Stories about boats and waterways
Another little jaunt along the Grand Union canal in the narrowboat saw me departing from Weedon after a pleasant couple of days, and heading towards Gayton Junction. I stopped about a mile before Gayton though so as to stop in the countryside.
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In the second of my Autumn cruising videos for 2018, I leave Norton Junction on a blustery morning and turn 90 degrees right, to head south down the Grand Union canal on my narrowboat. The first thing to deal with is the Buckby lock flight of seven locks, then it’s just a couple of miles to a mooring at Weedon Bec.
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You might not believe it – but I’m going off cruising. Yes, in my own boat. Before the winter maintenance shutdown begins in November, I’ve got two months to chug around the canals so I’ve decided to head south, down the Grand Union towards London.
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Last winter, I was disappointed during winter to find white grungy muck dribbling down the flue inside the boat onto the top of the stove. This was down to a badly fitting and broken chimney. Rather than buy an off the shelf replacement which might also not have fitted well, I opted to get a custom-made replacement.
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On a beautiful sunny day in June I drove to Wales for an experience of the canals as they used to be, with the boat drawn by horse!
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Following a few recent questions and comments from viewers, here is a beginners guide to how electrics work on a narrowboat. It may also have general relevance to people in campervans, motorhomes, caravans and RVs although there are slight differences but the gist is similar.
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When I received a panicked phone call from The Narrowboat Experience, who were stuck half way up the Grand Union canal and just too tired to carry on, of course I had to help. So I jumped into my car, shot off to Whilton Marina and ran down the towpath to find Anna and Kath, and give them the benefit of my extensive canal and locking experience and wisdom. This is the record of the day.
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In the last Competition vlog, I mentioned that a lot of the viewers to this channel are overseas and I often get asked if foreigners can own narrowboats. The answer is “yes” and in this video I talk to an American couple who’ve done just that and are about to set off on their canal travels.
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Every Spring Bank Holiday, London’s Little Venice hosts the IWA (Inland Waterways Association) “Cavalcade”, a gathering and procession of narrowboats celebrating life afloat. I’d been meaning to visit for ages but finally found the time this year – and I bumped into some special guests on the way!
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Every winter the Canal & River Trust shut parts of the network down for a time in order to do maintenance which often includes taking out broken or old lock gates and replacing them. New lock gates are not something you can just order in from Amazon however, so the CRT have to make their own and in this video I visited their Birmingham workshop to see how the process works.
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