Search results for tag #boating
I run a dehumidifier (prevents mold), and 2 small electric heaters that switch on just above freezing (protects plumbing).
I do without a fridge in #winter. Instead, I keep food in the back cabin where it's cooler, away from the wood stove.
For light, I rely a lot on candles, because the leftover wax also helps me light the wood stove.
I have no idea whether I'm supposed to keep the #batteries connected or not while I'm on a #shoreline.
The boat is in a marina, probably for the winter unless it rains a LOT before the end of September. If it does rain lots, it'll be possible to head out again in October, despite the short days by then.
Meanwhile, using a shoreline, I have plugged in the boat to an electric meter on land. I started with a £10 credit, and have set an alarm for tomorrow to see how much gets used in 24 hours.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #marina #electricity #power #shoreline
Chatting, today, with hire-boaters returning their narrowboat 3 days early because of the heat. I told them: 7 minutes from here there are tree-lined moorings, the shade will reduce your onboard temperature at least 5°C (9°F).
It's too bad, because they'll never again hire a boat. People with good experiences tell their friends, and support #CRT and canal funding.
#CanalLife #BoatLife #BoatingLife #canal #funding #boating #boat #narrowboat #boathire #hire #rent #rental #weather #heat #heatwave
I pay little attention to brands of paint. It's more a question of: "Which of the 7 tins of partially used paint/finish does this job need?"
I have 2 colours glossy exterior + 1 black + 1 grey primer + 1 reddish rust-inhibitor + 1 conventional varnish + 1 boat varnish, all 7 of which need storage space on board.
#CanalLife #BoatLife #BoatingLife #canal #boat #boating #narrowboat #paint #varnish #maintenance
As I sit here reading, my eyes are watering. It turns out that, as it dries, boat varnish stings my eyes.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #maintenance #wood #varnish
To weather the heatwave, boaters have moored their boats between stands of shady, tall trees.
The drawback is less solar power. After a few days of daytime shade the boat batteries get run down.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #vegetation #tree #shade #weather #heatwave #UK
Alt...
Several narrowboats tied to a hard concrete bank, between two stands of tall, green, leafy trees.
The narrowboats vary in length. The photo shows 4 but there are a dozen more behind the camera.
The canal has a bend. The afternoon sun is able to peek around from there to light the trees on the left side. The camera brightened the whole photo, which would otherwise be quite dark — it's shady! This leaves the small bit of sky over the canal overexposed. (It's so bright, it's blurry.)
Yes. Numerous locks are closed due to water shortages.
Last year CRT closed most of the Midlands with only a week notice. During that week, locks were restricted to a narrow band of hours. There was frantic #boating that week—at 3 miles per hour—as people got their boats to the right places for winter.
Last month, as water levels dropped, I could see it coming. I make a 150-mile detour around closed locks to reach the section that has my winter marina.
@OneInterestingFact @RichBartlett
The #CanalPlan map will work for me! Thanks.
I added a shortcut to my phone's home screen. It opens in the browser of my choice.
Drawbacks. It takes 3 extra taps: launch the #map, expand it to full screen, then auto-zoom to my current location. It loads a tad slowly. It lacks stoppages—but I subscribe to CRT's emails.
Advantages. It has #canal details I need (water points, winding holes, locks). The map isn't obscured by icons or advertising.
The boat is at a high point of the canal network. From here, all the locks descend. All the water from up here flows away — 100,000 litres (22,000 gallons) each time a lock cycles.
Next to the boat, a pipe steadily feeds water into the canal. I don't know which reservoir feeds it — could it be the Knypersley wildlife refuge? — or whether it's being pumped back up from below.
#CanalLife #canal #WaterLevel #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #water #reservoir #wildlife #UK #drought
Steel-hull boat upkeep.
1. On a calm, sunny day, find a place where you can reach the rust spots from the shore or dock.
2. Sand off the rust and then paint on the rust-blocking primer.
3. Let it dry, and hope not too much dust or plant seeds blow onto the wet paint.
4. Wait for a calm sunny day to paint over primed spots with a top coat, and let it dry.
5. Admire the boat.
6. Go to step 1.
#CanalLife #BoatLife #steel #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #hull #rust #maintenance #paint
At the appropriately named swan doors, swans appear on the canal.
Here's trouble, and trouble wants to be fed.
Not healthy bird seed, mind you. Trouble wants white bread.
Now.
Not in a mood to say please.
Just hand it over.
#cygnet #swan #wildlife #waterfowl #bird #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat
Without a towpath, horses couldn't go through the Harecastle tunnel. On your map app, the overland path from one end to the other of the tunnel is called Boathorse Road.
The boat crew, laying on the roof or on a plank across the boat, used their legs to push the boat through the tunnel. This was called legging, and they'd have to do that the entire 2.4 kilometers (1.6 miles), for a solid THREE HOURS or more.
#CanalLife #canal #history #UK #boating #narrowboat #boat #barge #transport #shipping
A lower water level of 2 inches (5cm) made a difference in the middle of the Harecastle tunnel. Even keeping my head down in the dark, I still scraped my raincoat hood on the ceiling.
It was 40 minutes in the dark, with that pinpoint of light getting gradually larger.
It's hard to estimate the distance. When it looks like 30 seconds to the exit, it's actually still four minutes.
Toward the end I took this photo.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #tunnel #CRT
Alt...
This photo was taken 5 minutes from the exit, so 35 minutes through the tunnel.
It shows an arc of light from the boat's headlamp that illuminates part of the tunnel.
There's no footpath in here, just dark water and dark air inside a seemingly endless stone tube built two centuries years ago. Despite this year's UK drought, there's still some water dripping from above, in places.
In the distance is the mouth of the tunnel — a bright blur. The camera didn't capture any sharp detail; in the confined darkness, the small but very bright area ahead was too much for it to focus on. The roof of the narrowboat is also blurry, and fades to dark ess in the photo's foreground, taken from the stern (back of the narrowboat).
You might ask why I didn't just ask for a copy of the issue that my work appeared in. I did but never got a response. I decided not to press it because I didn't want them to know that I read each month's issue from my library in the Libby app. So I coughed up $75 for three years subscription. I'm hoping to write at least one article per year for them.
If you are interested in long cruises and the boats that can do them, I highly recommend the magazine. PassageMaker.com #boating (2/2)
I don't keep track of canal trivia. I don't know, for example, which canal lock is deepest — meaning the difference in the canal's water level above and below the lock is great.
I went through a lock that is deep. The ladder inside the chamber was very tall. When standing on the roof of the boat, there was no dry rung to reach for. All the rungs in reach were slimy.
Believe me, this lock was many meters (or yards) deep.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #lock
I often get kids to help with locks, for a new experience.
I manage the safety.
Parents tend to hover and warn, "Careful!" when kids walk across a lock gate. Or they provide an answer when I ask the child, "What do you think is the next step?" Or they help wind a physically demanding paddle instead of letting the child feel accomplishment.
One 11-year-old shifted a 1,640 kilogram oak gate on her own.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #boat #narrowboat #locks #child #learn #experience
Misread the map book.
On one page: 4 locks.
On the next page: 4 locks.
Must be the same 4 locks, right? Actually, no. That's the drawback of an analogue map book printed on paper, when you turn the page.
4️⃣➕4️⃣🟰8️⃣
I miss the digital Open Canal Map that was updated a few weeks ago and made slower, less usable, and partially enshittified.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #locks #map #MapBook #OpenCanalMap
How will this end?
Three coot chicks, still in the black fluffy stage, have lost their parents. They were panic-peeping, tightly grouped and paddling away from a lock.
Other boaters heard from pedestrians that the adults are above the lock with a fourth chick.
After a half hour, the three chicks eventually settled on some reeds (see photo). They have food, but without an adult to protect them they're too young to make it.
#CanalLife #canal #waterfowl #coot #bird #wildlife #UK #boat #boating
Tomorrow another guest arrives for an overnight stay.
Two weeks ago our guest took a famous person on a semi-private tour, and we're hoping for a full report of how that went.
And if not, it's always good to have extra hands on board. We'll have some locks to do, and there's the water tank to fill. Of course, a lovely stretch of waterway to boat through, and some meals to share.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #BoatHands
Just walked over to offer moral support to a long narrowboat attempting to wind (turn) in a winding hole.
It should have been a 3-point turn, but some 🤬 moored along the towpath in the winding hole, in the No Mooring zone, which reduced the available space by a lot.
The boater's dog picked up on the stress, and was barking. Other boats were waiting for him to finish. A sideways boat in a winding hole blocks the entire canal.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #boating #narrowboat #winding #CRT
Damp, yes. Cooler, yes.
In the much deeper cuts, 20 minutes before this photo, much of the towpath was muddy. The walls of the cut are stone, there.
Given the drought, where was that water coming from, I wonder? Was it being released by the earth, after 1½ months of dry weather? Or was it leaking from a river, up above?
#SUC #CRT #UK #boating #boaty #narrowboat #canal #water #shortage #WaterShortage
Green tunnel effect.
The canal here is cut into the land, and the trees reach for the light.
#CanalLife #canal #cutr #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #UK
Alt...
A canal with a green canopy of trees overhead, seen from the stern of a narrowboat. The towpath is in the left.
The ground is dry after several heatwaves, and the trees aren't as lush as in past years. Bits of sky peek through between the green leaves. Parts of the towpath grass is dry and yellowing.
From the bow, I clipped a bouquet from a stand of staghorn sumac that's growing on the offside of the canal, only accessible by water.
These plants are native to southeastern Canada, so were obviously brought to the UK for their ornamental appeal to gardeners. These ones are growing wild, gradually spreading alongside a short stretch of canal in Shropshire.
#bloomscroll #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #flower #bloom #tree #plant #vegetation #garden
Alt...
Seen from above: a half-dozen dark red blooms with their leaves, in a glass vase sitting on an oak surface. The blooms have the fuzzy texture of a Persian rug, and each have many lobes. The green leaves are longer than they are wide, similar to willow leaves, but with a sawtooth edge.
... [SENSITIVE CONTENT]
Canal & River Trust's "parking pole" says: mooring to the right for five days.
That weird black shape with the slash represents a bollard with a rope tied to it. It means: "You can tie up your boat here."
After an overnight stay, the boat's moving on. There are 15 locks starting about 30 meters (roughly 35 yards) from here. And it's time to find a pump-out, maybe tomorrow.
#CanalLife #BoatingLife #BoatLife #canal #boating #boat #narrowboat #sign #mooring #CRT #UK
Alt...
A black post that has 4 square signs on it:
• Blue CRT logo and name.
• Mooring allowed sign.
• 5-day max sign.
• green "to the right" arrow.
Green brush growing behind the sign. The canal is behind the camera (not shown).
This ground paddle has been raised, as shown by the straight, toothed rack: it is all the way up. (A paddle is an underwater door that holds back tons of water.)
The shiny black parts are greased. This helps the gears move smoothly.
Sticking out on the left is a steel rod, or spindle. Boaters put a tool (a windlass) on the spindle to wind the mechanism up or down.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #lock #GroundPaddle #paddle #spindle #gear #rack #windlass
Decided to turn right and take the 5×-as-long route because the direct route is closed due to water shortages.
Even the Canal and River Trust's own volunteers say CRT is "too reactive" — not even tactical — about managing canal water levels.
#CanalLife #BoatLife #BoatingLife #canal #boating #boat #narrowboat #CRT #water #shortage #drought #climate #management
🧵 cont'd
… friend on the Peak Forest Canal that the status of the stoppage up there flipped between Closed and Assisted passage, 3× in 2 days, as CRT tries to manage the water levels. A thankless job, no doubt. 💦
The CRT website says water levels are better now than this time last year. I'm ready when you are, CRT. I need 5 minutes to put on my shoes and hat.
#CanalRiverTrust #CRT #CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #water #shortage #drought #climate
🧵/end.
My jeans, when they dry, are covered in salt stains.
It's because I'm sweating from the heat, while operating locks on the canal.
I wear heavy jeans in this heat because nettles along the towpath sting bare legs, but mainly to prevent Blandford flies from taking a sizeable bite and leaving an itchy welt.
#CanalLife #canal #insect #plant #nettle #clothing #heat #sweat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #BoatLife #boat
Alt...
White, dried salt stains on a grey, twill weave denim garment.
Alt...
A Blandford fly taking a bite of human.
Windlass in hand for winding lock paddles, I hopped off the boat on the way to a lock. On the 50 meters (about 50 yards) of towpath, I passed under an apple tree, from which I picked three medium apples.
Arriving at the lock, another boater said, "I thought you brought tennis balls."
Nope, just apples and a windlass.
The apples, with the addition of flour, butter, sugar, and spice, will later become tarts.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #narrowboat #apple #baking #cooking
Alt...
Three freshly picked green apples and one steel windlass laying on an oak board.
The windlass is an L-shaped steel bar. Each leg of the L is about 30 centimeters (1 foot). On one end, the windlass has several square holes that fit onto the winding mechanism of a gate paddle. Gate paddles can be wound up or down to let water either fill or drain from their lock chamber. Locks act as stairs of water that canals use to traverse a hilly landscape while keeping the water level so it doesn't flow away. (That would be a river.)
One way a narrowboat differs from a traditional car:
While piloting the boat, the pilot can say, "Take over for me?" and then walk off while the engine stays in gear.
The replacement has time to put away a pen and notepad (such as the grocery list), get up, take the tiller, look around to see where the boat is heading, and make any minor course adjustments.
All this at a breakneck pace of three miles per hour.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #leisure #slow
In the evening, it's time to move the boat for a few hours and then moor in the shade of some tall trees.
This evening, the boat is sticking out about 2 meters (2 yards) past a "No mooring" sign. All the other spots along this row of tall trees are taken.
With a forecast high of 30°C (86°F), I'm hoping nobody's out on the towpath enforcing rules. Today, the inside of the boat reached 36°C (97°F). It's cooled to 29°C (84°F).
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #CRT #mooring
Some bridges are short, some are tall.
The classic brick or stone-block bridges have a common shape: the humpback bridge. These are common across the entire UK canal network.
When canals were cut deep, bridges were built taller, like on the Shropshire Union canal.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #bridge #UK #Midlands
Alt...
A brick, humpback bridge across a canal, on a partly cloudy day, with trees and green on both sides. The towpath is on the right, and passes under the bridge with the canal.
Alt...
An arched bridge on stone-and-brick pilings, over a canal, with trees and green in front and behind the bridge on both sides of the canal. The towpath is on the left side, and passes under the bridge with the canal.
I just wrote (emailed) Baroness Bakewell, who introduced the Rights of Boat Dwellers bill, aimed at closing a legal gap for 100,000+ people in the UK who live on boats.
I asked her to include a clause that bans financial services (banks and credit agencies) from lowering the credit rating of boat dwellers based solely on the fact that their home floats.
You can write her too:
https://members.parliament.uk/member/4285/contact
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #law #BoatDwellers #NoFixedAddress #UK
A half-day of nonstop locks is a workout for my glutes and shoulders.
Glutes must get a workout when I use my legs to push open a lock gate that doesn't really want to budge yet. I could wait a bit longer for the lock to fill, but when you have 20+ locks to do, I apply "let's get this over with" tactics.
Shoulders must get a workout when I wind paddles up and down.
#CanalLife #canal #lock #exercise #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #UK
A cast-iron milestone in traditional black-and-white paint, along the New Mainline of the Birmingham Canal Network or BCN.
The letters are raised, so can still be read up close, despite the black paint having flaked off.
Heading left, or southeast:
• Northbrook Street.
• Rotton Park Junction.
• Gas Street Basin.
Heading right, or northwest:
• Winson Green Junction.
• Rabone Lane.
• Galton Valley.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #CRT #UK #milestone #history
Alt...
A black pole, with raised letters, BCN, at the top. It has two signs, also with raised letters. One sign faces left, the other right. Much of the paint has worn off the raised letters.
Text is described in the post.
In the background is a steep bank, overgrown by an assortment of plants, mostly green, a few with flowers.
The canal (not shown) is behind the camera. The milestone and its signs are positioned to face passing boaters.
On board is a pair of rose clippers that can cut stalks, twigs, and small branches.
From time to time, when the vegetation has ridiculously overgrown the canal from the side or from above (I'm looking at you, weeping willows), I will stop, float in place, and spend 10 minutes pruning and trimming.
It's important not to leave stubs that will scratch the paint off boats that pass too closely.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #vegetation #CRT #pruning #paint
Set out for 2 hours, at 7pm, once the air cooled a bit.
By 9 pm, moored in a low-traffic canal, tall trees on both sides for shade from tomorrow's heat. There are industrial buildings on both sides, but industry is quiet after hours.
Right?
Nope.
After sunset, the place starts up. Clink clank bang and some sort of blower.
I think it's a bakery. It smells like bread. This may go on for quite a while.
🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞
🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #mooring
As of this evening, the boat is moored beside an ASDA and a McDonald's, both of which have air-conditioning. Tomorrow, while it is 33°C or more, a certain boater will be sitting in McDonald's for a lo-o-o-ong time.
I hope my 12-volt fridge can handle the strain.
Two years ago during the heatwave, it was the seating area of a Morrison's, but many grocery chains have shut down their cafeterias and cafés.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #weather #heatwave #UK
As I pass by, I see canal infrastructure being used as a billboard for anti-immigrant graffiti, with slogans such as "This is England" and George's Cross (🏴).
Canal infrastructure dates back to the industrial revolution and peak colonialism.
It's possible the irony is lost on those slathering paint on their cultural assets, on the outskirts of Birmingham in the UK's economically deprived Midlands.
#CanalLife #boating #boat #UK #Britain #England #immigration #vandalism #grafitti #heritage #CRT
Alt...
A brick and steel bridge, seen from the water. It takes the Tame Valley canal towpath across the Rushall canal at Rushall Junction. At water level, under the bridge, an enormous George's Cross is painted on the brick – a red cross on a white ground. I
This symbol also appears on the opposite side (not pictured) and on other nearby bridges (not pictured), sometimes accompanied by the slogan, "This is England" (not pictured), evoking the idea that it's not for people who don't belong.
Still waiting for that spring haulout.
#Boating #Lake #Moletai #WoodBoat
Alt...
A wooden rowboat in green paint. Its dragged half ashore but the stern is in the water. It is also filled with water, suspiciously matching the level of the lake, implying there is a hole in the boat. Two wooden oars in matching reen rest on the plank seat.
With 70+ locks, short lock chambers, and a long tunnel, Ashton Canal is not for the faint of heart. It'd see little traffic.
I entered—but didn't get through—the first Rochdale lock toward the Ashton canal.
With another boat descending that flight, the water amasses at the bottom, and it's impossible to get up without knowing the trick.
I reversed the boat back into the Manchester basin.😅
#CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #Manchester #lock #CRT #UK
Zeeschouw: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schouw_(historisch_scheepje)#Zeeschouw
I've been posting in german so far, but I might post in english as well.
Alt...
Die Wanderschaft liegt ruhig an der Liegestelle Wulfstorf. Das Kanalwasser ist ganz grün, auf beiden Seiten des Kanals sieht man Wald
Alt...
Ein Blick nach Achteraus. An einer Leine wird unser treues Beiboot geschleppt. Auf beiden Seiten des Kanals sieht man Wald
Alt...
Wir passieren ein Binnenschiff, auf dem Heck sieht man mehere große Topfpflanzen, im Hintergrund Wald.
Alt...
Blick über das Heck der Wanderschaft. Etwa 30 Meter unter uns, sieht man Schiffe an der Wartestelle liegen.
Tame Valley canal is full of garbage. Repeatedly I had to stop the engine, open the weed hatch, and pull off an assortment of soft and hard plastic, rope, and pieces of wood, all tangled around the propeller.
Small mercies: the endless beer cans and plastic bottles stay clear of the propeller.
This canal is a wasted green space. Shame on local councils for failing to make it an attractive destination.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #GreenSpace #CRT #UK
When I look out over the forewell at the canal towpath, among the greens I see a riot of flowers: red, several yellows, white, two purples.
When I take a photo of what I see, the flowers recede into the many shades of green: duckweed, grass, green blackberry bushes, trees.
Which version is real: what I see or what the camera sees? I suspect we cannot see our world objectively at all.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #UK #flowers #wildflowers #vegetation #UK
Alt...
A lush, green, leafy view along a canal towpath, seen from the canal. The unmowed towpath is full of wildflowers and an amazing variety of plants. On either side of the canal there are bushes and tall trees, especially—in this case, in this place—on the towpath side.
The canal surface is slightly rippled by the breeze. A few bits of blue sky are visible directly over the canal where the trees haven't quite filled in the sky.
On the Birmingham Canal Network, or BCN, the Tame Valley canal is little used:
• clear water to the bottom.
• trees reach way over the canal.
• no moored or oncoming boats.
In one of the ponds, or short sections between locks, the water level was down two feet (60 centimeters or 7 bricks), so the boat ran aground. By flowing water through the next lock, the boat refloated in 3 mins, no problem.
#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #locks #CRT #UK #Birmingham #BCN