Thanks Albion. 
albion:
Star down under, youtube has plenty of videos on narrowboating, some of them questionable. Cruising the cut has some good ones though he’s no longer boating .The only freight traffic you will see are the few hardy souls that operate fuel boats, supplying diesel, kindling, gas etc to other boaters. I’ve watched this a couple of times and still find it fascinating .
Not an orange plate in sight. 
Star down under.:
Thanks Harry and Albion, all very interesting. I had no idea the lifestyle was so popular, outside of Inspector Morse scenery.
The Canal And River Trust, which superseded British Waterways, said about 34,500 licenced boats on the waterways in 2020. That is all kinds though, not just narrow boats.
That was fascinating, Albion. Every day’s a school day, I never knew a butty was anything but something to eat, a sanga, in our parlance.
Locks have always enchanted me, to make wooden gates waterproof, hundreds of years ago, is amazing.
Thank-you for the link.
albion:
The only freight traffic you will see are the few hardy souls that operate fuel boats, supplying diesel, kindling, gas etc to other boaters. I’ve watched this a couple of times and still find it fascinating .
Funnily enough, just as I was getting ready to push off this morning this very fuel boat (Towcester, without butty) came around the bend with Jules at the tiller so I flagged it down and got a top-up. I only needed 43 litres (I have a 180 litre tank) but I like to keep the tank as full as possible. Diesel base price was £1.00 per litre today, on the way up I’d topped up at Great Haywood marina and they were 99p a litre so only a penny a litre more and I prefer supporting the fuel boats. At the high point I think diesel was £1.55 a litre so it’s come down by a third.
Am at Rugeley now and will be here until Friday. Need lots of shopping, and need to catch the train to Nuneaton on Thursday for a dental appointment. Then I’ll look for a good vantage point to watch Flying Scotsman come past on Saturday, the West Coast Main Line and the Trent and Mersey canal follow a similar route. Next I’ll be heading for the Ashby Canal.
Make sure you camera’s working on Saturday, Harry.