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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 19:20:20 GMT
You seem to have some venom that you need to get rid of, and that's fine, that's partly what internet forums are for. But we have met both Nick and Jim on our travels, and while we didn't spend enough time with either of them to get to truly know them, neither seemed to be anything other than friendly and personable. Thanksπ€£ I'm enjoying playing whackamole. How many do you think I've scored so far! Whatever the mole says doesn't count, obvs! Is there a handy barbed wire fence we can hang the mole on, traditional style? Your quite welcome to come and try π. Why do you need we? ππππ
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Post by Jim on Aug 3, 2017 19:23:50 GMT
Ooh a nasty mole...WHACK!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 19:25:51 GMT
Ooh a nasty mole...WHACK! Lol. Muppet.
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Post by Jim on Aug 3, 2017 21:17:39 GMT
Ooh a nasty mole...WHACK! Lol. Muppet. WHACK!
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 3, 2017 21:33:33 GMT
I was asked for my impressions, which I posted. I'm sorry no-one ever asks you for your impressions. Envy is such an ugly emotion. Thank you for your impressions. I hope you will continue to report as I am interested. I am also old enough, wise enough, and discerning enough to enjoy reading what you write, and select the points of interest to me. How anyone could report their findings without them being subjective is beyond me. Rog Well still impressed by Newbury. Huge Waitrose, John Lewis etc. And two hardware shops, a wilco and a small independant. I bought mousetraps as we found a lot of mouse droppings on the roof. How did the meeces get up there? And where did they go next! We ate at the Cote brasserie close to lock stock and barrel pub by the lock, a chain we'd not been to before. I had a very nice sirloin steak, cooked medium-rare to perfection ie well bloody inside. With a tiny portion of fries and a bit of green stuff. Jeff had a chickeny thing with an equally tiny portion of fries. A glass of wine each, and a pud. Β£70-something. Ouch! Won't be going there again. Anyway, not much rain today but plenty of wind. We palled up with another boat going up the locks - Ian and Helen on Leo (they have a blog). A very nice couple. It's amazing what you find out when sharing a lock - Ian went to the same Uni as me and stayed in the same hall of residence, a few years before me. He did zoology but became a tax inspector. His first job was assigned to him because it was about a guard dog being a tax deductible expense and the boss thought that Ian was ideally qualified! Latterly he recovered 100s of millions from tax evading multinationals. So a bit of a hero! We got off the canalised river and onto the canal proper, which I prefer even though it's a lot shallower. Very rural. We passed the horse drawn fat trip boat. I felt a bit sorry for the horse pulling about 30 people in a fat boat but it didn't seem to mind too much. Kintbury slightly disappointing but we only stopped for water. A dumped boat is on the waterpoint, I think I remember reading that it's been there for weeks. There was a horde of young volunteers scraping paint off the lock gate beams, they are repainting them. Very commendable. Finally reached Hungerford and got a good mooring just off the time-restricted section. It is a nice small town blessed by an absence of high street chains and a plethora of antique and nic-nac shops. Only slight issue is no rubbish disposal at the services. Which makes me wonder - what do CCers who don't move much do about their rubbish? Rubbish points are relatively few and far between and if you spend 14 days in one "place", that is a fair bit of rubbish. Well this was to some extent answered when we walked further along the towpath and found a few boats with some junk on the towpath including numerous black bin bags of rubbish. Hopefully there aren't too many foxes and rats around. Not doing too well on the economy dining, since I'm going away tomorrow Jeff decided to treat me to a meal out again and we went to the John O'Gaunt pub, a couple of minutes north of the bridge. I had a very nice steak and ale pie with chips and veg, Jeff had some BBQ ribs, plus one pint each. Β£40. The main courses were Β£16 which, even though it was a nice steak pie, seemed a lot. Southern prices, I suppose. We had a look in the estate agents, not much to be had below one million. Anyway, looking forward to Crofton, the summit pound and the long pound when I get back.
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Post by thebfg on Aug 3, 2017 21:43:31 GMT
I like croften.
I'm sure we went passed the horse drawn trip boat 25 years ago.
Do they still have times on going up over the summit at croften. I remember having to wait and the summit pound being very shallow and we ran aground a few times.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 21:45:45 GMT
The skips at Hungerford in 2012, were before you entered the town. They'd been moved about a fair bit, we were told, as arguments were raging about who's responsibility they were.
It always concerns me when skips are removed, as there will always be some who use this as an excuse to dump.
We liked Hungerford. Nothing particular, just a pleasant 'none large chain shopping' type of place.
Rog
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 21:52:08 GMT
Thank you for your impressions. I hope you will continue to report as I am interested. I am also old enough, wise enough, and discerning enough to enjoy reading what you write, and select the points of interest to me. How anyone could report their findings without them being subjective is beyond me. Rog Well still impressed by Newbury. Huge Waitrose, John Lewis etc. And two hardware shops, a wilco and a small independant. I bought mousetraps as we found a lot of mouse droppings on the roof. How did the meeces get up there? And where did they go next! We ate at the Cote brasserie close to lock stock and barrel pub by the lock, a chain we'd not been to before. I had a very nice sirloin steak, cooked medium-rare to perfection ie well bloody inside. With a tiny portion of fries and a bit of green stuff. Jeff had a chickeny thing with an equally tiny portion of fries. A glass of wine each, and a pud. Β£70-something. Ouch! Won't be going there again. Anyway, not much rain today but plenty of wind. We palled up with another boat going up the locks - Ian and Helen on Leo (they have a blog). A very nice couple. It's amazing what you find out when sharing a lock - Ian went to the same Uni as me and stayed in the same hall of residence, a few years before me. He did zoology but became a tax inspector. His first job was assigned to him because it was about a guard dog being a tax deductible expense and the boss thought that Ian was ideally qualified! Latterly he recovered 100s of millions from tax evading multinationals. So a bit of a hero! We got off the canalised river and onto the canal proper, which I prefer even though it's a lot shallower. Very rural. We passed the horse drawn fat trip boat. I felt a bit sorry for the horse pulling about 30 people in a fat boat but it didn't seem to mind too much. Kintbury slightly disappointing but we only stopped for water. A dumped boat is on the waterpoint, I think I remember reading that it's been there for weeks. There was a horde of young volunteers scraping paint off the lock gate beams, they are repainting them. Very commendable. Finally reached Hungerford and got a good mooring just off the time-restricted section. It is a nice small town blessed by an absence of high street chains and a plethora of antique and nic-nac shops. Only slight issue is no rubbish disposal at the services. Which makes me wonder - what do CCers who don't move much do about their rubbish? Rubbish points are relatively few and far between and if you spend 14 days in one "place", that is a fair bit of rubbish. Well this was to some extent answered when we walked further along the towpath and found a few boats with some junk on the towpath including numerous black bin bags of rubbish. Hopefully there aren't too many foxes and rats around. Not doing too well on the economy dining, since I'm going away tomorrow Jeff decided to treat me to a meal out again and we went to the John O'Gaunt pub, a couple of minutes north of the bridge. I had a very nice steak and ale pie with chips and veg, Jeff had some BBQ ribs, plus one pint each. Β£40. The main courses were Β£16 which, even though it was a nice steak pie, seemed a lot. Southern prices, I suppose. We had a look in the estate agents, not much to be had below one million. Anyway, looking forward to Crofton, the summit pound and the long pound when I get back. Well that seemed a bit more positive Nick. Just remember that the dumper or dodgy CC'er might work in the local kitchen...
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 3, 2017 21:54:00 GMT
I like croften. I'm sure we went passed the horse drawn trip boat 25 years ago. Do they still have times on going up over the summit at croften. I remember having to wait and the summit pound being very shallow and we ran aground a few times. Yes transiting up to the summit is still time limited. It's rained quite a lot recently so hoping for levels not too low. Probably in vain!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 21:54:25 GMT
Well still impressed by Newbury. Huge Waitrose, John Lewis etc. And two hardware shops, a wilco and a small independant. I bought mousetraps as we found a lot of mouse droppings on the roof. How did the meeces get up there? And where did they go next! We ate at the Cote brasserie close to lock stock and barrel pub by the lock, a chain we'd not been to before. I had a very nice sirloin steak, cooked medium-rare to perfection ie well bloody inside. With a tiny portion of fries and a bit of green stuff. Jeff had a chickeny thing with an equally tiny portion of fries. A glass of wine each, and a pud. Β£70-something. Ouch! Won't be going there again. Anyway, not much rain today but plenty of wind. We palled up with another boat going up the locks - Ian and Helen on Leo (they have a blog). A very nice couple. It's amazing what you find out when sharing a lock - Ian went to the same Uni as me and stayed in the same hall of residence, a few years before me. He did zoology but became a tax inspector. His first job was assigned to him because it was about a guard dog being a tax deductible expense and the boss thought that Ian was ideally qualified! Latterly he recovered 100s of millions from tax evading multinationals. So a bit of a hero! We got off the canalised river and onto the canal proper, which I prefer even though it's a lot shallower. Very rural. We passed the horse drawn fat trip boat. I felt a bit sorry for the horse pulling about 30 people in a fat boat but it didn't seem to mind too much. Kintbury slightly disappointing but we only stopped for water. A dumped boat is on the waterpoint, I think I remember reading that it's been there for weeks. There was a horde of young volunteers scraping paint off the lock gate beams, they are repainting them. Very commendable. Finally reached Hungerford and got a good mooring just off the time-restricted section. It is a nice small town blessed by an absence of high street chains and a plethora of antique and nic-nac shops. Only slight issue is no rubbish disposal at the services. Which makes me wonder - what do CCers who don't move much do about their rubbish? Rubbish points are relatively few and far between and if you spend 14 days in one "place", that is a fair bit of rubbish. Well this was to some extent answered when we walked further along the towpath and found a few boats with some junk on the towpath including numerous black bin bags of rubbish. Hopefully there aren't too many foxes and rats around. Not doing too well on the economy dining, since I'm going away tomorrow Jeff decided to treat me to a meal out again and we went to the John O'Gaunt pub, a couple of minutes north of the bridge. I had a very nice steak and ale pie with chips and veg, Jeff had some BBQ ribs, plus one pint each. Β£40. The main courses were Β£16 which, even though it was a nice steak pie, seemed a lot. Southern prices, I suppose. We had a look in the estate agents, not much to be had below one million. Anyway, looking forward to Crofton, the summit pound and the long pound when I get back. Well that seemed a bit more positive Nick. Just remember that the dumper or dodgy CC'er might work in the local kitchen... Oh no, that may not have been gravy in his pie after all π²
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 3, 2017 21:57:38 GMT
Well still impressed by Newbury. Huge Waitrose, John Lewis etc. And two hardware shops, a wilco and a small independant. I bought mousetraps as we found a lot of mouse droppings on the roof. How did the meeces get up there? And where did they go next! We ate at the Cote brasserie close to lock stock and barrel pub by the lock, a chain we'd not been to before. I had a very nice sirloin steak, cooked medium-rare to perfection ie well bloody inside. With a tiny portion of fries and a bit of green stuff. Jeff had a chickeny thing with an equally tiny portion of fries. A glass of wine each, and a pud. Β£70-something. Ouch! Won't be going there again. Anyway, not much rain today but plenty of wind. We palled up with another boat going up the locks - Ian and Helen on Leo (they have a blog). A very nice couple. It's amazing what you find out when sharing a lock - Ian went to the same Uni as me and stayed in the same hall of residence, a few years before me. He did zoology but became a tax inspector. His first job was assigned to him because it was about a guard dog being a tax deductible expense and the boss thought that Ian was ideally qualified! Latterly he recovered 100s of millions from tax evading multinationals. So a bit of a hero! We got off the canalised river and onto the canal proper, which I prefer even though it's a lot shallower. Very rural. We passed the horse drawn fat trip boat. I felt a bit sorry for the horse pulling about 30 people in a fat boat but it didn't seem to mind too much. Kintbury slightly disappointing but we only stopped for water. A dumped boat is on the waterpoint, I think I remember reading that it's been there for weeks. There was a horde of young volunteers scraping paint off the lock gate beams, they are repainting them. Very commendable. Finally reached Hungerford and got a good mooring just off the time-restricted section. It is a nice small town blessed by an absence of high street chains and a plethora of antique and nic-nac shops. Only slight issue is no rubbish disposal at the services. Which makes me wonder - what do CCers who don't move much do about their rubbish? Rubbish points are relatively few and far between and if you spend 14 days in one "place", that is a fair bit of rubbish. Well this was to some extent answered when we walked further along the towpath and found a few boats with some junk on the towpath including numerous black bin bags of rubbish. Hopefully there aren't too many foxes and rats around. Not doing too well on the economy dining, since I'm going away tomorrow Jeff decided to treat me to a meal out again and we went to the John O'Gaunt pub, a couple of minutes north of the bridge. I had a very nice steak and ale pie with chips and veg, Jeff had some BBQ ribs, plus one pint each. Β£40. The main courses were Β£16 which, even though it was a nice steak pie, seemed a lot. Southern prices, I suppose. We had a look in the estate agents, not much to be had below one million. Anyway, looking forward to Crofton, the summit pound and the long pound when I get back. Well that seemed a bit more positive Nick. Just remember that the dumper or dodgy CC'er might work in the local kitchen... Just telling it as I see it. We didn't particularly enjoy the bit between shithole reading and Newbury - pretty nondescript with difficult and frequent locks. But yes, it's getting better now. I don't see a point in putting a positive spin on something we didn't particularly like. Although I suppose that is very British, a bit like when the waitress comes round and asks "is everything OK with your meal?" To which everyone answers "Oh yes, thank you" whilst vomiting their dinner onto the floor.
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Post by Stumpy on Aug 3, 2017 22:10:33 GMT
I like croften. I'm sure we went passed the horse drawn trip boat 25 years ago. Do they still have times on going up over the summit at croften. I remember having to wait and the summit pound being very shallow and we ran aground a few times. One of my engineer's father used to be "The Keeper" at Crofton... Reg Paynter.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 22:12:19 GMT
Well that seemed a bit more positive Nick. Just remember that the dumper or dodgy CC'er might work in the local kitchen... Just telling it as I see it. We didn't particularly enjoy the bit between shithole reading and Newbury - pretty nondescript with difficult and frequent locks. But yes, it's getting better now. I don't see a point in putting a positive spin on something we didn't particularly like. Although I suppose that is very British, a bit like when the waitress comes round and asks "is everything OK with your meal?" To which everyone answers "Oh yes, thank you" whilst vomiting their dinner onto the floor. We found the same actually. Once you get past Newbury it gets very pretty. Having ssid that we enjoyed the whole experience for different reasons. The Fullers pub on the canal side at Newbury still breaks our record price for a GnT and pint of bitter. I think bad PR puts us off visiting places sometimes. I say go for it....what's the worse that could happen? Erm...
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 4, 2017 1:25:00 GMT
Downriver through Brewery Gut is best tackled by swinging at County Lock and 'dropping down' stern first. Depending on prevailing conditions, like wind speed and direction, and river levels/current, it can be done with or without rigging up some sort of dropping down weight. Coming into the slight bight (bend) just topside of the bridge ( I think it was called 'High Bridge' ! ? !) you have to cant the fore-end (bow) towards the ness (inside of bend) just enough to keep the river current on the starboard bow as the stern is going under the bridge. If you allow the current to hit the port bow too soon then it will push you into the bight and up against the bridge arch stonework. Well that's a little known secret! I've boated down that stretch well over a hundred times in everything from a Shetland Family 4 to a tug and butty and in conditions where the water was starting to come over the gates at County lock, and I muat have seen many hundreds of boats doing the transit, but I ain't ever seen that. It's a fairly old one as well, . . . passed on to me courtesy of river boatman Wilf Townsend who worked the Thames, Kennet, Southern and Midlands canals with horse-boats and motors, and was then retired and living in Abingdon. We had loaded at Atherstone (Baddesley colliery) for Reading with the first loads of coal for the Kennet and Avon Canal Society's newly acquired steam dredger. It was late Summer 1969 and there wasn't much, if any, fresh in the rivers, so after we had emptied above County Lock, I ignored the good advice I had been given, ran plenty of water under the motor's engine hole, cabin and back-end (to get the counter well in for good 'fan-hold'), took down the butty's cratch and headlight, laid the mast and stands down, took the cans and chimneys down from both cabin tops, then ran Brewery Gut singled out, . . . we made it alright, but only just and more by luck than judgement. On later trips in Wintertime with good amounts of fresh on, dropping down, singled out, stern first from County Lock was really the only way to be sure of avoiding cabin damage. In those days there was just enough room to wind a pair of boats above County Lock using the extra width where the side channel runs off to the sluices, but I believe there is now a longish landing stage in the way and it's not possible any more. Coming downriver from the next lock up (Fobney ?) and having to get back down Brewery Gut in a bank-full of fresh with a pair of empty boats nowadays, I would guess you'd have to make do with winding the butty in Foundry Brook, singling out from County Lock with the butty's stern end tight up to the motor and enough weights out from the butty's fore-end to almost hold both boats against the current. You would probably have enough control in the narrows and under High Bridge (?) doing it that way, but winding the butty and getting it hitched stern on to the motor again in Foundry Brook in a strong current could be a lot of fun ! Dropping down stern first, head to tide or current, and when necessary with a weight on a line or an anchor at short stay slowing the boat/barge so as to have some flow of water past the rudder used to be everyday, common practice in days gone by. At the swing bridges on the Ouse at Selby, dropping through stern first was in fact mandatory under the navigation Byelaws for inbound river traffic arriving in Selby with the Flood (tide) still running up.
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 4, 2017 11:51:16 GMT
Why are you eating so much beef, Nick? I see a heart attack coming. You will drop, hand clutched to chest, into a lock and the last thing you will see is your boat coming to crush you, and your last ever thought will be "Fake Rivets!"
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