Granny Buttons

Sauly missed

Sorry I won't be able to come to the Saul Canal Festival this weekend.  A 120-mile round trip on Saturday is too much for me to manage, on top of 300 round-trip miles on Friday night and Sunday just to get to Granny. 

Not that they'll notice me missing.  I usually manage to miss canal festivals, and rarely get the chance to spend more than an afternoon at them.  Have you noticed a pattern emerging?

Last-minute change to Liverpool docks canal scheme

Anger over scheme to fill in West Waterloo dock - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool's multi-million pound waterfront canal could be re-routed at the last minute, leading to West Waterloo Dock being filled in.

An extension to the Leeds-Liverpool has been planned for more than two years. But weeks before work was due to start, British Waterways wants to change the route.

They say the flagship 2008 scheme would go ahead even if their request was rejected by the council. Residents fear filling in the dock would provide potential new building sites.

When I last wrote about this, there was an official site, www.liverpoolcanallink.co.uk, so I went there tonight, but it seems to have gone to earth.  Perhaps they feel their work is done. How frustrating.  Yesterday's Liverpool Echo story is the only one on this last-minute change of plan.  There's a video here of the story's writer being interviewed about it, but it doesn't shed any further light on the story.

Bill Davies and narrowboat Rosy

Neil C of Doncaster asks if I'd written about Bill Davies, who'd taken his narrowboat Rosy across Europe.  Well, I'd only previously mentioned Bill in passing, a couple of years back, when I was looking for a citation for the term 'tunnel cutter'.

Bill Davies is aka 'Billy Bubbles', but how he came to be called after Leicester's premier balloon artist I don't know.  In 2001 he bought a 2nd-hand narrowboat called Rosy, and had her craned out at Calcutt and transported across the Channel to Holland.  (

This was long before Terry and Monica Darlington sailed their narrowboat across).  Terry Darlington wrote a book about his adventure, a 'rich and winning editorial debut', whereas Billy Bubbles is still only a website.   

But the comparison between Darlington and Bill Davies isn't too stretched; I suspect that in (stern) editorial hands, the adventures of narrowboat Rosy could make for a very successful book.

Bill's cruising log here runs continuously for five years - and straggles right across Europe, from France, through Belgium, Holland and Germany to Poland.  And back. 

Not a blog, it's true.  But he certainly beats Sue and me by two years and a thousand miles or more to make an interesting website out of his narrowboat.  He's got 'hinterland' too.  'Hinterland' is what they call a variety of background and life's experience that's unrelated to your current circumstances.  In Bill's case, over 20 years of interesting army experience, including several years in the Middle East. And he's damned amusing in places - see his cocktail pages, for example.

Sense but not.

Blogger Hard But Not writes about Castlemill.  He's done a careful trawl through the official BW statements on the matter, and done a pick-n-mix to suit his emotions.  He also gives a bulleted list of what the protestors can continue to do, in this little local insurgency.

What's most interesting, I think, is that this is the first mention in a private non-waterways, non-political blog.  Blogs like this might well have made a difference a year or two back. Too late now.  No one's actually talking about the real issue, which is the provision of alternative facilities for boaters on the city's outskirts. 

NB Warrior blogs

Sarah writes a blog from her perspective of living on narrowboat Warrior:  nbwarrior.blogspot.com.   She started in April, and after a few week's pause has started up again in the last couple of weeks and hopefully will keep it up.   Well done, Sarah! 

[Update:  I've not read her blog correctly (see her comment below).  She's not living on Warrior, it's still a project.] 

I didn't see Sarah's new blog until last week, only learning about it when Mike Beveridge on Globetrotter mentioned it last week.

[Sarah's living on Andante, which Mike sold to her a couple of years back when he bought Globetrotter.]

Mike drew attention to an interesting post she wrote about 'Why do so many people want to buy new boats?'   Mike agrees, pointing out that Apollo Duck alone last week was listing around 375 boat for sale, which he calculated at around 3 continuous miles of linear moorings.   

But in the context of 27,000 boats on the canals, supposing the average boat was sold once every 5 years, that would still bring over 5,000 boats on the market every year.  Sarah and Mike's argument is only an observation - it needs a few more facts marshalled alongside before it's ready to take to the debating floor. 

Doesn't alter the fact that those are two damn good blog posts, though.   And I've now got 32 boating-related blogs on my roll, and blogging on the English waterways is finally close to take-off.

Preston and the Lanaster Canal terminus

Bold vision for future of canal [in Preston] - Lancashire Evening Post

Interesting article about plans for canal terminus in Preston:

These bold images show how Preston could look in 2012 with canal boats floating over the heads of pedestrians into the heart of the city. Residents can now experience the journey for themselves via a virtual reality trip created by the Preston City Canal Link Trust to show what it would be like if the waterway's old route through Preston was recreated.

The Trust is campaigning for the reconstruction of the historic Lancaster Canal, which now ends at Ashton Basin, and for the building of a new marina at Maudland Bank, near the University of Central Lancashire.  It is staging a free exhibition to show the history of the canal and give people an exciting glimpse of how its future could be.

Teddington Lock web site

Howard Miatt, one of the lock-keepers at Teddington Lock has set up www.teddington-lock.co.uk, an unofficial web site devoted to the place. 

And it's an inspiration.  He deserves a pay rise.

I have created this site to try and give some information to anyone who may end up at Teddington Lock on their travels. Whether they are a walker, fisherman, a boater or just a sightseer, hopefully everyone will find a bit of something that interests them here.

There's a depth of information on this site that is a splendid credit to Howard.  And not just the facts and news about the place.  What about, for example, the link to the classic Monty Python fish dance, filmed at the lock in 1970 and now viewable on Google Video. 

If I ran the Environment Agency PR dept I'd be encouraging every lock keeper on the Thames to keep such a web site.  With one small tweak: it needs to have a blog.  Indeed, it could be a blog on its own.   Ten minutes setup on Blogger or Typepad, and bob's your uncle.

(Thanks to Christine Burgess for the tip )

Saul Canal Festival pounces on me

Good grief, is that the time already?  I've just received an electronic nag that the Saul Canal Festival is this coming weekend.   Seems to be a fixture in the canal festival nowadays, and always it creeps up on me unawares and I jump. 

Apparently there are no 'evening gates' at the festival this year. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like either you can get in for free if you want to hear the folk music, or they'll let you out without charge if you can't bear it!

It always amazes me how cleverly people put these festivals together.  If it was left to me, I couldn't organise chaos; I couldn't even entertain a doubt.  I'd hoped to attend the Saul Festival, but Granny Buttons has been hors de combat these past few weeks, and it'll mean driving all the way from Aynho and back in a day.   Don't know if I can manage that; I love a couple of drinks at sundown and that's not compatible with a 60-mile drive home.

According to the festival web site, Saturday evening's bill-toppers will be 'Scotland's folkadelic acid-crofters Shooglenifty'.  I'm sure that Shooglenifty will be flattered to learn that their name is (how appropriate, this weekend of all weekends) an anagram of Toy of English. 

(Ooops. Bang goes my chance of getting a link on the Shooglenifty links page, still less a bed for the night with any of their left-over groupies.)

Slaithwaite Canal Festival

Boats and music plan for canalside village - Huddersfield Daily Examiner

There's a proposal for a canal ('Boats & Music') festival at Slaithwaite in September next year:

Members of Slaithwaite Business Association are inviting residents to a meeting next week to discuss the plans and come up with ideas to support it. The meeting will be at 7.30pm on Thursday in an upstairs room at The Monsoon [Tandoori] Restaurant in Britannia Road.

Association chairman Melanie Roberts said [it] aimed to complement established events in the Colne Valley, such as ... Marsden Jazz Festival, and attract more visitors to the area.

I can't find anything about Slaithwaite Business Association on the web. I suspect it's just a tableful of friends having a convivial curry at the Monsoon, and the only one the next morning still with the enthusiasm (and without a hangover!) to tip off the local newspaper being local bookshop owner Melanie.

Nevertheless, it's a great idea.  When I did the 'Hud' singlehanded in 2004 (here's my prolix cruising log entry) I loved it, I adored it, but it seemed a rather lonely place with no reason to stop.  Between Ashton and Huddersfield I saw few boats, and barely any at rest.  The only ones I remember north of the Standedge tunnel were the tunnel tug itself and the Moonraker floating tearoom at Slaithwaite.  And the only thing visiting Slaithwaite apart from me seemed to be the Japanese Knotweed alongside Moonraker. 

(Japanese Knotweed - bravo!  I love this brash species. Why do people complain about it?  I hate mowing the lawn, and I'd not hate cutting Japanese Knotweed any more - and it doesn't seem to grow any faster.  And it's as good as rhubarb to eat - here are some recipe ideas)

So a Slaithwaite Canal Festival would be a wonderful idea.  In fact, there should be a festival for every town and village along the Huddersfield Canal.  Give Melanie a ring on 01484 842141 and tell her you are behind her and her idea:

Local pubs could provide live music and owners of narrowboats would be encouraged to moor their craft in Slaithwaite for the duration of the festival. Local organisations could set up stalls to promote their activities.

While I've still enthused you, please stop by to re-edit the Wikipedia entry on Slaithwaite.  At time of writing it's clearly been edited by someone who's had too good a time at the Monsoon, or possibly at one of the town's many excellent pubs.

Melanie Roberts got a namecheck last March in Publishers' Weekly when she attends a 'virtual signing session' with Canadian author Margaret Attwood.  The bizarre 'autographing machine' allows Attwood to sit on one side of the world and sign the book for Melanie's bookshop in Slaithwaite. 

"What chance would a local bookshop like mine [normally] have getting a big author signing for me?" Roberts said.

Passing by a boat with a curious name

I can never help pausing when I see a canal boat with an eyecatching name.  That applies whether it passes by me - as The Kid's Inheritance did yesterday morning - or whether I pass by it, as I did The Shotley Shuffle just now, when I spotted it for sale on Apollo Duck. 

The origin of curious boat names can be self-evident, such as The Kid's Inheritance, or they can be a nod to a personal and private memory, such as The Shotley Shuffle, which is explained here:

...a reminder of the time when Pat, aged 15, spent a year at HMS Ganges, the Royal Navy's training establishment at Shotley, Suffolk. The Shuffle was the name the boys gave to a form of punishment that involved running round the parade ground with their arms above their head carrying a rifle.

Shotley sounds like quite a brutal training ground for naval experience, according to the Wikipedia entry. 

Encounters with TSS are described by Sue on No Problem here and by Mike on Snecklifter here, but neither mention the 'whence' of the curious name. 

The Rawe family, on Ownerships boat Rodbaston,  mention sharing locks with The Shotley Shuffle at Braunston in their log of November 2004, but they don't comment on the name either.  But they do add something interesting:

This was owned by a couple who were continuous cruisers, and this will be their 4th Christmas afloat. They were very informative and interesting. They had a mid-galley boat but said if they could afford to buy a new boat it would be one with a rear galley.

Aynho to Banbury and back

Saturday June 24th: Left Aynho after 6pm, to enjoy my favourite time of day, year and weather - a midsummer bright evening cruise, listening to Radio 4 on headphones.   I tied up for the night at Twyford Wharf, just north of King's Sutton. 

Tywford Wharf is a modest hamlet and mooring for several liveaboards who enjoy a lovely communal lawn which they seem to enjoy sharing at sunset.   It's also the base for Andy Binfield, who describes himself as a woodturner, and under the business appellation Sticks n things offers a variety of handmade wooden items.  On his website he describes himself as:

Woodturner & Walking-stick Whittler of Distinction.
Maker of Fine Bowls, Excellent Wooden Fruit, Magical Mushrooms and Many Other Round or Roundish Objects in English and Foreign Timbers

Specialities are Natural-edged Burr-wood bowls and vessels, and a large range of wooden fruit in a variety of timbers.

I find his fruit the most fascinating of all his range.  I'm not sure if he lives aboard one of the boats - he might do, but I was too shy to ask the residents.  His mottos is 'Tornaro Ergo Sum' - presumably loosely translating as 'I live to turn wood'.

Sunday June 25th:  The next morning I proceeded to the outskirts of Banbury to wind, returning directly to Aynho around 3pm, where I tied up alongside Georgie Belle, being greeted with a scowl by the lady aboard.   

I enjoyed a nice chat with friendly Geoff aboard his brand new narrowboat Van Dieman nearby.  His gentle, slight Aussie accent explained the name - Van Dieman's Land was the early name for Tasmania.

Chinese narrowboaters?

The Economist has a fascinating article this week about the rise of Chinese tourism.

Last year more than 31m Chinese travelled outside mainland China and the World Tourism Organisation expects this number to grow to 50m by 2010 and 100m by 2020. Across the world, hotels, shops, restaurants and travel agents are salivating at the prospect.

But what about canal boat hire?  The fact remains, if you are considering renting a narrowboat for a week in the English countryside, it's hard to do it unless at least one of your party is fluent in English. The Economist continues:

Chinese tourists are willing to put up with hard beds and cold noodles for a reason: they are champion shoppers who prefer to concentrate their spending on luxury branded goods, which are cheaper than back home and guaranteed not to be fakes. ... In Germany the second most visited place by Chinese tourists after Berlin is Metzingen, a small town in the Black Forest unknown to most Germans, but home to a giant Hugo Boss discount store.

Oh dear! You'll find no famous brand names on a narrowboat holiday. No Burberry, no Rolex. And certainly no Hugo Boss. A canalboat holiday in the English countryside isn't about buying brand names. 

Or yet, perhaps it is...

Shakespeare. Josiah Wedgwood. Dickens. Darwin. Brindley. Brunel. Telford (and the also-ran etcetera). - these are brand names of England and Britain, and all of them (and many more) are represented in a canal boat holiday.  I wonder how many Chinese tourists will forsake the allure of the Black Forest for Britain and the canals this year. I'd love to speak to a Chinese family after they've stepped ashore from a week on a canal holiday.  They and their ilk might well be keeping Viking Afloat in years to come.

Could I speak to them in English?  Well, why not?  There's a mania for speaking English in China these days.  Indeed, you could almost consider the English Language itself as a glossy, prestigious brand in China.  Think about it.  I wonder who's selling narrowboat holidays to the well-off Chinese.  Let alone the Chinese restaurants within walking distance of waterways.

BNP shows bulldog spirit - by boating

According to the British National Party website, two members are planning an 'heroic' sponsored canoe trip along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal later this summer in aid of party funds.

The heroic duo will be filmed setting off and returning by BNP TV and all along their trip they will be recording a daily diary, which will be put onto a DVD and sold, raising even more funds. ... The tenacious “bulldog spirit” of Waterloo, the Blitz and countless other battles lives on in brave men such as Tom and Steve.

My first reaction was to chuckle.  (Canoeing on the canal, 'courageous'?  I would have thought that 'whitewater canoeing' would be more their sort of thing!)

But then I realised that they'll be not just be 'Paddling Through Britain' (the slogan on their t-shirts), but paddling through Nelson, Burnley and Blackburn too, areas with very high proportions of ethnic minorities.  Perhaps that's what they mean by 'brave'.   

These northern towns can be holy hotbeds of terror.  Back in 2003 Granny Buttons was stoned by youths in Blackburn - arrogant white, pimply teenagers in baseball caps and shell suits - who cycled off on those tiny chopper pushbikes they like that are two sizes too small, cackling and jeering with laughter.  I was so upset I didn't feel brave at all.

I felt rather safer round the next corner when I met a group of venerable bearded Muslim men (in their traditional white pajamas and muslim skull caps) walking the towpath. They were sympathetic ears and promised to keep a watch.  I'm sure they'll come to Tom and Steve's aid too, if asked.

Forgive me for sounding so-what, but Leeds to Liverpool is not much of a target anyway.  The Bloors, father and son, are about to start paddling from Cumbria to London. Their chosen charity is not party funds, it's Wateraid.  Which in the drought-stricken South East must strike more of a chord. Perhaps they could all meet, possibly near Wigan, and compare notes on England.

Belle and Wells Cargo

Chris Wells is getting close to seeing his dream boat Belle afloat.   It's being built by Sandhills, and he's got a website about it here, and he's recording the build in a blog here.   

There's a lot of great stuff on the site, including a detailed legal agreement with Sandhills on how the boat will be built - invaluable tips for anyone squandering their pension or disinheriting their kids. 

And lots of photos at every stage, from baseplate-laying to the very latest stage.  Superb detail, including the first video I've seen of a narrowboat shell being assembled (gosh, was ever there a more ungainly beast ashore than a narrowboat under construction?  It's as inelegant on land, as elegant afloat, as a walrus)

Chris has a great signwritten panel - 'Wells Cargo' (geddit?) - prepared even before the baseplate was laid.

And there's still more on the site - including Excel spreadsheets and Word-based drawings with plans of his proposed boats (including the intriguing spec that says "Stowage for at least one, but ideally two motorcycles").

Wish I'd known some of that stuff when I was buying Granny Buttons. 

Sandhills already has at least one other boat blogging - the elegant dark green Balmaha.

Chris contacted me ages ago - last December, I think it was - and I promised I'd mention Belle.  But I never did; I quickly forgot.  Why?  Perhaps because there are currently no feeds on Belle's blog, there's no RSS. I can't emphasise how important it will be to have that magic little orange symbol on your website if  you want forgetful twits like me to check back regularly.  This is vital.

If you have a website and want people to visit but you don't understand what I'm talking about, I'm happy to bore you at great length by email.  For free. 

Keep going, Chris, this looks like being one of the most interesting narrowboats of the year.