Granny Buttons

Braidbar Boats

Mr & Mrs Braidbar alongside NB Badger, Lord Vernon's Wharf, October 13th 2007.

Every good canal boat builder seems to have his own little fiefdom, where all the new-looking boats in the nearest ten miles seems to be their own handiwork.  Steve Hudson has Tamworth.   Barry Hawkins has Atherstone.   Stowe Hill has Weedon. David Piper has Red Bull. 

North of Macclesfield the canal 'belongs' to Iain & Luisa Bryceland's Braidbar Boats.  Their narrowboats are a familiar sight in this part of the world.

I wanted 'library shots' of boatbuilders - I mean the people, not the businesses - and I'm lucky that the Brycelands are a very open, friendly couple, happy to smile for the camera.  When I met them they were finishing off a busy Saturday by going for a cycle along the towpath, past their own boat Badger, and I thought this was a far more interesting pose than the usual old posed cheesy grin.  It was 5pm on a dull afternoon and the photo's a bit blurry and dark (sorry) but it'll do.

They celebrated their hundredth boat recently by building it just for themselves, and calling it (what else?) Braidbar.  It was the boat featured on the cover when Canal Boat relaunched earlier this year, and you can read the review (pdf) here.

I'm curious to know where the name 'Braidbar' came from.  It seems to be a Glasgow placename, and close by is another Glasgow suburb called Giffnock.  Giffnock is another Braidbar boat (a trad with a gorgeous Gardner 3LW engine - they used to hire it out to experienced customers).  So I'll put two and two together and say that one or both of them are Scottish, went to Braidbar School and lived in Giffnock (although neither of them sounds Scottish to my ears).  Probably all rubbish, but I can't help myself!

At least two other canal blogs are from Braidbar boats: Sanity and Nuggler.  They recorded meeting each other on July 10th this year on their respective blogs.

Iain has three times shown me aboard his boats when I've passed that way - in various stages of construction - and I don't suppose he ever remembered seeing me before.  Yet he was always cheerful and very friendly.   I'd feel confident having him as a builder.  I first notice Braidbar at the 1998 Braunston show when I spoke to the new owner of Trisuli and it made a huge impression on me.  I think that was the first boat that made me want to live afloat.

Bugsworth Basin visitors' survey

BW surveyor asks a dogwalker questions in a visitor's survey, Sunday lunchtime, 28th Oct 2007.

British Waterways expends a lot of effort in trying to find what people really think when they visit the canals.   And that's as true of Bugsworth Basin as anywhere else.  You can't move for bumping into them!

Raymond Harvey (a regular correspondent and commenter on this blog) came to say hello to me at Bugsworth with his sweet terrier Josh.  He was quickly collared (sorry) by a lady taking a survey.  She asked him a lot of leading (sorry) questions, to which he had to find appropriate (sorry, I couldn't think of a doggie pun) answers.

I didn't want to be left out, so I demanded to take the survey too.  'How did you arrive here?'  was the question I wanted to be asked. 

'Canal narrowboat' was the right answer.  I don't think I was asked it, though I'm not sure.  I do recall a number of other questions that didn't allow for accurate answering by boaters.  Is it possible to see this questionnaire?   Is it downloadable anywhere? 

Of course, in multiple-choice questionnaires there are always cracks through which cracked people can slip.  The devisers of this one probably never imagined half the answers I'd give.  Let alone the answer they got from Raymond about the reason why he came to Bugsworth that day.  'To visit someone on a canal boat' wasn't one of the boxes to tick.  Nor did she perhaps register that he, too, is a local canal boater.

Still, BW are trying hard.  I hope the nice lady was instructed to knock on canal boat windows and ask boaters their opinions.  Did she do so?

My impressions of Bugsworth Basin itself are that it's half-glorious, half-disappointing.  The Basin is wonderfully restored, but a shadow of what it could be.  But I doubt that the question-setters would dare write down my opinions.  I'll tell you in due course.

The Ghost of Harecastle Tunnel

In this video, by KeithCVP, Rosie Millen briefly talks about the Ghost of Harecastle Tunnel. 

This gruesome Victorian murder story (woman on way to join her husband in London cadges a ride with canal boaters, only to meet a grisly end) was echoed by Colin Dexter in the Inspector Morse novel/TV episode 'The Wench Is Dead'.

KeithCVP has also made a cute little pilot video of a kid's puppet series called Stevie the Boater.  Stevie the Boater needs a sharper script and more rehearsal, but it shows great promise.

How can a menopausal, childless male like me know what kids like?  It's a long time since I was a kid, although I was very fond of Andy Pandy and Muffin the Mule, similar territory to Stevie the Boater.  Well, I've got Rosie & Jim on my phone ringtone, so that'll give you a clue.  (But not a Rosie like the one above, alas)

More Milans of canals than Venice

British boaters are brought up with Rosie & Jim to learn that 'Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice'. (There are about 100 miles of Black Country Waterways when they last counted, although once there were around 160.)

But I was surprised today to learn that Milan (Italy) is a canal city too, and runs Brum a close second in canal mileage, and is far ahead in history and heritage. 

I should have guessed.  After all, Leonardo da Vinci is popularly credited with inventing the mitre lock gate, and he didn't come over here to show Brindley how to do it.

Milan seeks future for canals with Da Vinci touch - Reuters

When it comes to Italy and canals, Venice has the glamour but Milan has the mileage: three times longer than the waterways of its tourist magnet neighbour.

But the 152 km 94 miles of historic shipping canals, which Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci helped oversee, are falling apart and experts are fighting to save one of Italy's lesser-known treasures.

Regional leaders -- looking to join a trend in Europe to revive canals overtaken by land transport -- are betting on a refurbishment of the centuries-old system that made landlocked Milan a top Mediterranean port.

They see a future for the network as a tourist attraction and a green asset for Italy's industrial and financial hub.

However, one area where Birmingham leads is in canalside regeneration of derelict buildings and sites.  Whether that's what Da Vinci's successors want, or whether Milan's canals simply need a bit of dredging, restoration and tidying, I've no idea.

Michelle Martin

Jude Calvert-Toulmin interviews Michelle Martin.

Michelle Martin is a canal artist-stroke-musician living, working and travelling on NB Willowmoor in the Midlands.  You can hear some of her sweet music on her MySpace page.  I'd call it folk, except she cites Chet Atkins as a strong influence.

Furness Vale to Bugsworth Basin

Went from Carr's Farm Lift Bridge (Furness Vale) to Whaley Bridge basin this afternoon. 

Filled with water and washed Granny, while chatting to the fellow who operates coal boat Anne He has 'Hoopers Haul' on the side, so I presume his name is Mr Hooper.   I matily said hullo, gosh, I remember coming here in 2001 and Alton was here at that time.  Where is it nowadays?  

'Mr Hooper' said (in effect) huh, Whaley Bridge to Macclesfield has always been his patch, and Alton was a usurper.  I wonder if BW could have some sort of licensing system for fuelling boats so they don't fight over particular sections. 

The irony is that I 'bunkered up' at Braidbar a couple of weeks ago, and the guy there complained about the fuelling boats taking their business. Ho hum, no one's happy. 

Except me :-)   Tonight I'm at the Navigation Inn, Bugsworth Basin, and they've got free wifi!   Recommended, really boater-friendly.  Lisa and Jo are really friendly and actually listened when I suggested stocking particular types of cider.  I think that's really good attitude.

The Herbies? The Boaties?

Neil Corbett on NB Herbie has announced his personal Herbie Awards for 2007. These are his categories

• Best overnight mooring spot
• Most scenically attractive days cruise
• Best pub
• Best pint
• Best pub meal
• Most coveted boat seen
• Best shop near the canal
• Best guest crew member
• Most scary moment
• Worst canal lock
• Worst day's cruise

What a great idea!  We should adopt it more widely. But those are his private awards system - some of those are never going to be decided on universally. 

For example, 'most scary moment' or 'best crew member' are too personal.  But others - e.g. best pub, best shop, most coveted boat - are ripe for voting.  We need a communal competition.  What would be your categories?   

We ought to have an official name for the awards, and an organiser - ideally someone who's a boating blogger and who'll coordinate all the responses.   Any volunteers and suggestions?

Canal World blogs

I've been following the Canal World blogs for some time.  They are available as a single RSS feed, which makes it easy to keep up with all of them.

However, on Canal World they tend to have longer individual entries than other blogs, often essay-style, and there's a lot more reading to be done. 

I only just discovered that you can also subscribe to them individually, which helps to sort wheat from chaff swell my 'bloatroll' and makes it easy to follow individual boaters. 

I prefer to follow them individually - that way I can sense the individual character of each person.

But on the full list I see you can also sort them in various ways by clicking the head of each column.  For example, find out who is most read, or who posted most recently, or how many comments they've had.

Old Grandad Tom Wigley and all

I'm quite taken with Wiggers World, the blog of Tom Wigley of Hyde.

He's not a canal blogger as such, but living in such proximity he's starting to photograph and write about his local canals - the Peak Forest, Ashton and Huddersfield Canals.

He's done a photo-sequence about How To Use The Locks which is the first of its kind I've seen.  It's only a series of pictures of a boat going through a lock near Stalybridge, but I've not seen one on a blog before.

He describes himself variously as 'Grandad Tom', 'Womtig' and 'Old Pumkin Head' (how can you not notice that photo!).  A good, sparky blog.

Incidentally, it was Wiggers World which drew my attention to Violent Veg.  Thanks, Grandad.

Boating Welly

Murray Popoff reckons he can trump my boating boot.  He says:

This one is from a small fishing village, Petty Harbour, Newfoundland.

OK Murray, you win!

Saturday night at Bugsworth

I'm looking forward to arriving in Bugsworth Basin on Saturday afternoon, and hopefully seeing it at night in the light of the full moon.

The weather for Saturday at Bugsworth says 'light rain', and that for Sunday is 'sunny intervals'.   At some stage the clouds might part, and I'm hoping they'll do so on Saturday night and cast a little moonlight on Bugsworth Basin.

Even if they don't, you can still catch some nice views given a long exposure.  A lot depends on how close the street lighting approaches.  Pedestrians might be grateful for bright sodium streetlighting, but I hate it. 

I hate exterior pub floodlights too; that's why I'm so often out after midnight, when they are usually (thankfully) turned off.

But having raised my own hopes so high, I'm sure it'll all be a dreadful let-down.  Andy comments that things don't look good.

Graffiti too far on the Regent's Canal

Here's an amusing YouTube video from the Kings Cross Local Environment blog, about council staff using a BW boat to reach and clean off towpath graffiti on the Regent's Canal.

Great blog post too. 

It won't be you, MK Link - but it could be hey, you, Jimmy!

£25m canal plan refused lottery grant - Milton Keynes Citizen

Waterway park campaigners are looking for other ways of raising £25 million after Lottery chiefs told them – "It won't be YOU!"

Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust failed in their short-listed bid for Lotto funding which would have gone halfway towards the bill to construct a six-kilometre mini-canal from the Grand Union at Campbell Park into the east flank beyond Broughton.

Helix bid approaches final stage - BBC Scotland

A bid to transform a huge area of land between Falkirk and Grangemouth is the only Scottish project left in the running for a £25m lottery grant.

... Plans to develop a new canal link within the Helix would include the creation of the world's largest equine sculptures in the form of two 30-metre-high Kelpie horse heads by sculptor Andy Scott.

These would form an integral part of a new boat lift mechanism at the eastern entrance to the Forth and Clyde canal.

The boat lift looks interesting.  It would apparently consist of huge 'nodding donkey heads' which together would operate some sort of boat lift.  Is there an animation or a video about it?   I can't find one.   What will they do? Where will they be located? 

"... the giant heads, each equal in size to the world-renowned Falkirk Wheel visitor attraction, would be more than just impressive works of art. The functional sculptures, complete with flowing manes, would form an integral part of an ingenious boat lift mechanism at the eastern entrance to the Forth and Clyde canal.

The two heads will slowly rock back and forth to displace water from a lock chamber thereby allowing boats to move to and from Scotland's lowland canal network."

Sounds daft to me, but then so did the Falkirk Wheel when first mooted. 

Perhaps that's what the MK Link or the Cotswold Canals need.  Not something that makes simple, prosaic sense for boats, but something to inspire.

Lady Norman Henry

Photographer Chris Kirk is blogging from the Lancaster Canal on www.norman23.co.uk, with some very nice photos.

This is twice a first.  It's the first boating blog I've found from the Lancaster canal area, and it's the first blog by a 'white boater', a cruiser.  In this case, his Norman 23 cruiser Henry. 

Other Norman users tend to use the Norman Boats Appreciation Society website, but Chris's method of using his own blog is more 'open' and likely to attract the attention of non-Norman enthusiasts.

Chris calls his Norman Henry 'she'.  To most people, it seems, all boats are female (or in Norman Henry's case, androgynous).  But not mine.  To me, Granny has no sex at all.