|
Hello and welcome to the June edition of the newsletter.
Is it me or is the year flying by at alarming speed? Must be my age or something. Or just that I've been really busy of late.
For example, I've just returned from a splendid week away boating in the south of France - more details below. I'm also in the middle of doing my weekend moves of narrowboat Gentian nearer to home. And I really need to get back to Twiggy, the latest update on which will have just been published by the time you read this.
So, no time to waste - let's crack on!
Cheers
David
|
| |
|
News from the canal world.
*** Press releases or other news snippets can be sent to me at newsletter@cruisingthecut.co.uk ***
New kid on the block
The Canal & River Trust has announced who's going to be in charge when current CEO Richard Parry departs in June.
Campbell Robb is the new Chief, starting at the charity on October 6th after six years at the social justice charity "Nacro".
Mr Robb has also lead the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as well as Shelter (both charities relating to homelesness). He was also the first Director General of the Office of the Third Sector and Director of Public Policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Such credentials, though nothing to do with boating, should hopefully be a plus for the CRT especially in matters of fundraising, public perception, and dealing with liveaboard boaters.
In their press release detailing the appointment, Robb is quoted as saying "In everything I do I wish to support, create and be part of communities. The canals and rivers are vital for those who live there, work there and volunteer there, as well as the wildlife they foster and support."
See the full release at https://cruisingthecut.co.uk/newscrtchiefexec/
River Row
Lock keepers on the River Thames have voted for strike action because, they say, there aren't enough of them to keep river users safe.
The Environment Agency employs 52 lockies but the GMB union says that number should be 90 and that so few staff makes the river unsafe for boaters, pedestrians, anglers and anyone else using the waterways.
A 98% turnout at a strike ballot resulted in a 90% vote for striking.
The EA calls the decision "disappointing" and insists it is "committed to continuing to work with and listen to them"
More info is at https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/river-thames-weir-and-lockkeepers-in-strike-vote
Showboating
The 56th International Southampton Boat Show will return in September this year, running from 19th to 28th at Mayflower Park in the city.
Organisers say it has a "bold new vision" which means a new layout, feature areas, new attractions, and expanded on- and off-water experiences.
Although the show generally has very little specifically for inland waterways other than some river boats and personal watercraft such as paddleboards, it's a huge event with lots of interesting boats right up to multimillion pound yachts.
Tickets start from £24.99 with concessions from £19.99.
More info at https://www.southamptonboatshow.com/ |
| |
|
My recent videos
I released three videos in May as usual, with my usual recap here in case you missed them due to YouTube's superb inability to flag things up even to subscribers.
Most recently was an update from my cabin cruiser Twiggy, in which I - gasp - actually began filling in some of the holes I've created in the hull, which has pretty much now put me in a position to start rebuilding the transom.
Before that, not a picture-rich video but a worthy one where I attended the IWA/CRT annual Restoration Conference, at which various people agreed to chat to me about what they're restoring and the challenges they're overcoming.
And there was another rather niche one before that when boat-builders Ortomarine spent the day testing no fewer than 7 different propellers on an electrically-propelled narrowboat, to try to gain some real-world data on how the various props performed against each other.
Click the links below to watch. |
| |
|
Book your perfect canal boat holiday! |
| |
|
What am I up to?
As I mentioned in the introduction, I seem to have been busy lately.
Just last week I was in the south of France, which was rather lovely, on a press trip organised by LeBoat.com, floating along the Canal du Midi to see what canal boating is like over there. Of course, I filmed the trip extensively and should have at least three videos from it, the first of which will be the next one to be published on my YouTube channel and website.
Also occupying my time, particularly over the next three weekends (at the time of writing), is moving narrowboat Gentian again. Every move brings the boat a tad closer to its eventual home in the East Midlands.
So far, the logistics have all gone to plan with me driving up to wherever I left the boat; taking the boat up the river to a new marina; catching the train back to where I left the car; and driving home.
A degree of walking and taxiing to/from marina to train stations has been involved (and on that matter, I must give thanks to manager Chris at Beeston marina who kindly drove me over to Nottingham station and saved me a walk or a taxi fare and a chunk of time).
I will also give a big thank you to the folk at Newark Marina who were very friendly and helpful when the boat was stored there.
Let's hope the good luck and decent weather hold out; I was originally hoping to have Gentian at its destination by the start of August but a cunning tweak to my plan might see it there earlier, if all's well... |
| |
|
Events for your diary
The Captain's Log is a diary of upcoming canal and river related events:-
7-8 June
Leicestershire Waterways Festival at Foxton Locks, LE16 7RA
"A vibrant canal festival celebrating the 75th anniversary of the 1950 IWA Festival of Boats and Arts held in Market Harborough - a tipping point in the campaign to prevent the loss of the inland waterways"
https://waterways.org.uk/support/ways-to-get-involved/events/2025-waterways-festival-market-harborough
8 June
RCR's 25th Anniversary Summer Party, Baswich Lane
Stafford ST17 4FR
Raising money for the Stafford Riverway Link, which is trying to connect the Staffs & Worcs Canal with the rivers Penk & Sow.
https://www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk/25th-anniversary/
21 June
Summer Solstice Party, Brinklow Marina, Cathiron Lane, Brinklow, CV23 0JH
https://www.facebook.com/brinklowmarina
21 June
Brentford Canal Festival, Brentford Canal Basin.
Trip boat, floating market, waterways organisations, charity stalls etc
https://brentfordcanalfestival.co.uk/
21 June, 12-5pm
Edinburgh Canal Festival at Lochrin Basin (at the Edinburgh end of the Union Canal)
https://edinburghcanalfestival.org.uk/
28-29 June
Braunston Historic Boat Rally, Braunston Marina, NN11 7JH
Usually a massively popular event that clogs up the canal and marina (in a good way!) with an amazing array of historic boats, tugs, buttys and so on.
https://braunstonmarina.co.uk/2025-historic-boat-rally-28th-29th-june/ |
| |
|
Into the dusty archive...
Noticing the Anniversary Party event in Stafford on the events list, above, which is raising money for the Stafford Riverway Link, my choice of archive video this month is of course the relatively recent piece I made about exactly that project!
Watch at https://cruisingthecut.co.uk/2024/08/30/vlog-343-the-missing-link/ |
| |
|
My YouTube top pick of the month
A long, long time ago (quite possibly in a galaxy far, far away...) I made a video recommending other YouTube channels I enjoyed and one of those channels was a little one about wild camping, called Kent Survival.
Anyone who knows it will realise that it's far from little now as he's well surpassed me in subscriber numbers (and more power to him, he does great work).
But you may not know he also has a second channel specifically for gear reviews of camping equipment, and that's what I am going to recommend to you today.
If you've any interest in camping or outdoor pursuits, take a look at https://www.youtube.com/@kentsurvivalgearreview586 |
| |
|
Final Thoughts
And so another newsletter comes to a close. With summer holidays almost upon us, the inland waterways are likely to become very busy as usual so if you see me bobbing about do wave and say hi. Most of the time I don't bite.
Cheerio!
David |
| |
|
