to be spaces.   The lady herself uses it as a parking spot when she works. 

I took Granny B from Sells Green to Semington today.  Just a short hop - five locks and three or four miles - but had to tie up at Semington because I discovered I'd left my computer battery charger behind, and I couldn't afford to be without it for the week.   Bother.  A bus back to Chippenham at 8pm, collecting the charger, another bus back to Melksham, then a four-mile walk in the rural darkness back to the boat, returning near midnight.   Joanne Harris ('Chocolat') last year wrote that although she was a Yorkshire girl at heart, she could never take a canal holiday because it wouldn't give her enough exercise.  Ha! 

The Fender Boat

Thanks to Victoria and Richard of The Fender Boat for making my new bow button.  It looks superb, is solid rope (they assure me - I wouldn't know unless I unravelled it myself - and really adds character to the pointy end.   A bow button isn't much, in knotting terms, but they've added two 'Turk's Heads' as decoration, and it does add eye appeal.    There's one Turk's Head around the circumference, and another longitudinally.   

Cost:  £38.50 for the plain button, £5 extra for each Turk's Head, and £8 for the various shackles and hook thingies.  Total £56.50.  Very good value, very good work.

They said they only put two Turk's Heads on their own bow button so as to show people you could have it one of two ways, but I asked them to do the same to mine.  Apparently I'm the only other person to have it the way they have theirs, so mine's a collector's item.

Here's a photo of Victoria making Granny Button's new bow button.  She did the main 'button' bit, while Richard did the Turk's Heads. 

That's the traditional division of labour on the waterways.   The women do the tough chores (lockwheeling, washing, cooking, sewing, ropework etc), while the men take over the fun bits (steering, knotwork, photographing the women making bow buttons).

BW launch the new moorings at Brentford Lock, near London

British Waterways have officially launched the pontoon moorings at Brentford Lock.  I saw these when I passed by in early May, and they looked excellent.  A handy and attractive place to pause for a few days when you pass to or from the Thames.  A single lonely narrowboat was there, presumably the advance guard of the five residential spots allocated to those boaters whose parents put their names down at birth. 

The remaining 29 moorings are available for £3,750 pa (they don't say if that's a fixed rate, whatever the length of boat).  That's about £72/week, but it's a favourable rate as these things go - pretty close to a rail station.  Curiously, BW ask you to send in a photo of your boat when you apply for the mooring.  I think this is a sensible move - they can then vet you to ensure your boat isn't so scruffy as to lower the tone of the neighbourhood.  You need to write to Matthew Bannister at British Waterways London, Freepost WDB 675, London W2 6BR, including the photograph and dimensions of your boat.   Or call him on 020 8571 8900.  Remember to put on a tie when you call, and don't wear jeans or sneakers.

Brentford Lock is a plum spot for long-term narrowboat moorings, although you'll want a Gold cruising licence as well, since the Thames will be easier for short cruises than the nine or ten locks you'll quickly need to rise through to go north on the Grand Union.

The show flat has inside an interesting model of the completed development.  Wish I had a spare £375,000 for one of the two-bedroom flats - it would be an ideal London base. 

Main drawback of mooring at Brentford Lock: It's under the main landing path of Heathrow airport (see the fly in the sky in the picture at top?  That's a jumbo jet - remember that this is a wide-angle lens), and after weeks of cruising in the country you'll notice the perpetual background roar of the jets. But that's modern London for you.

ISIS, the BW shell company developing these canalside spots, is doing another one in Glasgow, at Speirs Wharf, an even more ambitious development and perfect for Scottish boaters.  (The official ISIS website is one of those turgid 'Flash' sites that looks pretty but is near-unusable and doesn't tell you much).

Walking the Curley Wyrley

There's a nice essay in the Express & Star today about the joys of walking the towpath on the 'Curly Wyrley' - the Wyrley & Essington Canal on the BCN.  It's headlined:  A silly row, a summer stroll along the canal. Tony Levy tells how he found contentment on a walk up the cut:

We had a bit of a falling-out, the Old Lady and me. Nothing drastic, but I had to get out because staying in only made it worse. There's only one thing for it, a long walk along the Wyrley & Essington Canal which runs just a few yards from the now-turbulent family home.

I leave without a word, cross the road and down the towpath, turn left and I'm on my way towards Wednesfield village, a mile and a half distant. I am now on old, familiar territory. I have been along this way a hundred times before, and every time there is something new to see.

There are precious few of these 'essays' about canals, either in the specialist waterways press or the mainstream media.  I love 'em.  (The Americans do too - I've stumbled across quite a few in American newspapers about the canals of the US North-East.) 

Graham Fisher MBE is new chairman of SWCS

Graham Fisher MBE announces he has been elected unopposed as the new Chairman of the Staffs & Worcs Canal Society.  His press release says:

Editors, media representatives and other interested parties can contact Graham Fisher via the Society: [email protected] or direct on 01384 270020 or [email protected].  Recipients are requested to update their records where appropriate.

I do hope that includes the Society's webmaster...

Grandad with Springer narrowboat seeks granny - or another grandad

'Grandad' asks me:

I have a 26ft. Springer, based on the Shropshire Union canal. I would like someone to help me cruise about the canal system.  I am a semi-active male pensioner who finds it difficult to climb lock-ladders and to walk great distances. With two of us doing the work neither of those two difficulties would arise.  The person that I am looking for must be reasonably fit, either sex,and preferably aged between 50 and 70. No previous experience neccessary. No wages will be paid, but the only outlay would be for your food and laundry.

Hmm, I don't think you should mention 'wages' or 'work'.  This ought to be a personal ad.   Let me rephrase it:

Have you always want to cruise a canal boat but didn't know where to start?  I have a 26ft. Springer, based on the Shropshire Union canal. I'm looking for someone to help me cruise it about the canal system.  I am a semi-active male pensioner who finds it difficult to climb lock-ladders and to walk great distances, but I can still steer happily or work the locks occasionally. With two of us mucking in, neither of those two difficulties would arise.  You must be reasonably fit, male or female and probably aged between 50 and 70.  You don't need any experience - I'll show you what to do.  You'll pay your own food, drink and laundry costs, but the cost of A-to-B - and the wonderful experience and the training - is on me. 

How's that, Grandad?  I've tried to emphasise that you are looking for a companion to share your canal cruising, not an unwaged employee. 

When Christine comes with me on Granny Buttons, she splits the costs in the same way.  When we were in Newbury last month, it was her turn for dinner.  Trouble is, Christine is tightfisted.  Not to the extent of refusing to her own way, but in the matter of tipping.  In restaurants, she won't tip.  I'm an ex-waiter and I'm a former restaurant manager, and it's hard-wired into me to tip.  Not that I like it, but I know what's expected.  I had to nag her that night to leave the waiter 10% (a minimum these days) and she made me promise I'd pay double the next time.

I suspect that Grandad won't be eating out a lot.  Not unless the companion is paying.   Let me let you into a secret:  I really hate eating in silence.  I hate the sort of dinner where people eat without speaking and the make the occasional 'hmm!' exhaling as if to say the food is tasty.   I bloody *hate* that!  If we aren't speaking as we eat, I hope someone around me is eating, or at least singing or playing music.  That's why I don't enjoy eating aboard Granny Buttons, unless there are a lot of talkative people around me. 

Hmm, I still haven't got a waterways-related link for this post.   I'll break a habit and find one later... 

Hey, here's one:  www.nbphoenix.com.   This is a Springer narrowboat, somewhat longer than Grandad's Springer, but there are precious few website devoted to Springers.   The significance of this one is the compendious information about the boat.  As far as I can tell, there's no more comprehensive site about Springers, anywhere.

Mike Watson keeps www.nbphoenix.com almost unchanged as a bit of a shrine to his late brother Les, but it's far more than that.  It's a phenomenal resource of everything that happened to the boat in the years between when he comisssioned it in 1981, when he started fitting it out himself, and a complete log of all of his 62 cruises until 25th September 2002.  There is no more impressive Springer site.  Well done, Les!  A great memorial to you.

Rimmer Challenger - a lesson in searching Google and syndicateships

I got an odd email a fortnight ago.   A hotel in Holland said they'd had a party booked in the name of 'Rimmer Challenger' and asked me if I knew anything about this party, or who they were. 

Well, no, I replied.  But I did recognise that he must have been thinking of Ed Rimmer, founder/boss of Challenger Syndicateships, and replied to suggest the hotel approach him direct.

The hotel then asked for his contact details, which they didn't have:  "Something bad has happened in our hotel and we would so much like to get in touch with him" they said.  Golly. Hotel trashed by guests?   Guest dead in bed with a needle in his arm?  Guest with the temerity to complain about cold soup?

I quickly Googled 'challenger rimmer', and found Challenger's address in a few seconds (the phone number was in the summary of result no.4).  Why, I thought, had the hotel decided to contact me and not them?  I was nothing to do with anything. 

Then I typed in 'rimmer challenger', and was surprised to find Granny was No. 1 worldwide for this search term, thanks to a post I did last year.  So that's why!  Curious how you can get such contradictory results just by swapping the terms around.

I rang the Challenger number listed, and it sounded like the home one, with wifey answering privately and putting me through in a very jovial way.  But Ed didn't sound too pleased to be contacted, especially with that sort of news.  Perhaps he was in the middle of supper - it was 7pm, after all.  But if it was bad, only fair that he got first wind of it so he could find out what it was before anyone else. 

I then emailed the hotel to keep me in the picture, so I could report what transpired.  Never heard from them again, but only today did I realise I'd sent that second email on to Ed instead of the hotel.  Not only did I ruin his supper, but the news might have ruined his weekend too.  I never heard from him again either, so perhaps he wasn't very grateful to me.  Kill the bearer of bad news.  I'm still curious to know what the bad news was, though.