Vlog 87: Weir meat again
In which I continue in convoy with another narrowboat up the River Soar through Leicestershire, going from Birstall to Loughborough which is a place of Special Memories for me.
Go Boating!
Canal Life
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An introduction to the British Canals
February 23, 2024
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Canal boat mooring costs
January 23, 2024
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Toilets on canal boats
January 23, 2024
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How do you slow down / stop a canal boat?
January 23, 2024
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Which is the best canal for a novice narrowboater?
February 23, 2024
That little segment of a bridge…you may not have recognized it as a bridge…is a triple-Bailey bridge, originally developed by the British in WWII. It comes in various sizes…single, double, and triple…and consists of prefabricated trusses and a few other parts. A skilled platoon of Engineers can build a Bailey bridge faster than you might imagine. The last one I built spanned a branch of the Ia Drang River in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1971. My platoon of Combat Engineers could construct or demolish just about anything having be trained to perfection by the best Platoon Sargent in the US Army Corps of Engineers, IMHO.
Cheers Michael, good info.
I hope to be travelling this way in the summer so enjoying the preview.
I believe the object in the field is a short section of Bailey Bridge, a temporary bridge designed for use by the military.
With regard to the keep left / keep right situation, I would take this to mean avoid the appropriate side of the canal (I assume there was a weir on your left hand side of the navigation). I would normally still expect boats to pass ‘port to port’ as usual. If you do intend to pass to the starboard of the other boat you can signal your intention with two blasts on your horn, but only some will understand the signal.
Happy cruising.
Thank you. Hope it all goes well for you this summer!
1. In case you hadn’t noticed, you were going down the river not up!
2. Most people reckon you should attach the anchor to the bow as if you need to deploy it it holds the boat better and the rope is away from the prop
3. If you looked into the hedge just before the odd structure whose purpose you were foxed by you would have seen some sort of track made from similar units- I assumed that this one was left over
4. The GRP was just wrong! However, when I see someone going the wrong way I usually give the proper hand signal to indicate that I am intending to pass on the wrong side. Safer and also helps to point out to the other boa that they were doing something out of normal.
Hi. Yes, I’m aware I was going downstream…?
I held the anchor at the back because of going downstream so if I chucked the anchor from the bow the whole boat would have to swing round and by that point I’d probably be over the weir…