Whether you’re a solo narrowboater or have plenty of crew aboard, there’s no doubt that at busy and long canal lock flights, a team of helpful volunteer lock-keepers can be a blessing to help you through. I spent a couple of days at Fradley Junction near Lichfield, talking to the volunteers as they prepare for the new boating season, and they explained what they do and why they do it.
Some footage filmed from summer-winter last year that I have now compiled, about the new cratch board and cratch cover I had made.
I did a video about this very early on when I got the boat but I’ve changed the components since then so here’s the updated version.
An alternative to the tradition steel narrowboat, fibreglass (GRP) cruisers are long-established on British canals and rivers. Often cheaper to buy, both new and used, but with drawbacks such as a more fragile construction and less suitability for living aboard, especially in winter, they are a popular choice particularly on rivers. In this video, I speak to a chap who bought a Viking 26 and absolutely loves it.
For those on small or disconnected canals, who want a boat that can be taken out of the water easily and moved elsewhere, there is the Wilderness Trailboat; an incredibly cute, fibreglass (GRP) lightweight craft that you can practically put in your pocket!
With Christmas coming and small businesses ever more in need of your support, I thought I’d do a video highlighting a smattering of the arts and crafts that many narrowboaters sell from the canals.
In this vlog I take the narrowboat through Newark-on-Trent and head to Cromwell lock, where the river becomes tidal. That would be my end point for this session of cruising videos before I stopped for winter. More videos will be forthcoming nonetheless.
In this vlog I continue down the River Trent, from Holme lock to Hazleford lock, giving the engine some rarely-used revs yet still being slower than another boat that was doing the same trip.
Just to be clear, and to avoid spurious accusations of “click bait”, I do believe it fairly obvious that there will be no actual travelling down any white water in my narrowboat in this video. “White water narrowboating” is very clearly an oxymoron. With that out of the way, this is my trip from Beeston through Nottingham (on the canal) and out to Holme lock (on the River Trent)
Continuing my journey east, I go onto the River Trent briefly again before hopping back off it at the Cranfleet Cut and then the Beeston Canal. It was very windy.
