Granny Buttons

Moscow or bust for Xanthos

Richard & Susie Parsons and their son (not forgetting the dog) are taking the barge Xanthos across Europe, from France to Russia: 

http://www.parismoscowbybarge.com

They hope to travel further through Russia than anyone has ever reached from France. 

Currently they are wintering near Warsaw after a few problems, but soon: 

Springtime 2008 – the waters will rise and we will set off for Belarus – the Ukraine – we will skirt round the Crimea on the Black Sea ... and so to Russia.  The journey through the Crimea and into Russia has perhaps never been done by a boat originating from France.  So the day we arrive in Moscow will be a very special day.

Richard's map of the route shows France to Moscow, but also optimistically rings Perm, nearly a thousand miles NE of the Russian capital.

But adventurous barge skippers are ten-a-Euro sur la Continent.  What impresses me most is that his blog is in five languages:  English, Francais, Polskie, Deutsch and Русский.  Wow!

He says he used to own a UK narrowboat in the 1950s.  That suggests quite a history and experience of the waterways.  The one pictured in his blog is Thos. Clayton's Dane.

A rant about waterpoints, Islington Wharf, and hospitality for boaters

What an unproductive day!  I slept in (because only had 5 hours sleep the previous night) and rose slowly.  Not a problem in theory, my only task today is to fill the water tank, run the engine a bit and warm the water so that Christine can wash her hair after arriving tonight.  

I'm just by Store St Aqueduct, just around the corner from Ducie St Junction.

This is a tedious, boring rant, so I'd skip it if I were you. By god I feel better for having written it.

New marina at Barden Mill stops canal

£1m. canal-side marina plans unveiled - Burnley Express

Is this the marina that caused BW to publish a stoppage on the L&L Canal for the entire winter, from Nov 5th to Mar 7th?  

Exciting plans for a £1m. canal-side marina have been unlocked after councillors granted permission to press ahead.

Work starts soon on the ambitious 102-berth marina at Reedley Hallows on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal after Burnley Council and Pendle Borough Council passed plans.

Barden Mill owner Mr Jason Fildes, who made the application, said he was delighted and if all went to plan there would be boats in the marina by August.

It looks like this marina only received planning permission last week.  Does this mean that when building does eventually start, the stoppage will be extended until May or June?   

(Answer:  Of course not.  A new marina shouldn't need to stop the canal for more than a day or two, perhaps a week at most.) 

I can't help but wonder if its inclusion in BW's winter stoppage list (forcing us to alter our winter cruising plans) was part of pressure on the local authority to grant planning permission.

Cruising again, down to Manchester

After a month, I'm underway again, and it feels good.

Portland Basin Marina to Manchester Piccadilly Village.   Single-handed, starting about 9:30am, got stuck on Lock 12 for an hour (helped out by BW staff, who arrived in 15 mins when called).  No problems with vandals, all the locals were very friendly. Canalplan says it should take 5 1/2 hours.  Took me over eight, but that's me, getting distracted. Getting very tired, too.  My god, my hands and knees ache.

Tonight I'm here (on Google Maps).  By gosh, it's a smart area; I really like it.

The photo below was taken at Lock 1, the Ashton Canal's bottom lock.   On Google Maps it looks like a park (albeit a brownfield one) but already it's a bunch of fast-growing office blocks and apartments called Islington Wharf. 

I don't mind all this development.  So long as a little dereliction remains to give flavour,  I'm delighted to cruise through newly posh areas.  The key thing is this:  They must not crowd out the boats or start putting up snotty 'no mooring' notices. 

And they haven't here.  Yet.  Although they aren't exactly encouraging us.  

But perhaps that's because they haven't yet realised that now they've got their planning permission and their heavy concrete footprint, it would be quite easy for them to force BW and boaters into accepting that Islington Wharf, Piccadilly Village and other canalside developments are just another stretch of the Ashton Canal that boaters must rush through without stopping.

Phil Church, the 100th person to buy one of these apartments, got a '£500 narrowboat holiday' as a kickback.  (Why am I not surprised that he's described as 'director of an advertising agency'?)

I'd be interested to know where Phil Church takes his holiday, and I will be very impressed if he spends it on the Ashton and Rochdal Canals, putting his money where his mouth is.  If he tries to sell it on, or take cash in lieu, you know what I'll think of that. 

Choirmistress McIntosh

Troubled waters for Britain's vital canal system - Yorkshire Post

Here's an interesting article in Thursday's Yorkshire Post on the problems with the inland waterways.

Not a lot new in this song, but it hits many of the high notes that Save Our Waterways is singing

But it's noteworthy not simply for the tune, but because it's by (or, at least, bylined) Anne McIntosh, the Shadow Environment Minister.

However, it has a slight look of something drafted by her backroom staff at the behest of BW and the IWA by her backroom staff, where she lets slip:

Through no fault of their own, British Waterways, the Inland Waterways Association [sic] and other agencies funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, have had their budgets cut.

Shome mishtake shurely.  I hope she's not expecting the IWA to sing all her tunes if she's in charge of DEFRA after the next election!

SaveOurWaterways.org.uk is now C+ or even B!

I see that Save Our Waterways, the campaigning non-organisation, has a fresh new website.   

It shows the same familiar clean design of Pennine Waterways, so it's no suprise that Martin Clark's the webmaster behind the new site. 

Most interestingly of all, it now comes with an RSS feed, so you should be able to 'subscribe' to news. 

(At time of writing, this isn't working for me, although the address should be www.savourwaterways.org.uk/news.xml
http://www.saveourwaterways.org.uk/news.xml

There's also a blog, although it's early days so far, with only two posts.   I think they plan to use the blog to draw attention to 'category D and E' waterways structures - these are ones that are in seriously poor condition and need restoration or urgent repair to avoid failure.

Now that the SaveOurWaterways website has itself had a major restoration effort, I'm pleased to reclassify it from D/E up to, ooh, C at least, definitely B if they get the feed working right and the blog buzzing along.  (Why not an 'A'?   Well, for the same reason that even mighty Google only ranks its own home page as '8 out of 10' :-)

Well done Martin!

A very quiet Christmas near Kidderminster

Canal boat needed rescuing - Worcester News

It's been a very quiet Christmas in Worcester newsrooms:

A canal barge had to be pulled free by fire crews after it ran aground on Boxing Day.  The boat got into difficulties in the canal near Kidderminster.  Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service were called to the boat yesterday morning and put some lines towards it and pulled it free.  No-one was hurt or injured in the incident.

First judge to live on a canal boat and cycle to work gives up comforts of the water

Judge Tabor sails off to new circuit - Gloucester Citizen

Tributes have been paid to a pioneering judge who lived on a canal and cycled to work on a mountain bike. Judge Jamie Tabor QC spent almost five years on the bench of Gloucester Crown Court.

He is moving to Bristol and Taunton crown courts, and has handed over the reins as resident judge at Gloucester to Judge Martin Picton.

The courtroom was packed with lawyers and court officials as Judge Tabor was presented with a painting of Gloucester Docks as a memento of the city.

Judge Picton said it was an apt gift because Judge Tabor, whose family home is in Somerset, has been living on his canal narrowboat during his time in the city.

"Not everyone knows that in order to fulfil his role he has given up the comforts of home and taken to the water," said Judge Picton.

Does this mean Judge Picton himself think less or more of people who live on boats?  I'd be interested to hear what happens to any boaters who come up in front of him.

I wonder if Judge Tabor will still be living on a canal boat.  I don't suppose he'll be cycling between Bristol and Taunton on his mountain bike.

Portland Basin stone texture

Portland Basin Stone Bridge, Dukinfield Junction, Sat 15th Dec 2007. 

I love the texture of this stone when the winter sunlight strikes it just-so.  It could do with some brasher, more artistic, more adventurous graffiti.

3-year-old names boat

I was interested to read about the 3 year old boy who won the competition to name the BW workboat in Little Venice last week. 

(Competition winner names canal work boat - Waterscape)

[Update: The winning name was 'Samson'.]

It's a good precept that if you want a memorable name, ask a 3-year-old. 

'Granny Buttons' was the name my 3-year-old nieces gave to my mother, because every time she came to visit, she'd bring 'em treat-sized packets of Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons. 

Fired with all the wit and imagination of cupboard love, any name most names a child will think of [on his own, without prompting] is are bound to be memorable and 'sticky'.

I doubt if little Alexander is old enough to start understanding the high concept of 'biblical namesakes'.   More likely it was already the name of one of his teddies (perhaps before it got renamed Muhammed), or maybe his parents planted a few ideas in his head.

Whatever, it sets a good precedent.  Better that a 3-year old names a boat than a bunch of 40-year olds sitting around in a focus group. 

I do hope little Alexander was suitably reward with chocolate buttons, or he'll have no incentive to come up with any more names.

Granny B at Fairfield Junction

Granny Buttons at Fairfield Junction, Ashton Top Lock, Friday 14th Dec 2007.

It's rare that I can photograph Granny side-on like this.  I'll take every opportunity I can get.  Shame that it was about 3.30pm on a cold, drizzly winter's afternoon in Manchester.

Kids gongoozling

Schoolkids on a day out with their teacher at the nearby Portland Basin Museum gongoozle at Granny  Buttons.  Or the canal. Or perhaps the geese. 

Or maybe all three.  A boat, a canal and a gaggle of geese together are probably greater than the sum of their parts.

A perfect (boating) holiday read

Sarah on Warrior has just read Getaway With Murder by Leo McNeir.  Here's her review. 

I'd recommend the publishers using some of her quotes for the cover of the next edition:

"Honest and fearless"

"Romantic"

"Ingenious and convincing"

"The plotting is ... faultless"

"The clues are, with hindsight, all there, but not too obvious. This is a very important virtue".

"There is much to enjoy"

"A perfect (boating) holiday read"

"Well researched and accurate"

"An effective surprise ending"

I'm terrible about remembering books, but I think I enjoyed Getaway with Murder a bit more than Sarah did, although I don't have any blurb quotes to give.

My biggest criticism is actually of the printing.  I wish there was a bigger margin on the pages so one can make notes.

Father Christmas afloat

Santa waves from the Tameside Canalside Trust trip boat Still Waters, Portland Basin, 15th Dec 2007.