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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2020 22:16:58 GMT
Hey Tony, I'm a bit late to the party here! Sorry I couldn't get any pictures to you, computer crashes every time I try to connect my phone, don't know how to send pictures by phone, total dinosaur. Offer still stands of having a good look over it if you're passing, I'm at Higher Poynton now. Hi Richard, I'm still in Newcastle until at least July, and sadly with all the apocalypse stuff going on, I won't be visiting for a month or maybe two, but if you dont mind I'd love to stop by and see the stern bike rack. it'll probably be when I start doing my rounds of the marinas (when they allow visitors again). I wont have the readies (apart from a deposit) until mid August I think, so I'll start doing boat viewings in June and July, so I would think that's when I'll stop by your neck of the woods and check out your stern. Ooer, that sounded like innuendo worthy of Kenneth Williams You know what I mean!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2020 22:25:15 GMT
PS.Winter boating can be great fun as long as you are dressed warmly & have good gloves,we love it!!! Hi Trina- yes, I've considered the issue of suitable warm clothing for the L+L near Skipton in early january. I believe NASA make a suit (with helmet) that stands a decent chance of keeping the wearer insulated from the Yorkshire climate. I'm not sure its available commercially, or whether I could afford the oxygen tanks- but I have some cunning ideas about various items of battery powered/heated gloves and clothing. I think I may be inventing a new fetish.
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Post by Clinton Cool on Apr 12, 2020 22:37:24 GMT
As for the winter cruising, it's OK. I wouldn't like to have to get anywhere in a hurry though. Couple of hours on a nicer day, moor up, couple of hours on the next nice day. I know people who've slogged it out for 6 hours in the pouring rain and strong winds, it's not my idea of fun.
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Post by JohnV on Apr 13, 2020 6:27:57 GMT
I cc'd on a narrowboat for awhile but needed a car as I was commuting to work .....that was certainly a pain. Since retirement I have frequently been out on a boat for very long extended cruising trips. I had an elderly Astra van that looked so disreputable that no self respecting scrote would be seen dead nicking it. This was parked somewhere close to public transport routes for weeks at a time (until my meanderings arrived at another spot near a good public transport route) when I would then collect it and use it to complete essential tasks like collection of bulk supplies from a supermarket etc.
Nowadays, I am moorings based on the main boat (and I suspect this year will not now be a cruising year) and I can't travel to the ditch crawling yoghurt pot as it is a couple of hundred miles away and where my moorings are makes transport difficult to do without
You pays yer money and takes yer choice
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 7:30:27 GMT
We live aboard January to September and return home to work in shops October to December.
The car is at home in the garage, and we use public transport or hire cars (Enterprise) to travel to and from home as necessary.
On rare occasions we have held the car at the boat. It doesn't work for us ... it's like a weight around our necks and can't wait to get rid.
The very point of boating (for us) is the freedom ... move or stay ... visit or pass by ... and the car becomes an anchor.
We have no washer on board, so visit launderettes in addition to your shopping and buying coal requirements.
We'll happily walk a couple of miles for facilities ... good exercise, cheap and what are you saving time for ?
If the weather is rubbish we'll take cover ... if it's okay we'll do shopping, laundry, other chores.
In fifteen years we've never encountered an issue with shopping, laundry, coal or diesel without having transport but for 'shank's pony'.
But it's 'all a matter of taste, as the old woman said as she kissed the bull' as my sainted old Mum used to say.
See how it goes, be spontaneous, and adapt to your life style as it unfolds ... that's the best bit .
Rog
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 13, 2020 7:34:33 GMT
Although there can be nice Winter days, generally Winter is cold, wet and windy, and navigating a boat in those conditions isn't much fun. There's a very good reason why far more boats move at the opposite time to that which you mention. But would the bad weather be ok if I was stood at the back of a boat for a few hours at a time? I bought proper sailing 'salopettes' (trousers like dungarees for roughty-tufty sailors crossing the Atlantic) and a decent sailing jacket, found on eBay - furry hat and gloves and winter/walking boots - yes, you can stand for a few hours. Perhaps the worst aspect is muddy towpaths, you don't want to be dragging great clods of clay onto your boat; and for working locks, take the good gloves off and put on some cheap work gloves, if they get wet you can dry them out and, of course, once really dirty you can drop them into a bin. Taxis are also a possibility, but take an old sheet so that bags of coal and logs don't mess up their boot.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 7:42:01 GMT
Perhaps the worst aspect is muddy towpaths I agree, and that's why I now prefer to walk rather than cycle. You get to lock around at the countryside more too as you're not continually watching where you are going. Oh, and there is also the hawthorns, much easier to walk 5 miles without pushing a bike...
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 13, 2020 7:56:58 GMT
In all our travels on the canals, you're never really far from a shop, in fact at the slow pace you discover there really is more than you'd think. I do get a bit peeved when you turn up at a chandlery and they don't have any logs - all too common an experience.
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Post by Clinton Cool on Apr 13, 2020 8:00:29 GMT
In all our travels on the canals, you're never really far from a shop, in fact at the slow pace you discover there really is more than you'd think. I do get a bit peeved when you turn up at a chandlery and they don't have any logs - all too common an experience. Not everywhere. If you go south from Middlewich down the arm it's around 15 miles until you're close enough to a shop to walk to it.
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 13, 2020 8:06:05 GMT
In all our travels on the canals, you're never really far from a shop, in fact at the slow pace you discover there really is more than you'd think. I do get a bit peeved when you turn up at a chandlery and they don't have any logs - all too common an experience. Not everywhere. If you go south from Middlewich down the arm it's around 15 miles until you're close enough to a shop to walk to it. Really? Middlewich - Crewe 7.4 miles Church Minshull - Crewe 5.0 miles
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 8:07:16 GMT
I think the fox means if you need shops, you moor with access to them, which is entirely possible. We don't use milk, so shopping is not a daily event ... more a weekly one. Rog ETA Middlewich branch to Barbridge ... I was being dim
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 13, 2020 8:13:56 GMT
I sort of meant 'near'. Admittedly, 5 miles is a bit of a stretch, and hour and a half. But if you are narrowboating this in itself implies you're in no hurry, and a leisurely walk along country lanes... and this is for the 'Here be Dragons' stretches of canal. Look where we are: shops in Newbury (lots!) - shop in Kintbury - shops in Hungerford - shop in Great Bedwyn - shops in Devizes (lots!).
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 13, 2020 8:14:42 GMT
ETA Middlewich branch to Barbridge ... I was being dim What's wrong with Crewe? OK, work to be getting on with... looks like a dull News day. Snowing here again.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 8:16:42 GMT
ETA Middlewich branch to Barbridge ... I was being dim What's wrong with Crewe? It's a long walk from the Middlewich Branch...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 8:19:11 GMT
You wouldn't be carrying much shopping for five or more miles. And one of the very BEST bits about Crewe is that it's not canal side Rog
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