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Post by quaysider on Apr 11, 2018 6:24:11 GMT
So , here we are then - on our way to Liverpool .
Rivers Aire and Calder 1 - NB Ellis - Nil.
ffs...
The chap with us is turns out has his blue boat master thingy and has been a NB owner for 40 years - it'll be very useful and interesting for us to learn from him. Result... THAT is, if the rivers drop enough to let us get to Leeds. hmmf..
I think we're going to look again at early/late season trips and try to begin them away from River sections...
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Post by phil70 on Apr 11, 2018 6:50:28 GMT
Sounds like a plan
Phil
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 11, 2018 7:49:03 GMT
Where is all this water coming from? We are already wary of the River Aire from Castleford uphill to Leeds, and have been thinking if we see another boat going that way we can stick close to them in case we need towing against the current. Also, Lemonroyd Lock (and the other three big 'uns) - we don't want to have our little boat tied up at the bottom gates when that mountain of water comes out (if the locks are full and need emptying) - it was like a blooming tsunami behind us when we scooted off downriver last July at Lemonroyd when another boater started emptying it. Our plan is for me to take the boat about 500m away downriver whilst the Witch does the button-pressing operation, and to come back when the tide with all those horses heads has died down. Good plan.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 8:09:18 GMT
Where is all this water coming from? ps Ellis - au ervoirs - needs correcting. The sky...
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Post by peterboat on Apr 11, 2018 8:48:59 GMT
Where is all this water coming from? We are already wary of the River Aire from Castleford uphill to Leeds, and have been thinking if we see another boat going that way we can stick close to them in case we need towing against the current. Also, Lemonroyd Lock (and the other three big 'uns) - we don't want to have our little boat tied up at the bottom gates when that mountain of water comes out (if the locks are full and need emptying) - it was like a blooming tsunami behind us when we scooted off downriver last July at Lemonroyd when another boater started emptying it. Our plan is for me to take the boat about 500m away downriver whilst the Witch does the button-pressing operation, and to come back when the tide with all those horses heads has died down. Good plan. ps Ellis - au ervoirs - needs correcting. Dont be daft we always moor on the lock mooring on big locks never been sank yet.....................
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Post by cygnus on Apr 11, 2018 8:50:31 GMT
Apparently Spring is here, I'm still waiting for it to show it's face. Hopefully from today the weather is going to improve, and according to this mornings weather report, next week looks good.
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Post by JohnV on Apr 11, 2018 9:40:46 GMT
Where is all this water coming from? In the sky there's lots of holes that's where the rain gets in but these holes are awful small that's why rain is thin Mr S Miligna, that well known typing error.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 11:03:58 GMT
Got to love Milligan. 'Tis due to pigeons that alight on Nelson's hat, that makes it white' Puckoon is worth an hour or two of anybodies time Rog
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Post by TonyDunkley on Apr 11, 2018 12:01:00 GMT
. . . . . . . . . . . . The chap with us is turns out has his blue boat master thingy and has been a NB owner for 40 years - it'll be very useful and interesting for us to learn from him. Don't assume that possessing some sort of paper qualification, especially if it was gained by completing one of the inland waterways courses run by the RYA, has any real meaning or value with regard to boating know-how and ability. I've witnessed their instructors and examiners at work, instructing and testing applicants on river navigations, and quite frankly they were utterly hopeless. It was very apparent that the instructor's/examiner's practical knowledge and experience of river boating was to all intents and purposes non-existent. A natural ability, and the judgement, to handle boats well is something with which people are either born with, or will never have no matter how hard they try, or how much instruction they receive, and going from your account of the mishap at Castleford last week, it sounds as if you're one of the lucky folk born with that natural ability and judgement. It may be that your guest is a competent boat handler who has gained useful knowledge and experience from his 40 years of owning a narrowbeam canalboat, . . . obviously, there is no way of knowing for certain, but all I'm saying is don't be overawed by a bit of paper, and don't assume that 40 years of boat owning equates with 40 years of relevant and useful experience.
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Post by JohnV on Apr 11, 2018 12:02:34 GMT
Puckoon was a true work of comic genius, it must be 50 years since I last read it but still the memory of some passages makes me chuckle. I remember travelling somewhere by train and roaring out loud with laughter over the "commanding fire to fall from heaven" passage.
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Post by bills on Apr 11, 2018 12:39:25 GMT
and don't assume that 40 years of boat owning equates with 40 years of relevant and useful experience. As an old boss of mine commented about a fairly hopeless but long serving colleague.
"He has two years experience, ten times."
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Post by IainS on Apr 11, 2018 14:28:29 GMT
. . . . . . . . . . . . The chap with us is turns out has his blue boat master thingy and has been a NB owner for 40 years - it'll be very useful and interesting for us to learn from him. Don't assume that possessing some sort of paper qualification, especially if it was gained by completing one of the inland waterways courses run by the RYA, has any real meaning or value with regard to boating know-how and ability. (snip) If it's a "blue boat master thingy", it's granted by the MCA, and requires a minimum of 150 days relevant working experience, as well as a practical examination. In most cases, the examiner will hold, or have held, sea going qualifications. Very different from the RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman's Certificate!
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 11, 2018 15:10:57 GMT
Apparently Spring is here, I'm still waiting for it to show it's face. Hopefully from today the weather is going to improve, and according to this mornings weather report, next week looks good. Minus 10 Centigrade here this morning 6.20am - still plenty of snow.
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Post by cygnus on Apr 11, 2018 15:36:30 GMT
What are your heating bills like Naughtyfox? I was just saying to the ball and chain that at least our heating costs start to reduce and come May end altogether until hopefully October.
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 11, 2018 16:40:26 GMT
What are your heating bills like Naughtyfox? I was just saying to the ball and chain that at least our heating costs start to reduce and come May end altogether until hopefully October. Our electricity bill is about 200 Euros/month. I pay 100, the Witch pays the other 100. This is for the lights, washing machine, dish-washer, underfloor heating in bathroom and by front door, iron (for clothes), sauna, kettle, cooker, microwave, hot water heater, oil-filled radiator in the garage, computers, block-heater and inside fan-heater for the car, fridge, two freezers, air conditioning, etc. Our house is always nice and warm inside and that's because of the huge wood burning stove in the middle of the house. Also, houses in Finland are built properly with proper insulation and 3 pieces of glass in the windows. We have enough wood out back for about 3 winters - this has all been 'free' from Pirkko's forest and from the bus garage where I work. Pirkko's forest is an hour away by car, so not very efficient with petrol and wear-&-tear on the car. We stopped going there about two and a half years ago before Winter, and then 2 years ago Kannus, just 25km from home, became my work station, and there is a forest around the garage which the boss wants thinned, so in Autumn 2016 I set to and brought about 7 trailer loads home until Pirkko said Stop! there's no more room here to store it! In November 2016 I sold my boat and the 'boathouse' has become available for storing more firewood in! And this Winter we have burned a lot of logs, so that amount can be replaced. Last Autumn was rainy so I did no tree cutting at all - there must be about 2,000 trees to be removed from around the bus garage - and no-one else wants that wood! This Winter is still dragging on and I ain't playing around with the chainsaw in deep snow - maybe by mid-May the snow will have gone? As I drive to work anyway, it doesn't cost much to take the trailer along too. I put new wheel bearings to the trailer about a year ago, and also bought new tyres for it. I'll try and bring as many tree lengths as I can home as quickly as I can this year. I made a saw-horse a couple of years ago to replace the original one I made 6.5 years ago - this second version is really solid with thick bolts holding everything in place, and made of weatherproof wood. We know the routing and can efficiently turn a trailer-load of tree lengths into sawn-up logs which then get the axe-treatment and stacked. It's hard, back-breaking work but quite enjoyable doing your own firewood, something simple and fairly easy to achieve good-looking stacks of logs.
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