Granny Buttons

Andrew Denny at death's door - oh, I'm so ill!

I'm rather sick today (Bird Flu, it feels like, but it's probably Man Flu - there's an article about the latter phenomenon here) and coughing myself towards an early death.  So I'm slipping behind on my posting, I'm slow to reply to emails and am woefully neglectful in responding to comments.  Very sorry.

Wi-fi works at Wigram's Turn Marina - wow!

Quick report tonight from Wigram's Turn Marina, where Granny's briefly staying (I'll update the cruising log later).  It turns out that the new wifi there actually works within Granny's cabin, using my standard Centrino laptop without needing an external antenna.  This is good news!  I'd already resigned myself to needing one.  Actually I probably still will for my longer term cruising plans; after all, right now I'm fairly close to the marina's office (perhaps 75 yards) and the furthest-flung are more than twice as far away. Rare will be the time when I'm closer to such a bright signal.

The marina's site engineer is one of those outlying moorers.  He's jury-rigged a home-made system, using a Linksys USB wireless adaptor, protected from the weather by a plastic food container on the end of what looks suspiciously to me like a metal broom handle, all lashed together by what looks to me like masking tape.  It works fine, and it's a satisfying solution: for an engineer there is nothing quite so rewarding as working out the problem yourself.

But you might, like me, prefer a bought-&-paid-for result.  If so, this £30 hi-gain external antenna from Maplin might fit the bill.  Although you'll also need a wireless card with a 'TNC' connector (pdf datasheet here) - many laptops such as mine don't have such connectors built in.

Many thanks to Andrew Smith (who installed the system at Wigram's and runs a neat little business called canalpost.co.uk doing the same for other waterways sites - the list will soon be in double figures) for helping me get it work.  (Thanks to him for several other things this afternoon too, but I'll cover those later)

More thanks are due to Keith on Quidditch, who helped me last night by spending valuable time hunting downloading the drivers for the little pocket wireless connector I was carrying.  I couldn't get it working in the end, but not for want of him trying.  Thanks, Keith!

And now back to work for the week.

Stockton Marina to Wigram's Turn Marina

Cruising from Birdingbury Bridge to Napton Junction - another short Sunday:  The problem with scattered itinerant online moorers - Ventnor Farm Marina - Calcutt Locks - filling with diesel - a lesson in bleeding - Peter Scott's lost windlass - Jebus - Napton Junction - Muddy Waters 2 - Wigram's Turn Marina and my first experience of waterways wifi.

Radford to Stockton Top Lock

Radford to Napton Junction: Radford Lock - ice on the canal - sharing the first few locks with Our Tyme  - Alpaca farm - meeting Richard Powell (GB reader!) - Boat like an Egyptian - the Stockton backpumping - Blue Lias pub - model hovercraft - Stockton flight - Boat pub - Hyperion and Pat & Mike.

Magazines come unstuck

Last year (gosh, that long ago?) I described the canal magazines as 'stuck'.  I wasn't being defamatory or even rude - I was pointing out that they are much the same now as they were, and that perhaps most of what's to say about the canals and rivers has already been said before in one form or another.

For example, I've got every issue of Canal Boat magazine, from the launch in June 1996 to November 2003.  And there my collection stops, when my subscription ran out. I started to feel I'd read it all.  Of course I hadn't, and there's still lots that's new (and good) to read, every month. 

But I often go back to the first few issues again, and it's like I'd never been there before.  A bit like the waterways, really.   Or rather, the magazines aren't 'stuck', they change slowly, like glaciers.  And their websites simply melt.

So when I'm asked to stump up £3 each month for each magazine, I can't summon up the enthusiasm.  I won't buy it for the news (the web provides that), I'm not scanning it for the ads (online buying is too tempting) and I'll only get it if an article catches my eye.  And because I only see most of the canal magazines in chandleries and don't get a chance to thumb through them, I miss most of the good ones.   

Herbie blogs

Neil Corbett is blogging about Herbie.  It's a 50ft narrowboat he's buying from someone on the Lee, I think at Stanstead Abbotts (could be wrong).  Hand-over day, he says, is Feb 9th, and he's getting quite excited about it.  And that's understandable, because from the photos he's posted on the blog, it looks very smart and very comfortable.   

Cotswold get their money.

Good news today that the nearly-£12 million of Lottery funding has been granted for the Cotswold Canals.  So now the money is definitely burning a hole in their pockets!  This wasn't unexpected, but there were a few fingers crossed amongst the Cotswold Canal Trust members that the money wouldn't be withdrawn at the last minute. 

Canals were built for boats, of course, so it's slightly depressing to see British Waterways fail to mention boats at all within this good news.  Said the press release:

The project will conserve 30 historic structures, including bridges and locks, and help to protect rare species including bats, water vole and crayfish. It will attract an estimated 215,000 extra visitors and create 600 jobs by 2014 and create a 10 mile trail for walkers, angler, cyclists, wheelchair users and pushchairs allowing a large and diverse number of people to learn and discover more about our waterways and their history.

Churlish to complain, though. It's a good day for other waterways restoration areas too.  Today, public sector news website 24Dash.com reports £40,000 of lottery largesse for a canalside tidy-up at the charming Cookley Tunnel on the Staffs & Worcester canal:

Volunteers will start work this spring on the neglected area on the edge of playing fields in the village of Cookley, near Kidderminster. The group intend to build a canal-side terrace which will overlook the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal and historic local iron works which date back to 1610. There will be distinctively designed seating areas, reflecting the local heritage as well as paths suitable for wheelchair access. The group also hope to develop a sensory garden and a pond dipping platform following the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Radford Semele lock closed

Radford Semele Lock was being repaired last week, and was due to reopen at the weekend.  However, the engineers discovered a loose electricity cable on the lock floor and felt it was too dangerous to leave.  Consequently there's a queue of boats building up above and below the flight as the stoppage is extended.

The news today, from the BW regional office at Fazeley, is that they are waiting for a piece of cable trunking or something like that, and it has to come from France, of all places.  Hopefully it should arrive on Thursday, and they hope to complete the job by Friday morning.  BW Fazeley assured me it would be finished by Friday night (27th Jan) at the very latest. 

The locks up to Stockton will then be open on Saturday and Sunday, before closing again on Monday morning for repairs at Fosse Locks.  One good side effect of the delay is that there's bound to be a host of boats to move with - so I should be able to let someone else do all the work, and I can fiddle with my Tom Tom GPS again and not watch my bow button.  Although now that I'm going uphill again, cills and bow buttons don't present quite the same threat as they did while descending at Hatton.  I daresay the Tom Tom will find a way to threaten me though. 

The lock was deserted on Sunday lunchtime when I nosed Granny up to the building works, clambered around the red plastic fencing and looked inside.  I was, of course, wearing my hard hat and my hi-viz fluorescent yellow vest.  What's that, you think I wasn't?   Of course I was! 

I wasn't wearing one of those daft bandana floatation thingies, though. There are some things pride won't allow me to lie about.

BW holiday homes in Cornwall.

Did you know that British Waterways owns four hundred holiday homes in Cornwall?  There's an article today on Cornish nationalist news website Cornwall24 that says it does.  [addition: BW says that's rubbish - see below - and certainly the Cornwall24 article gives no citation or link]  But the story's not really about British Waterways, but about "racial bias in land use".  In this case the racialism is supposed to be by the English -- against the Cornish: 

"Centuries of racially motivated hostile legislation and unequal application of the law has dispossessed the Cornish minority of their property and rights for the benefit of the English majority."

I was born in the Empire, of London and Edinburgh parentage, and I think of myself as British.  British is everything from Scilly to Shetland, and that's all my country, every furlong, so I made my excuses and left the story early in case they blamed anything on me.

Leamington to Radford Semele

Leamington Spa to Radford Semele lock. 

Summary:  Met a good lady (just by the next footbridge) who cleared up after her dog and set a good example - Moved out to the country from the city - Stumbled across a single floating sneaker, and (rarely) this one allowed me to see that there wasn't a foot attached beneath - confirmed that Radford Lock is closed - Met a mother and daughter who were taking photos of the daughter's school project about how people live - Photographed the empty Radford Lock - Managed to get back to Hatton by bus, train and foot to recover my car - got back to work in Norfolk, and hopefully my beloved boat will be watched by angels.

Hatton Locks to Leamington Spa

Summary:  From the top of Hatton Locks to Leamington Spa. 

With the valuable help of Jeff Anderson today. A near-full day, setting off around 10.30am, reaching the bottom just before 2pm, where I posed for the photo by Jeff here.  We paused for a pint and an hour at The Cape of Good Hope pub, then two more locks, reaching the visitor moorings in central Leamington Spa around 4.30pm.

Today I recorded the passage on a webcam. I plan to edit the recording, reducing the trip to another time lapse, the first I've done since the 2001 'BCN 24hr Challenge'.  Hatton Flight in six minutes - should be fun!

Boaters close by told us that Radford Semele Lock, which should be open this weekend, is now closed until next Wednesday. Disaster.  My plans are awry once again.

Water shortages in French canals, better in UK

Blogging about the French canals in Barge Life, 'Barger' reports water shortages this winter and a gloomy outlook for dry canals this summer.

First of all, low rain fall this winter. Secondly, the reservoirs are low. Thirdly many empty canal sections which have to be filled before the season opens. For this to change, during February and March it will have to really rain...

So get ready to change your cruise program for early September 2006. The section froom Dijon to Saint Jean and Tonerre to Laroche will probably remain open, but I think you'll be doing some river cruising.

Better luck here in the Kingdom's canals. 

He proposed on a canal towpath

He proposed on a canal towpath - Daily Post

Male farmers are not traditionally the most romantic of individuals - but when it comes to match-matching, they only have to look as far as the local YFC club. Thousands of farm couples owe their union to YFC dances and that tradition is set to continue on Friday, January 27, when Clwyd YFC stages a dance in honour of St Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of love.

One couple due attend are 24-year-old Angharad Rudman, current YFC County Queen, and her fiancée, John Handley, 25, (pictured) an agricultural contractor from Rossett. They plan to marry in August after meeting at a YFC dance on Millennium Eve, 1999. He proposed last year - on a canal towpath.   "On the night I'm sure there'll be a little more romance in the air," said Angharad,, a bio-scientist and current chair of Wrexham YFC.

The Llangollen Canal?  Or the Chester or the Montgomery?  You might laugh, but a canal can be quite a romantic place at night. Especially by locks, where the rustle and chuckling of the water through lock gates can work a woman into a silent frenzy of romance.  It sets the oestrogen flowing, it really does! 

Perhaps that's why I've started to photograph the canals at night, in a subtle attempt to impress the women.

In a subtle attempt to bamboozle them, I'm also altering the images somewhat.

Cruising photos now on Flickr

I'm now using Flickr to post a gallery of my cruising photos.  You can click on the little Flickr thumbnail patchwork of pics (currently on the left) to nip straight to the relevant gallery.  I've tried to keep it minimal. Not too many dull or repeated images.