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colinwilks

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About colinwilks

  • Birthday 12/12/1952

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    United Kingdom
  • Occupation
    Retired
  • Boat Name
    Tramper
  • Boat Location
    Stoke Golding, Ashby Canal

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  1. Good point, perhaps I should have written "well over".
  2. We took the GU pair Nuneaton and Brighton from Stenson to Derwent Mouth a few years ago without major incident. Just the usual stuff behind the gates. I am pretty sure a straight edge along the sides of each boat would measure over 6'10" wide. Both are a full 71'6" long. If your enquiry is practical rather than theoretical I would enquire at Mercia Marina to find the widest one they've got in there. A pair of breasted boats still has a bit of "wiggle", which a widebeam does not, and we always singled out coming out of the locks, so I'm not sure about the comments about the tails being tight.
  3. JP, the playing fields are still there, but there's a load of new housing to the east of the M6 bridge. So, no natural disaster caused the junction's move, just arguments and rivalry. Thanks all.
  4. Thanks for the date JP. Does anyone know why the junction was moved? Diving into the undergrowth today I was certain I could see where the old line went, about 15ft above the houses a few yards away to the south. I cannot see why the junction would be moved without some major catastrophe having occurred, which must have been recorded? I realise I'm a sad old git, but I'd like to know what happened!
  5. Very sad to hear this news. Seems only yesterday I was chatting to him at Braunston. A friend to the Narrow Boat Trust and everybody who cares about our waterways heritage.
  6. Walking towards Coventry from Hawkesbury Junction today I came across the info about Longford Junction, where the Oxford Canal joined the Coventry originally. I assume the Oxford suffered a serious breach and relocating the junction to Hawkesbury was the obvious solution. The beautiful bridge at Hawkesbury Junction is dated 1837, but is this when the junction was moved? Anyone know?
  7. The boat opposite us at The Lime Kilns on the Ashby has just turned his engine off on the dot of 9.00pm. Either he has misinterpreted the "0800 to 2000" rule or he has missed the fact that the hour went back a week ago.
  8. I fitted one of these at home, but I think it could suit your application as it acts as a normal door latch (i.e. keeps the door closed but unlocked), but can be locked and unlocked from inside by turning the lever, or from outside by the key. https://www.yale.co.uk/en/yale/couk/products/mechanical/nightlatches/81---rollerbolt-nightlatch-/
  9. Even more intrigued about where Ray got his photo. The eBay link only showed me these two, on which I struggle to see anything Sally Army like. I see now what I took as a bungalow was in fact the corner of a commercial building. Going off at a tangent, Joe and Rose Skinner's boat Friendship is quoted by Joe as being built by "Sephton's at Hawkesbury Stop" in the audio at Ellesmere Port. Until I heard that I had always assumed that "Hawkesbury Junction" was how people generally referred to the junction and "Sutton's Stop" was how the working boat people referred to it. Mr Sutton being the official who dished out the jobs and the "stop" being the stop lock. "Sutton's Junction", anyone?
  10. Interesting to see how different the junction was back then. The bungalow on the left would have had an excellent view of everybody going round. I am intrigued how you know the boats are Aster and Salvo?
  11. Oh well, there's always Amazon. Nice to look before you buy though, but I'd recommend Ben Selfe. His cabin strings will be almost up to Andrew H's standards!
  12. If you'll be in Audlem, I am pretty sure Audlem Mill, just up from the Shroppie Fly stocks Ben Selfe's book "Knots for the Cut".
  13. I think you're probably right. I do remember a lockie at Lemonroyd a few years ago, but I think this is usually a straightforward key and button job now. I remember a very large gravel barge going the other way, so maybe that was it. As far as I know the gravel traffic has now sadly ceased after Lafarge took over Tarmac (or vice versa).
  14. We had a professional (very nice chap with an impressive beard) in 2016 and a volunteer in 2017, so you may well be right. As far as the "and it shows" bit is concerned, yes it does, but the volockies at Watford do a pretty thankless job balancing queues top and bottom of the locks and trying to keep everyone sweet, so perhaps we should cut them some slack.
  15. There is now a mix of professionals and volunteers at Foxton and Watford Locks.
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