Granny Buttons

One man and his narrowboat

As a single-handed boater I'm often asked how tricky it is.  "How do you manage?", people say.

Well, there are occasions - very rare occasions - where I'm stymied.  I've just come across some photos from one such occasion a couple of years ago .

Granny was ascending the Atherstone locks, and near the top, just below Lock 2, I left the boat loosely tethered to the lock bollard as I nipped up to open the gates. 

I could see already that the lock was almost empty, but the gates proved harder to heft than I'd expected.  And took a lot longer to open.

While opening one, then the other, I didn't watch the boat properly, and it drifted out into mid-channel.

So what to do?  Well, it was embarrassing, but little more than that.

What I did was to reclose the gates and refill the lock a bit, then flushed out the water again, and here you can see the second batch of water coming out and meeting Granny Buttons in the middle.

What the water did was to push the boat backwards, and in doing so turn it around broadside across the canal.  Because the channel is so narrow, inevitably  I could then wait until one end or the other came within leaping distance of the towpath.  Which it quickly did.

At this point I was about to show you the end result, but I've lost the photo !

Oh well.

I think there are only a couple of times in 11 years when I've been completely helpless and needed assistance.  This wasn't one of them.

Perhaps the 'bible' of boat-aloners is  Going It Alone by Colin Edmondson, a slim £4 booklet packed with good tips.  The link above is to the Canal Junction page, complete with a sample passage and you can buy it from them. 

However, that method requires a cheque or postal order (remember those!), and you might find it easier to order via PayPal from Baddie the Pirate.

Caen Hill flight closed

Canal closed near Devizes after damage to lock gates

- Wiltshire Gazette & Herald

The Caen Hill flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal is closed once again. 

This time it's for emergency repairs 'between Lock 22 and 24', which presumably means Lock 23 near the bottom of the flight (location on Google Maps here), after a boat is reported to have crashed into the bottom gates.

The local newspaper reports the BW 'don't worry, be happy' position, which is simple - the flight is having many of its gates gradually replaced anyway next winter, and they are simply bringing the replacement forward: 

A spokesman for British Waterways said the gates were damaged beyond repair. Replacing them could take up to two weeks.

... A £500,000 gate refurbishment programme is under way. It will see 16 new gates installed. The damaged gates were part of that refurbishment but will now be replaced earlier than scheduled.

But Narrowboatworld can't resist put its own barbed background comment onto the affair,  which it said was due to a lack of earlier maintenance:

What must be so annoying to boaters, is that instead of money for the [postponed] maintenance, £50,000 was spent on removing fish from the flight to restock the Grand Union Canal; £35,000 spent on a two years scheme for 'reeds and bank enhancements'; and then the publicity stunt that attracted 30 reporters of removing carp that were eating the dragonflies!

This might be a bit unfair, in that BW has already said that last winter's freeze put the gate replacement programme behind schedule:

After discussion with local boat operators, waterway businesses and the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, we have decided that rather than extend the closure and potentially upset people’s holiday plans, the remainder of the works will take place in the winter works programme later on this year.

It would be interesting to know if the damaged gates were the ones due for replacement but held back by the freeze (in which case Narrowboatworld was perhaps being unfair), or if they were some of the new batch.

The last time Granny descended the Caen Hill flight was exactly five years ago, in late June 2005. I remember at the time noticing the 'Wijma Kampen B.V.' makers' name plate affixed to many of the lock gates, and thinking to myself, "ooh, what a sign of the times when BW has to go to Holland to get decent lock gates."

(Here's the retirement party of Guus Paumen, the man who built them.)

But more interestingly to me, I would like to know: How did the accident happen?  For example, was it an accident caused by a hireboater's inexperience or pure mishap (e.g. an engine failure just as they tried to halt)?  Or was it maybe foolish irresponsibility?

And what happened to the boat itself?  Apart from the lock gates themselves, was anyone or any boat injured in the making of this story? You never hear about how these things actually happen. 

Which is a pity, because the rest of us could perhaps learn a lot from this episode.  If only we heard the boater's perspective and not the administrator's or critic's.

Locks aside, it's a lovely stretch of canal, especially at this time of the year, and if you can't take your boat down, you can still walk there. 

I remember it well.  When I walked below Lock 24 that late evening in June 2005 I was privileged to witness an angler catch a carp bream perch some sort of fish.

Busy midsummer weekend

The number of canal-related events hits a peak at midsummer, and no-one should be at a loss for what to do this weekend. Most are canalside, but not all.

Me?  Today, I'm planning first to visit the exhibition of Robert Longden's photographs at the Herbert Gallery in Coventry.

(My earlier post about this exhibition is here, and you'll find the good review from last weekend's Guardian here.)

While this show actually runs through to the end of August, I really want to catch it today, its first day. 

Why?  Well, partly because it's a chance to talk to the show's curator and organiser, Stephen Pochin, who'll be there.

But mainly because this is also the weekend of the annual Braunston Historic Working Boat Rally and Canal Festival. 

The Braunston rally would seem exactly the sort of place that should know about the Longden exhibition, but when I spoke to Stephen he hadn't heard about Braunston.  I wouldn't have expected him to, of course, but it seems a propitious day to open such an exhibition. 

He also said that the Herbert Gallery seems to have printed many more leaflets than needed, so I offered to take some with me to the Braunston rally.

Ouch, I've just seen that admission to the Braunston show is '£10 per car'.   I don't know if that's just for parking, or admission to the site.  I only wanted to give them some leaflets and meet some friends.  Maybe I can park on the other side of the village, or in a country lane somewhere and walk a mile or two along the canal towpath.  £10 (plus 40 miles driving) is a lot to pay for doing a favour.

Braunston Marina plays host to this gathering of old working canal boats every year, but outside the working boat community itself the rally/festival/show never seems to get much publicity.  Indeed, the marina's own website trumpets "moorings available!" on the front page, and news about the festival is tucked away, halfway down an inside page. 

(Listen, chaps, the most important thing on any website's home page should be what's happening now or next.  Don't hide events inside!)

The marina website does have a very pretty picture of a poster (right), but it's only in low-resolution and you wouldn't see it if you didn't scroll down.

I get the impression that nothing at Braunston Marina ever is promoted well, but I will be too intimidated to tell them because they've never taken my customer feedback very well in the past. It must be the way I say it.

Follow Sarah's Chertsey blog if you want to know what's happening (or probably - past tense - what happened) at the Braunston show. 

But that's just two things to do on the canals this weekend.  You could try the Tom Rolt Centenary Rally in Chester, if Braunston's too far to come.  Or go to Waterscape's Events page to see what's happening in your area.

I'll be driving 150 miles today just to visit the Longden exhibition and Braunston show.  Your mileage may well vary, but you should go to the canals this weekend too.  You really should.

Ashby Boats gallery of building their boats

I've been looking at the Ashby Boats website.  I never noticed before, but they've made some pretty detailed reports of building their boats. 

There's the 55ft Carlton, in 2007, and the 58ft Measham in 2008, the construction of both being recorded in considerable detail. 

I would add 'fascinating' too, except the detail is probably more than most casual readers would want and there's a lot of clicking to do.  

Still, if you've hired one of their boats for the first time and it's a rainy day and you don't really know what goes into making a narrowboat I'd imagine you'd really enjoy the look behind the scenes.

Quicker and easier is the simple scroll-through of the construction of their latest boat for the 2010 season, Hawkesbury.

This boat is almost ready to go out for its first hiring any day now, and I did enjoy looking through the fifty photographs, from the first empty view inside the shell last November (below) right through to the very latest update this week (bottom).

(I think that Aqua Narrowboats were the first to record the build of a hire narrowboat, as a blog back in January 2007 - read Aqua's first post about the building of their second boat 'H30' here).  

That was pretty good, but January 2007 is a century ago in Internet Years.  Realistically, I can see the way Ashby Boats have recorded the building of Hawkesbury is more practical to view.

[Declaration of interest: I'm still working my way through the hamper of gluten-free products Ashby Boats sent me last month, part of their Gluten-Free Shop online business.  The beer's long-gone -*burp!*- and I'm on the breadsticks and cooking sauce tonight.]

Lock cottage on Tame Valley Canal for sale

As I'm always saying, you can never be too rich or too thin or have too many lock cottages.

A year ago I mentioned one on the Perry Barr lock flight that was being restored for sale - see:

Lock cottage soon for sale on the Perry Barr flight.

(pictured above, during the 2009 BCN 24hr Challenge, when inside it was a hive of restoration work.)

It's taken a year, but it's finally on the market, and for £220,000 freehold: 

75 Deykin Avenue Witton, Birmingham B6 7B

(Google maps location here.)

Traditional detached Grade II Listed canalside lock keeper's cottage. Built in the 1840s, this 3 bedroom detached property is structurally unchanged but has been completely modernised inside, rewired, replastered, fully central heated, new fitted kitchen, fully fitted bathroom suite (newly tiled), exterior walls dry lined and insulated, new traditional wooden sash windows, carpeted throughout. The property is fully alarmed. Offroad parking at the rear of the property.

For more information contact Mick: [email protected]

Tel: 07725 022307

Let's mention one thing that the sales particulars don't touch on but will affect its appeal:  It's barely a half-mile from the Aston Villa FC stadium, so will suit an avid Villan.  It's also within earshot of Spaghetti Junction, but you won't hear it when you are indoors and  even outside you'll be able to hear the charming chuckle of water through the lock gates.

I do hope whoever buys it is also a keen canaloholic and welcomes passing boaters.

The vendors are three private guys - Mick, Mike and Eamon - who bought it as a shell after BW failed to sell it to someone else at auction, and who have restored and significantly improved it inside.

And they are now selling it privately too, outside of the usual estate agency remit.  One result is you won't find it on property search engine Globrix.

They sent me an 8mb Word doc, which is a bit too large to put up here and really isn't the best way to show off this building anyway.   And I can't link to it elsewhere - you'll have to call Mike and ask him to send you details.  But it does look nice inside - although they've removed the lovely old solid fuel Rayburn stove that used  to be in the kitchen.

But if you want a BCN canalside cottage, this could be the one.

You can see it here on Google Maps and Street View.  They say it's got off-road parking, and one of the great things about Street View is that you can verify this sort of thing even before you visit.

On Street View it does look a little 'closed in' by the big warehouse behind, but take my word for it, once you are at the front door, you'll see little but the canal to your right and the lock in front of you.

Exhibition of Robert Longden's photos in Coventry

This Saturday sees the opening of An Inland Voyage, an exhibition of 43 remarkable photographs by Robert Longden, at The Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry.

It runs until Aug 30th, and admission is free. Download now a free pdf leaflet describing the exhibition and its associated events during the summer.

These remarkable 1940s post-war pictures - of working boats and boat people in Coventry and at Hawkesbury Junction - are already well known from A Canal People, the 1997 book (with commentary by Sonia Rolt) which first brought them to light. 

Yesterday's Guardian has a good article on the exhibition here, with a slideshow of some of the images here.

The exhibition is being curated by Stephen Pochin, the great-grandson of Robert Longden.

Appropriately, Stephen is a graphic design professional and picture restorer in his own right, and he's not only reprinted these remarkable images, but wandered the towpath and recorded his own images of the scene as it is today. 

He's also persuaded Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum to loan a selection of original working boat artefacts, the better to give context to the pictures. 

What surprised me was that the images aren't from conventional negatives as I'd expected, but 3 1/4" square glass lantern slide positives, taken on what was (by modern standards) very unwieldy equipment, and developed at home in his understairs cupboard.

And presumably that made them harder to restore, not least because the exhibition prints are 39" square.

There's also a great article about the show by Stephen in the forthcoming issue of Waterways World.  (It's worth buying for that alone.)

This post is an opportunity for me to trot out some of my own photos of Hawkesbury Junction.  Oh, all right, just the one, of Hawkesbury Junction at dusk.  One's plenty.

You've seen this before, but I do love dusk.

Brief canal water drought looming?

Lack of rain means canal users face locks curfew - Craven Herald and Pioneer

Last weekend the local paper whose remit extends over the highest parts of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal warned of boating restrictions:

Locks on the Leeds-to-Liverpool canal are being closed after 4.30pm because there has not been enough rain this summer.

Exceptionally dry conditions so far this year mean British Waterways has had to take water from its reservoirs to keep the canal full.

And, to preserve supplies for the busy summer months, most of the 91 locks are now only open between 9am and 4.30pm.

Sounds like a summer water crunch is probably coming. 

(By the way,  for one daft commenter on this particular newspaper's story, the answer is slap-forehead simple:

If the canal company are short of water for their customers water craft, then why do they not use desalinated water by building their own plant. Then pumping it to their storage reservoirs.

That reminds me of a little girl I once knew, who pestered her mother to buy her a toy.  Her mother said "But Charlotte, I can't afford it!"  Charlotte retorted: "Well, why don't you go to the bank and get some money out?")

Why is padlocking the flights after a certain time considered a water-saving move?  In mid-summer, by far my favourite time of day for boating is early evening, from 5pm onwards, and many people prefer the misty early morn.  I suppose closing the locks is a way of focusing your mind on water saving.  Or perhaps it's ... but who knows.

We've not heard much about this so far, but rainfall in the north has been very poor for the first half of the year. 

I asked Waterscape about this, but they don't seem to do water supply reports, just general features like this one.

However, it turns out that the Environment Agency can help. 

Here is their Water Situation Report for England and Wales, together with the more detailed Current Water Status page. 

Today it says:

The water situation across England and Wales is varied.

In North West England, without substantial rainfall, there is a risk of drought this summer that could impact on both the environment and water supplies.

In Wales, South West and central England, there is also a risk to the environment if below average rainfall and hot, dry conditions continue.

For the rest of England, the risk of drought remains low, but this could change if the weather remains dry.

Interestingly, this is an inversion of the usual position, where  the South and East tends to get the worst of drought.

Most worrying of all, says the latest 'Drought Brief' (pdf):

It has been the driest start to the year in our North West region since 1929. The region had the sixth consecutive month of below average rainfall and the second consecutive month of less than fifty percent of the long term average.

It has also been the driest start to the year since 1976 in Wales and Midlands region.

Yikes! 

By the way, don't you love that optimistic title, Drought Brief.  Let's hope it is.

CutConnect

I see there's a new waterways forum called CutConnect, with the tagline 'Keeping boaters in touch'.

It joins (let's see):

uk.rec.waterways

canalworld

justcanals

narrowboatworld forums

boatsandcanals

canalboat

Any others I've missed out?

(There's also Facebook's 'Canals, rivers, narrowboats and all things boaty', and all the consequent mess of labyrinthine connections that confuse me to death about Facebook.)

[Update 23rd June: I've been asked to point out that CutConnect is far more than just a 'forum', and is designed to be a whole social networking system.]

On first looking at CutConnect , I thought it looked really smart and sophisticated, and I wondered which large company could be behind it.  Could it be one of the big magazine publishers, perhaps? 

I was alarmed to see 5,000 words of terms and conditions, all governed by 'the laws of the State of Alabama, USA', which made me wonder if some big corporation was about to invade the English canals.

Turns out that it uses phpFox, a 'social network script' that allows almost anyone to set up such a system, tweaking the look and feel to give their own identity. I presume the T&Cs are simply generic, boilerplate stuff. 

Being based on a standard template is no bad thing - allowing anyone to set up their own network like this is a bit like allowing  anyone to throw their own party. 

Whether it succeeds or not will depend on the hard work that founder Neil Rees puts in.  It takes a lot of work to get an online community going, and the reward is simply to be taken for granted.  Best of luck, Neil!

In short, you can build it, but they probably won't come.  What it usually takes to build a social community is  a lot of shepherding, over at least months, and probably rather more. 

You'll have to go out with your sheepdog and a shitty stick and beat them in.  When it comes to social networks people do tend to be like sheep. I guess that for most people, following the hairy bottom in front of you is the only way to know what the flock is going on.

NY canals and the role of government in waterways

I can't explain why, but although I've never taken to the canals of mainland Europe, I've long admired the canals of New England. 

And especially the Erie Canal, linking the Hudson River (and thus New York City) with the Great Lakes. Many of these canals are almost as old as the second wave of English canals, of Telford's era.

Maybe it's a greater sense of 'municipalism', in that the New York State Canal System is operated and endowed with a natural sense of public responsibility, as both a leisure and a commercial resource.

Or maybe it's because, in my limited experience of driving and visiting canalside upstate New York, it just felt a lot more British than French canals did to me. 

A story in the Buffalo News announces the 'Canalway Water Trail', which:

... the corporation hopes to expand in the future, pinpoints the spots where people can launch their powerboats or paddleboats into the historic waterway. For free.

The system map, available on the corporation's Web site - www.canals.ny.gov - also lists the additional amenities found at each sight, including parking, picnic facilities, restrooms and, sometimes, camping areas.

Something I found very interesting is that the canals are owned by the NY State Thruway Authority, a big commercial motorway system which got most of its money - until quite recently - via road tolls. 

This would be a bit like the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals being transferred into the care of the M6 Toll Road.  And yet, it seems to work.

But what made me start to write this post is that I suddenly noticed the NY Canal System's web address is a government one.

To extend the analogy, that would be like British Waterways' URL being www.waterways.gov.uk.  I mean, how likely is that?

For all the reputation the United State has of being the home of raw, unfettered capitalism, sometimes I wonder if there's a greater sense of civic duty - more municipalism - than we ever give them credit for.

In Britain, perhaps volunteering is the closest we come to municipalism.  If you search for waterways.gov.uk, Google suggests the Inland Waterways Association instead.

Maffi Dredd: I am the canal Law

Maffi is now a waterways judge on the Oxford Canal Circuit, and has been dispensing summary justice by blog.

[Update 21/6: Maffi has replied to this post on his blog here.]

His post last Monday, Two wrongs don't make a right, fingers, apprehends, prosecutes, convicts and passes sentence on evildoer perp narrowboat 'Summer Run': 

Me: Excuse me Sir but you are going a bit too fast for passing moored boats.

Him: I don’t think I am my friend.

Me: I am not your friend and you are going way to fast.

By this time he was speeding through the basin.  Only God knows what happened to his water skier.

He moored up in Thrupp on Saturday. I passed his boat at 07:30 Sunday morning his engine was running. I still think I have reasonable cause to THINK he is an arrogant git.

Today he came past the wharf, our wharf, like a bullet!

Me: Excuse me Sir you are travelling way too fast. 

Him: People pass us at speed all the time, my friend.

Me: That doesn’t make it right. Please slow down and I told you last week you are not my friend.

He turned his nose in the air waved his hand like he was batting away a fly and continued. Now I KNOW he is an arrogant git and an arse to boot.

To ensure we all recognise the retribution, he takes a mugshot.  

Hmm.  Maffi's horizons these days seem to be crowded in by an awful lot of inconsiderate, arrogant gits and arses.  Why are they all clustering around him like flies?  Are there really that many in such a small area, or could it possibly be his perception?

I'm sure that he will approve of every word on Considerate Boater, the website that politely doffs its cap and explains how to take your boat from A to B without putting I before U.

But what Considerate Boater doesn't mention is how to identify other, inconsiderate, boaters, and how to behave considerately towards them and get them to understand your point of view without thinking of them as arrogant gits or contemptible arses.  To me, this is just as much a part of considerate boating.

It's strange, but now that I'm more experienced I don't see even one-tenth the number of inconsiderate boaters that I used to when I was starting out. 

Instead, I simply come across more and more intolerant, crabby old people on the bank who can't tie up their boats tight, who expect to moor online forever undisturbed, who know more than other boaters  and who are ceaselessly alert to the faults of others.  Above all, they know all the rules, regulations and byelaws to the letter, and can spot immediately when these are broken. Unlike the three wise monkeys, they see, hear and speak evil.

I fear that if the canals ever see the return of traditional cargo-carrying boatmen, many of these people are in for a rude awakening.

By the way, when researching this post I was amused to learn that one of Judge Dredd's arch-enemies is  'the mutant terrorist Mr Bones'.

See also:

Thank you for not putting out rude signs.

H. Lehmann camera repairs

A big shout-out for H. Lehmann of Stoke on Trent.

This unprepossessing little shop in a Stoke on Trent suburb does only one thing, but it does it well: It repairs cameras.  And it's a recognised Nikon and Canon repair centre.

I found it after I dropped my Nikon camera outside Harecastle Tunnel in January, and the lens broke. 

I took the cameras there, and the guy there sucked his teeth - tsk! - and said he could repair it, but it would be an unknown amount, just £65 an hour for their services and recommended instead that I look to buy another camera.  Which they don't sell, so it wasn't for their benefit.

I was impressed with this.  Or perhaps they were just too busy. I don't know why I was impressed, but I was.

As I left (it was closing time, 5pm in January), they pressed the button to close the shutters in the front of the shop.  I crossed the road, and as the shutters reached halfway, I clicked my shutter (above).

It's only about half a mile from the canal, if  you need to moor.

Here it is in Google Streetview.

I forgot to mention, while the camera body was still OK, I ordered a new lens.  Not from Lehmann, they don't sell camera spares.

National Bike Week, sponsored by?

In my post about National Bike Week, I mentioned that the week is being sponsored by EDF Energy. 

So National Bike Week is now officially called Team Green Britain Bike Week.

I've got a bee in my bonnet about sponsorship.  It's always confusing when a commercial sponsor pays to have an event renamed after them, rather than just to advertise at the event.  For example, there's The Carling Premiership and The Barclays Premier League and The Virgin London Marathon. 

Sponsorships are arranged marriages, where a plain but rich company pays a handsome dowry to a glamorous sportsman.  Then the sportsman has to take on the bride's name - which is almost inevitably nothing to do with the sport. 

I mean, how many virgins do you know who'll run the marathon next year? And how many well-paid pro footballers like to swell their bellies with cheap lager?

Who would you have sponsoring National Bike Week?  Well, it could always be National Cycles.

By the way, the one exception to misleading sponsorship was in the early days of the London Marathon, when it was sponsored by the Marathon chocolate bar.  I mean, that was an obvious and so-right sponsorship, wasn't it? 

Then Mars went and changed it to the silly 'Snickers' and started supporting, well, silly things. 

We should support the 'Bring Back Marathon' campaign.  It's a long-running one, obviously.

National Bike Week 2010

National Bike Week starts on Saturday, and runs for a very long week, until Monday 27th June. 

National Bike Week is what everyone seems to call it, except for the official organisers, who refer to it as Team Green Bike Week, thanks to sponsorship from the Team Green Britain initiative of EDF Energy. 

The event is officially summed up in what could be two tweets: 

[It's] an annual opportunity to promote cycling and show how cycling can easily be part of everyday life.

Demonstrating the social, health and environmental benefits of cycling, the week aims to get people to give cycling a go all over the UK.

Many towpaths are now recognised cycle routes, especially in towns, although there's an uneasy truce between cyclists and other towpath users.  This is especially true for anglers, whose 'roach poles' make handy hurdles for runners but turn any cycle outing into a cyclo-cross event.

You can find a National Bike Week event near you on the Event Search page, but it's not really geared to the waterways and there's no keyword search.  For example, there's no way of searching for the word 'canal'.   You need to know what postcode or town you are in. 

This is a major oversight.  You can easily cover several towns or postcodes in a single day, but you might want a type of canal event, and there aren't any listed.  

On the other hand British Waterways has organised the most bizarrely inappropriate event for Bike Week - a canalside music gig on the Regent's Canal :

Take part in British Waterways' Bike Week.  Everyone's welcome. Come and enjoy live music played from the roof of the River Rat Pack boat, on the Regent's Canal towpath outside the Palm Tree Pub in Mile End Park.

Location of the concert here. I'm not sure how you are supposed to listen to music as you cycle - surely it's rather dangerous? 

And no chance of cycling through a canalside concert, still less of anyone hearing the 'two tings' you must sound when you meet concertgoers on the towpath. 

On the other hand, maybe the idea is to force cyclists to encounter a mass-pedestrian event and learn to slow down or dismount on the towpath.  Crafty!

But from the boater's point of view the bicycle is ideal for 'lock wheeling', which is using a bicycle to go ahead on lock flights to get the locks ready.  (On the old working canals this was also known as 'hobbling'.  When you think of it, this is precisely what the River Rat Pack concert will do to towpath cyclists!)

I think it would be marvellous to have lock-wheeling events around the country this weekend, to celebrate the union of canals and cycles in harmony, instead of competition. 

Cyclists who'd never boated should be able to look up their nearest lockwheel, so they can learn how to do it and help out the boaters.  But I've only just thought of this, and it looks like no one else has organised them.  Or at least publicised them.  Is there still time to organise any?

The only lock-wheeling cyclist I've ever met is Aidan Matthews, who loves cycling the towpaths of the BCN, carrying his own windlass and helping out boaters.  He's helped me out on occasion, particularly on the heavily locked Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.  I mentioned him before, here.  

Two pictures of Aidan below, help me descend the Aston flight.  Thanks, Aidan!

Delayed post - reduced to clear

I just found a blog post from a month ago that I left in 'drafts'.  I've now finally got around to putting it up.  Sorry. I'm not sure how much you missed - you'll be the judge:  

See: 10% off chandlery (and dog treats?) at Mercia Marina 

I've set it to the original date (early May).  Below is another photo from the set.