Hello and Happy New Year!

I'm sure that 2025 was supposed to be "the future". As a child, I was pretty certain we'd all be riding hoverboards by now. And powering our homes with portable "Mr Fusion" waste reactors. How galling that we are not!

Old tech is, in many ways, still the best though. Surely the 250-year-old canal network is proof? And I shall continue to enjoy it very much in the coming year as I hope you will too.

Here's to a fabulous year!

Cheers
David

News from the canal world.

*** Press releases or other news snippets can be sent to me at newsletter@cruisingthecut.co.uk ***

Back to the Future
The Canal & River Trust has created an "independently-led commission" to consider the future of licensing on the inland waterways.

The Trust says there have been "significant changes" in the uses of the canals and rivers over the past three decades which has prompted their review of the legal framework.

The review runs until September this year and comprises three people, one of which is an elected boating representative.

The Commission says it "will actively engage with boaters and other stakeholders ensuring their views are considered" though cynics may point out that "considered" doesn't really mean anything.

Indeed there has been disquiet amongst some liveaboard boaters that the review may signify detrimental changes to those using the canals for anything other than leisure pursuits. Only time will actually tell, however.

The Terms of Reference were set by the CRT and can be viewed in a pdf document at https://tinyurl.com/CRT-licensing-review

Licensed to charge
Staying on that theme for a moment, the latest annual fee rises for boat licences have been announced, kicking in from April 1st.

They're rising by 4% on top of which are the surcharges for boats without a permanent mooring, and for widebeam craft. Those were announced last year.

Boaters can calculate their new rate at https://licensing.canalrivertrust.org.uk/LicencePrices

"Gold" licences which are issued jointly with the Environment Agency and which run Jan-Jan, will be announced "in due course", with the aforementioned supplements applying only to the CRT portion of the fee.

Boater Report
Sticking with the CRT, they've published the annual Boater Report covering April 2023-March 2024. It describes how the charity generates the income needed to keep the canal network open and available for navigation, as well as some of the boating projects undertaken.

Read it at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/boating-news-and-views/boating-news/boater-report-2024

Top Marks
Canal holidays have been given the thumbs-up by holidaymakers from around the world, according to a new survey by the CRT.

87% would definitely recommend it, and 92% thought their trip was value for money, with 80% saying they were "very satisfied"

Around 450,000 people enjoy holidays on the canals each year, according to British Marine.

My recent videos

Whether you celebrate it or not, Christmas can be a busy time of year so it's entirely feasible you may have missed some of my recent video uploads. So here's a quick recap:

The latest, which will have gone online just as this newsletter gets sent out, is a sit-down "fireside" chat, just lacking an actual fire. In it, I mull over things such as my video plans for 2025 and some grumbles about YouTube.

Prior to that was my Christmas video, having a full turkey dinner aboard my friend Lorna's tiny narrowboat. And before that, a "vlog"-style narrowboat cruise (plus bonus unedited slow TV footage too)



Click the links below to watch.

If you enjoy the videos, I have tip jars at https://cruisingthecut.co.uk/tip-jars/

Book your perfect canal boat holiday!

What am I up to?

January being a bit of a slow month, not to mention generally a bit chilly and moist, I fully intend to stay indoors for most of it. So having received a handful of requests recently for a "running costs" video off the back of the one I made about purchase costs recently, I will compile a spreadsheet of typical running costs and go through them in detail. Not a video of pretty images but it should hopefully be good info.

And then ... something Rather Special may be occurring which I will not reveal any details about just yet but, should it happen, there will be a Big Video towards the end of the month announcing everything! It will mean lots of great videos to come as well! Hahaha, stay tuned...

Into the dusty archive...

OK, Christmas 2024 is now over but I'm still feeling full from all the food and chocolates. So before we surge too far into 2025, why not relive that famous time early in my narrowboating life when Expert Gary came round with friends to cook a full Christmas dinner?

See cruisingthecut.co.uk/2016/12/25/vlog-73-talking-turkey/

My YouTube top pick of the month

Time now for my latest recommendation of a YouTube channel I enjoy that I think you might like too. This time it's a rather special home restoration project that a viewer of my channel is undertaking.

Jacob Harrell is a videographer who has worked for, amongst others, CNN. He and his wife (and springer spaniel dog, full of boundless energy) are documenting their attempt to bring life back to a centuries-old thatched cottage in the English Cotswolds. It's exactly as picturesque as you'd expect - but the cottage is a disaster zone full of mould and damp...



Give it a watch and show them some support at https://www.youtube.com/@JacobHarrell

Final Thoughts

I mentioned it in the last edition, I think, but we have now had the first transmission of "Vengeance Most Fowl", the latest animated caper from Aardman Animation's Wallace & Gromit ... and it's an absolute corker, not least because it culminates in a fantastic, and high speed(!), narrowboat chase sequence across an aqueduct.



It is an absolutely superb bit of television and clearly someone at Aardman goes boating or loves canal boats because the detail is stunning. If you've not caught it yet, it's on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Netflix elsewhere in the world.

Best wishes for whatever you're up to in 2025!

Regards
David