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Hello!
Welcome to February, a month (at least in the northern hemisphere) of grim weather, huddling around the stove, and flicking through holiday websites staring at the unimaginable sunshine and blue skies promised therein.
I'm hoping for nice days soon of course, having just bought another narrowboat. What's that you say? You didn't know? Then quickly, quickly, read down below for links to the videos where I show it off like a giddy child at Christmas.
Cheers
David |
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News from the canal world.
*** Press releases or other news snippets can be sent to me at newsletter@cruisingthecut.co.uk ***
Time's Up
The Chief Executive of the Canal & River Trust, Richard Parry, has announced he is to stand down this summer.
Having taken on the role 12 years ago, Mr Parry says the Chairman "and the new chief executive can look to the longer-term future, including strengthening the Trust’s partnership with Government"
The Trust was created as a charity in 2012, formed from the old British Waterways Board, and intended to stand on its own feet rather than being a department of the government.
With fiscal times hard at present, the charity has an ongoing battle for greater funding as well as challenges with ancient infrastructure in seemingly ever-worsening weather.
A successor has not been named as recruitment for the post will begin soon.
See https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/our-chief-executive-richard-parry-to-stand-down-this-summer
Rage against the machine
Peel Ports, the company which owns the Bridgewater Canal which recently saw a massive collapse during the January floods, is coming under fire from the public and even MSPs about a plan to charge boaters to use the River Clyde and Clyde estuary.
Peel Ports owns Clydeport which operates as the harbour authority for 450 square miles of waterway, and has decided that from April, all leisure craft between 6 and 24m in length must pay a levy of £120 per year.
Exactly what the money is for and why it should be collected has not been made clear, leading to angry responses from the Inland Waterways Association and even Stuart McMillan the Member of Parliament for Greenock and Inverclyde.
A petition against the policy has also been created.
See https://waterways.org.uk/about-us/news/river-clyde-annual-fee-threat-to-boaters
Charging Ahead
After the success of its first event in 2024, the "Electrika" event is coming back this year.
Described as a "gathering of electic narrowboat owners, industry experts and manufacturers", the two-day show aims to "encourage and support the wider adoption of electric propulsion on the UK waterways"
A combination of trade show, seminars and social get-together, Electrika is on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 July. Entry is free but tickets must be booked in advance from the website at https://electrika.uk/
Cracking news, Gromit
My favourite film of the year, both to its all-round brilliance and the wonderful narrowboating scenes at the finale, has been nominated for an Oscar.
"Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl" is in the category of Best Animated Feature and is also nominated in three BAFTA categories too.
Available on BBC iPlayer in the UK or Netflix elsewhere, the film is a guaranteed treat for all the family.
See https://www.aardman.com/latest-news/2025/january/major-awards-nominations-for-wallace-gromit-vengeance-most-fowl/
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My recent videos
After the quiet of Christmas and the new year, I'm delighted to say my little announcement about buying another narrowboat has gone down a storm with most viewers. I've posted two videos about it so far, one covering the day of the survey (during which I teased about whether I was actually purchasing the boat or not) and another with a detailed tour of the tiny (26-foot!) aluminium craft.
Prior to that I did a sit-down chat discussing the general annual running costs of owning a boat which should hopefully be useful for anyone considering such a purchase themselves.
Click the links below to watch.
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What am I up to?
Quite obviously, a lot of my time lately has been taken up with the new boat, travelling up to Lincoln where it was for sale for an initial viewing than after Christmas for a full out of water survey and since purchasing it, half a day and one night aboard (about which a video was made and will be the next one to be published)
At the time of writing this newsletter, I am about to go to the boat again and for an entire weekend this time.
Whether I will actually cruise it anywhere is still under consideration which might sound crazy - surely I'd want to get out for a test cruise ASAP? - but in reality there are things I need to check, test and get sorted on the boat before I'll be comfortable letting myself go and 'play'.
Nonetheless there will clearly be many videos to come about the boat, whether technical, DIY or cruising. And yes, ultimately I will cruise it down to the Midlands to a mooring nearer to home, which is yet to be decided.
However ... "what about Twiggy?" has been a much-asked question and the answer is that the restoration project will continue! Twiggy becomes my permanent DIY effort and Gentian (the new boat) my cruising (and floating) craft.
So there will continue to be updates on my efforts with fibreglass on Twiggy as well as anything aboard Gentian. Plus lots of other canal topics from around the country as well. And maybe even further afield later in the year!! Stay tuned...
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Into the dusty archive...
Given that I have just had the survey done on Gentian, the obvious choice for an archive pick this month is of course the second 'vlog' I ever made, when my original narrowboat Wreyland was hauled out of the water at Yelvertoft marina and scrutinised by Justin Green (who returned for the latest survey).
That was almost ten years ago now, how time flies! You can see the video at https://cruisingthecut.co.uk/2015/08/02/vlog-2-the-day-that-the-crane-came-down/
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My YouTube top pick of the month
Time now for my latest recommendation of a YouTube video you might like and although it's an old one, it's really rather good and I hadn't seen it before.
The video is a 3D animated fly-around of how the amazing Pontcysyllte aqueduct on the Llangollen canal was built.
Produced by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) and See3D Ltd in conjunction with Wrexham Borough Council, this wonderful animated video was part of the bid to gain World Heritage status for the aqueduct.
Watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqeCu6jd9W0
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Final Thoughts
To end, I'd just like to thank anyone who's sent a kind message about the new narrowboat. I thought it might be popular but the outpouring of enthusiasm has been rather overwhelming!
I will record a full Q&A video about it answering the most popular questions soon ("are you going to live aboard?", "where are you going to cruise?", "what changes will you make?" and so on). You are welcome to reply to this newsletter email with any queries and I'll add them to the list.
Thanks, as always, for reading this and watching the channel.
Regards
David |
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