Shadowed Eyes

The canal company didn't want to go to the expense of establishing one.

Fascinating little canal, one of the pioneers of the early canals completed well before canal mania struck. Never nationalised or bought out, it remains the property of the original Company of Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation, believed to be oldest surviving canal company in the world.

Bow-hauled by men scrambling along the bank. They likely had a tow 'route', but apparently it took many a complaint that there was no towpath that could be used by horses to finally persuade the proprietors of the Stroudwater to shell out for one.

In theory, waterways became public property when they were nationalised 1948, so I'm not sure how anyone could have legally prevented people from wandering the towpaths, any more than they could the public highways, though I've prob misunderstood something there.

Fun fact: The Stroudwater Navigation, opened 1779, abandoned 1954 and now in an advanced state of restoration, did not acquire a proper towpath until the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal company required it to after making junction with it in 1820.

Unrestricted public access to towpaths was a condition placed on the CRT when it was established 2012. Tend to agree, this wider use of canals, and the public funding it justifies as a result, is essential to their survival in an age where boats alone cannot possibly fund waterways maintenance.

Don't know. I noticed on the way up that the water turned a distinctly brown colour at a point where there was a lot of sediment on the off side.

Photo of a narrowboat slowly passing a wharf under a bright blue spring sky

Sparkling spring day at Hartshill Wharf on the Coventry Canal 🌞😎
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Thank you. It was a grand day. The engine is going so well now that I completed the journey in the time canalplan said it would take. Previously it always took me longer than canalplan said it would because I never went as fast as canalplan assumed I would.

The Canal & River Trust yard at Hartshill has its origins with the construction of the Coventry Canal in the 18th century, though the covered dock with its clock tower is essentially a 19th-century construction.

Late afternoon photo of a canal wharf flanked on the left by a three-storey brick cottage and the right by a long, two-storey covered dock with clock tower perched on the roof above the boat entance, with modern work boats and butties moored up.

#Boatlife day 1261, at Hartshill Wharf, Coventry Canal
Loo empty, diesel full, water topped up, pantry well stocked, and a glorious spring day for the first cruise since the engine failed in early December. All rather spiffing 😊
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

What is the likely impact on boaters of this consultation?

Yes, I remember doing the Hatton flight on my first trip after buying the boat. Lotta locks 🥵

Photo of a half-pint narrowboat in a lock on a sunny spring day watched over by the former lock-keeper's cottage and daffodils.

Jimbo waiting patiently in the late-18th century Atherstone lock 5 last April. Looking forward to heading back the other way very soon (and it's a joy to welcome back the idea of 'looking forward' after the breakdown).
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Not quite. Small leak in the fuel line and the coolant thermostat is a bit suss. But the engine was chattering away quite happily once it had cleared its throat, though the billowing black cloud it produced on first start for 2 months likely shut down operations at any airport it passed over 😶‍🌫️

Double good news day today...
CRT have confirmed that they have the info they need to approve a further overstay (was fretting about that).
Engine is back in the boat and running sweet (was really fretting about that).
Few niggles still yet to be sorted, but nearly there 😀

Photo of narrowboats moored against the towpath of an iced over canal on a bright winter day after some snow. To the right of the frame stands a white, waist high milepost marker with 'S' above '14' inscribed in black at the top.

Another for #MilestoneMonday, at 'two-mile bend' on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, indicating 14 miles to Sharpness (it's a 16-mile canal)
Milepost relocated here 2006 when major roadworks rendered two-mile bend quite a bit less bendy
#ukcanals #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways

Thank you. It's not yet over til the engine rumbles back to life, hopefully some time next week, but it's looking a lot more positive than it was even a few days ago, when there were rumblings about needing a new engine.
Great news about your heating. Not the time of year to be losing that.

Overheating issues early on in boatlife conditioned me not to push the engine, even after a new cylinder head fixed the overheating. Gonna have to get used to racing it occasionally in the future 🚤

Ironically, it was puttering along at little more than tickover (plus the occasional running in neutral at the mooring to recharge batteries) that was a major cause of the engine failing.

...the engineer has been an absolute bright shining star. It's looking very much like he will not only fix the problem that stopped the engine from running, but will make it run far better than it has for a long time and also fix a couple of other niggling but really annoying issues with it 🤞

Thank you. Anxiety has been a life-long companion, and the events of the last couple of months have really let it off its leash. In my old age I've found I can manage it by chugging along the canal at walking pace, and that's clearly not been an option lately, but...

...Fortunately, the engine is now being re-assembled with a high degree of confidence that the problem has been found and fixed, and hopefully I will soon be on my way again. I do hope so. In three and a half years aboard, this has been by an order of magnitude the absolute low point of my boatlife.

...At the third of my requests to the yard for something that the CRT will accept, the yard itself called someone in the CRT licencing team, and I am informed that it's all good now. Just waiting for the ongoing email exchange between myself & CRT to catch up with this...

...Unfortunately, every time I ask the boat yard for something that will satisfy the CRT, the yard keeps suggesting that the CRT call them, and this the CRT absolutely will not do...

CRT are unquestionably patient up to a point, which is 3x 2-week overstays, then they start questioning, which is fair enough. Unfortunately, they're unyielding in their insistence that I provide supporting evidence for my situation (and it's very specific – I must provide the evidence to them)...

Water-cooled exhaust manifold being torched to clear soot from the exhaust ports

Appears to have been a breakthrough today with the discovery that 2 of the 3 exhaust ports off the engine were blocked with oily gunk, so the only way out for exhaust from 2 cylinders was through the air intake valve. Pic shows some oxyacetylene therapy being applied to clear the blockages.
😀

Photo of a poorly old diesel engine half disassembled to expose various crank, cam and drive gears

#boatlife day 1241, the engine nightmare continues 😱
Even in pieces in the workshop, it's obstinately refusing to reveal just what its damn problem is. And because I can't move, I'm now butting up against the CRT's continuous cruising requirements. All getting a bit scary😨
#ukcanals #narrowboat

Interesting. I thought that in the US that type of foot based ball game was always called soccer, and that football was a ball game which rarely involves feet for anything more ball related than running while carrying one.

😅