I couldn't put it better myself

The following view was expressed in an email from one of the trustees of C&RT and it made my blood boil.

'And Yes, boats are very important. We know towpath users like to see them. They produce not far off 30% of the gross income. But boats do not pay their way. I'm not suggesting they should. However, it helps to recognise that boats are only part of the picture—and an important part. The Government didn't enter into that 15 year contract because of 35k or so boat owners but because of the 10m or so towpath users, the benefits of regeneration/rural and town economies, health, tourism, heritage etc etc.'

Before I calmed down enough to compose a suitable comment I was beaten by a fellow boater, Graham Bevan. 

Bravo Graham - I could not put it better than this


Well John I'll tell you now that I won't be picking up any more rubbish, broken glass or dog poo off the tow path, dragging tree branches, furniture and dead animals out of the lock when the gates won't open or close, dragging shopping trolleys out of the navigation channel, and any rubbish I get round my prop will not be coming aboard through the weed hatch to be disposed of in a responsible manner.
I certainly won't be helping cyclists with my puncture repair kit, tools or bicycle pump! And any visitors who ask me to borrow my BW key so they can use the CaRT toilet can go and whistle! 

Your 'pact' with the government and Sustrans to encourage visitors to the canals, particularly commuter cyclists, is based upon a false premise as without the care and diligence of many boaters the canals would just be a number of festering stagnant ditches surrounded by rubbish!
Check out the Coventry Canal where not many boaters go now because of the rubbish and poor facilities and condition of the canal. Look at the surrounding area of Camden locks where there's nothing but broken glass and empty beer cans.

You are obviously sat in an ivory tower, looking at the canals through rose coloured glasses. CaRT are nothing but a management company! Tom Rolt must be turning in his grave!
The government of this country turned its back on the canals after the WWII and it was boaters and canal enthusiasts like Rolt who got the system open and running again. Boaters are the lifeblood of the canal!

We are licence payers and you have an obligation in law to provide a safe and adequate environment—we boaters have given the CaRT a fair opportunity to improve the dire mess that BW left behind.
We put up with badly balanced lock gates, difficult paddle gears, leaking lock walls, loose brickwork, vicious spillways, missing guard rails, submerged masonry etc. etc

We get complimented every day about the condition of our boat. "What lovely flowers," they say!
Anyone that comes into contact with us we say 'you can get involved—just Google the Canal & River Trust' Well no more my friend—As I don't enter into your equation now, so you don't enter into mine!

Your customer, Graham Beven. Narrowboat Maid Of The Mist,

Food in Middlewich

After a week kicking my heels in Middlewich whilst she who must be obeyed was with the grandchildren  and having run two loads of washing through the machine I felt it prudent to top up the water tank today.  Not being an accomplished single-hander, I sought  assistance with the locks from Terry on Dragon Lady who is at Kings Lock waiting for a new engine. As I sought a new mooring on the Middlewich Arm I was accosted by a gentleman in his back garden. 

I know he is a gentleman because he has a narrowboat (see photo) and he reads my blog.  He commented about my experience at the Kings Lock pub.  This made me realise that perhaps my comments on Middlewich might be a little unbalanced: something I hope to rectify now.
Almost opposite the afore-mentioned pub is the Kings Lock Chippie which is in a different league.  The fish is freshly cooked and tasty; service is quick and efficient and the staff smile - three characteristics not found across the road.

I've never Been Asked That Before

So I approached the barman at White Horse in Middlewich and said:
OK if I photograph your urinals, gov?


And so I did

When we were in Burnley visiting the Weavers' Triangle Museum I noticed that they had a toilet made in Burnley by Ducketts and, odd that I am, it rang a bell with me.

As I left the museum I recalled where I had seen the name before.......in Middlewich......on the night of the Olympic closing ceremony

I'll get you a picture, I promised.


And here I am sharing it with you

We spent the evening in The White Horse watching the show on their big TV whilst the other five customers ate their take-away from the Indian restaurant.
Now that's what I call sensible:  If you don't do food, let the customers bring theirs in whilst they drink your beer.


Shame the Kings Lock doesn't do that.

What size are your feet?

Further to the post yesterday, it has been reported that C&RT has a team of surveyors inspecting 400 locks on the network.  This important work is not chekcing for structural problems or inoperable lock gear. 

No, they are measuring the distance between the lock ladders and the lock walls.

Photo by Mike Fitzgibbons

What action they will take if they find these measurements do not meet with their requirements I am at a loss to understand.








I have it on good authority that on future licence renewals applicants will be asked to give the shoe sizes of each of the crew and those with feet too big or too small to use the ladders will be barred from all locks.

And on a secret visit to the C&RT foot gauging station I was abe to view some the equipment  to be deployed.

Kings Lock Pub, Middlewich

DO  NOT  GO  INTO  THIS  PLACE
As a change from the ubiquitous salad which I have been consuming whilst she who must be obeyedd  is away I joined some boating friends for the curry night at the Kings Lock pub.  I suppose when the barman had to check if they were still doing curry - at 7.30pm - I should have been suspicious:  there was one other diner.
The food?, no, stuff. arrived within a few minutes and comprised something under 2oz of chicken smothered in a generic canned curry sauce and rice which was swimming in water and starch.  O yes, there was also a popadum which required repeated bending before it would tear and a mini naan bread which they had not managed to spoil. The "curry" was just warm enough not to qualify as frappe.
Expending any more words on this subject  is a waste of mine and your time.

And Smethwick Makes Three...

Photo by roving photographer - Annie Brown

Five  months ago Lock 12 on the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal collapsed, closing the arm and trapping 24 boats in the town basin.  These had to be lifted out by C&RT and put back into the canal at Willowbridge Marina near Milton Keynes.

Repairs are under way but the expected date of completion has moved from August to October and so boats will be lifted back into the arm during September.


There months later  lock 20 of the Wolverhampton flight of the BCN mail line collapsed, cutting one access into Birmingham.  Repairs have been partially completed and passage is now possible during certain hours with assistance from C&RT staff at the site.

Photo by John kelly

Photo by Stuart Field

Now the top lock at Smethwick has collapsed.




When will C&RT realise that maintainance of the canal network is an important element of their remit.  That means planned preventative work on all structures. The current attitude appears to be let's wait until it fails then we'll send in the contractors.  For at least eight years to my knowledge, locks on the Aylesbury Arm have had notices on them asking boaters to empty the lock on leaving because the lock wall leaks.  Didn't it dawn on anyone that water washing through brickwork continuously would erode the soil behind the lock wall?  Why not? Because they were too busy carving poetry on lock gates and towing floating gardens around Birmingham and losing millions of pounds on property speculation.
Are these people answerable to no-one?

The Somerset Week

Back in April I wrote a piece about the Country Mile.   Recently in Somerset I uncovered the Somerset Week which comprises ten days. This became obvious as  I perused the parking charges in a public car park. You can see what a bargain the weekly ticket is at only ten times the daily charge.

The Devil is in the Detail

On Sunday we attended  a Ruby Wedding Anniversary lunch at Sweeney Hall Hotel near Oswestry. There were about 30 in the party and the hotel is beautifully set in parkland. All commented on the food and service which were both well executed.
We returned to sleep at the hotel at around 10pm and our initial impression of the room we had (the cheapest in the hotel) was disappointing.  The TV was located on the wall by the bathroom door so that entering or leaving that room involved swinging the screen to an unviewable position. After preparing for bed we discovered that there was no hot water - ie: no water of any kind from the hot tap!
We were offered another room but on following our request for the water to be checked there before we dressed again, it was discovered that it also lacked hot water. So at 11pm we were shuffling across a rainy courtyard to sleep in the self-catering cottage.  This boasted two bedroom , a sitting room, kitchen and dining room. None of the TVs worked. Items  not mentioned in the glossy brochure were the dirty towels hanging on the back of the bedroom door and the mouldy coffee in the cafetiere.
Despite asking the night before what time we wanted breakfast it was not ready when we arrived at the agreed time: the fruit salad only arrived after we had eaten the cooked course. The solitary lad who was trying to cope with all tasks failed to appear for about 15 minutes while he was cooking my bacon and one guest returned to his room.  Even the cereal table lacked any receptacle for the discarded packaging.
The manager, who I believe lives on site, responded readily to our problem by promising  a full refund. However, it was obvious to me that he was a big picure manager interested in weddings and dinners but not concerned with the details which will be the death of his business if he neglects them much longer.

Bites and Breaches

Last year  our route to winter moorings in Burnley were interrupted  by an enforced diversion we had to make to avoid the breaches near Anderton  and Middlewich.

The larger of the two breaches, at Dutton, north of Anderton,  cost more than £2m to repair and has been open for a couple of months.  When we saw the finished repair we decided to moor there for the night.

The impact of the breach can still be seen in the field below the canal.


We soon revoked the mooring decision as my left leg, which had been bitten by an insect of some kind two nights before was now too big to fit in my sandals.
So we cast off and made for civilization.

Getting medical treatment when you are away from your own doctor can be difficult and on this occasion it involved four bus rides, two hospitals and 5 hours.
Four days later, my leg is responding to treatment and I look less like a two legged elephant.

As we approached Middlewich we saw ahead the site of the breach at Croxton and pulled in to moor.  Here, however C&RT has not provided any mooring rings so we imitated their boat which was already moored and put in pins.


For the past week or two we have been revising our planned route as, once again, there are major obstacles appearing.  Lock 20 of the Wolverhampton flight collapsed and is taking longer to repair than expected.  The embankment near Curdworth on the Birmingham & Fazeley canal is leaking and requires attention.  There is only one other viable route into Birmingham open to us and we have decided to by-pass Birmingham this year. 
The most serious obstacle, however, is lock 12 on the Aylesbury Arm.  This collapsed four months ago and the completion date for the repairs has been postponed from August to the end of October. This is when we intend to go down the arm for winter moorings in the new Aylesbury Canal Basin at Circus Field.
We just live in hope as there is no way round this obstacle.

The Mill

This weekend we hired a car in order to attend a Ruby Anniversary celebration near Oswestry.  After picking up the car we went for a drive and gravitated towards Quarry Bank Mill at Styall. 

This water-powered cotton spinning mill is owned by The National Trust.  The demonstration of hand-spinning and weaving are a superb introduction to understanding how mechanical assistance such as Hargreave's Spinning Jenny and John Kay's Flying Shuttle changed the  dynamics of the cotton industry. 
There is currently an exhibition relating to a Channel 4 drama - The Mill - which is based on the Gregg family who owned Quarry Bank amongst other mills. We do not have a TV so this exhibition was only of passing interest. However on Sunday night (of which, more later) we stayed in a hotel and on the TV was that very programme. Then the significance of the exhibition became evident.  Part of the exhibition attempted to put the record straight by highlighting where the drama diverged from historical fact. Here is what I remember of that:
1)  In the drama the children of the Apprentice House received poor treatment whilst harsh punishments are given to those working in the mill.  In reality the Mill had a very disciplined workforce but the Greggs refused to use corporal punishment. Instead they fined the  children for bad behaviour or, in the case of girls, cropped their hair. For more serious offences, such as running away, they were put in solitary confinement for a few days with only porridge to eat, as in the case of Ester Price.
2)  The drama shows the workers of Quarry Bank involved in violent activity in support of the 10 Hour Bill and attending a radical meeting at Wisbey Moor. There is no evidence of the workers of Quarry Bank being involved in such activity, or any rebellion against the Gregg family.
3)  In the drama Tommy Pristley is shown losing an arm in an accident.  In fact Thomas Priestley lost a finger in 1806.  During his treatment by the doctor he ran away to London to find his family.
4)  The drama shows the relationship between the father and sons as one of tension as the patriach struggles to reliquish control of the business.  In fact both sons were taken into the business and took control of mills within the Gregg empire.
Is this what they call artistic license?