Simon this time of year is lovely on the water, although it can be a little chilly at night/early morning, if you get up early and see the sun rising over the fields often with steam rising off the water its a lovely sight. 1st one up fire the engine up onto a fast idle so you’ll soon have hot water.
Simon:
Works for meA weeks time tomorrow, me n the wife are going to be on the L&L for a week.
We’re picking up a 45 footer from Silsden Boats in Silsden and setting off in the direction of Leeds.
We’ve hired a boat from here before, around 20 years ago, that was the 2nd time we had a hire boat holiday. Good memories
Have a good time Simon, I’ve not yet done the L&L but hope to at some point. Don’t forget to post a few pics afterwards, and don’t go viewing any boats for sale when you’ve had a drink a little earlier in the day than usual, and a credit card in your pocket, which was our undoing! 
Sadly, I’m back at work now, the money ran out, but I’ll be spending the weekend aboard every three weeks or so over the Autumn and Winter, sometimes going for a cruise, sometimes just watching the world go by. I’ve found a new mooring on the canal itself which as well as being far cheaper, is a far more lively community, we moved there last weekend and everybody was very friendly and welcoming. It’s only a few miles away from the marina where I had been keeping her.
It was a year ago last Wednesday that we picked the boat up, when we did it had about 2,450 hours on the engine meter, now it has about 2,950 so I think I’ve made fair use of it since I’ve had it. If it all goes ■■■■-up with the Magnum I’ll probably go and live on the boat and do agency work, as there’s loads of work in that part of the world (Rugby), just popping home every few weeks or so to get my endlessly patient girlfriend to do my washing! 
L&L was built for shorter, broad beam flats. 14 foot wide 52 foot long. It is possible to get a longer narrowboat through the locks, putting it in diagonally.
But a 72 footer won’t go, if yours is full length Harry.
The L&L and the Lancaster canal are the main reason 56 footers are such a popular length.
A 56 footer is the right length to go absolutely anywhere on the system under its own power.
The later canal engineers were working on completing ‘The Grand Cross’, which would connect all the major inland industrial centres to the 4 big rivers and so to the sea via canal.
Then the railway arrived n buggered everything up 
You know the final death knell for commercial carrying on the canals wasn’t till the big freeze of the winter of 1962?
Real commercial carrying was on its knees long before then, but the final straw was the boats being frozen in for over a month. That killed it stone dead.
Simon:
But a 72 footer won’t go, if yours is full length Harry.
My boat is only 42’ so can go everywhere, if I ever lived aboard permanently I might think about trading up to a 57’ boat, although as everything is charged “per foot” it would be considerably more expensive to own, and it’s not exactly cheap anyway!
Harry Monk:
Simon:
But a 72 footer won’t go, if yours is full length Harry.My boat is only 42’ so can go everywhere, if I ever lived aboard permanently I might think about trading up to a 57’ boat, although as everything is charged “per foot” it would be considerably more expensive to own, and it’s not exactly cheap anyway!
42’? If you can’t get it there on water you can just chuck it on the back of a flat bed n get it there by road 
Aye, they don’t mind charging do they ? 
We’re hiring a 45’ for the 2 of us, a bit steep but then who gives a [ZB]? It’s only money
We were due to head of South to pick up our hire boat early tomorrow.
Unfortunately Mrs S has had some complications due to her chemo, so we spent this afternoon in our local A&E instead of finishing off packing etc.
Fortunately they’re confident of an easy fix, a pint of intravenous antibiotics.
So what we should have done today will be done in the morning and we’ll set off a bit later than planned, which means arriving a bit later than planned.
Well plans are there as a base line, to be adjusted to suit changing circumstances aren’t they ? 
She’s determined to go now, while she’s still (more or less) capable because by next year she may not be.
How did the holiday go Simon?
Harry Monk:
How did the holiday go Simon?
Unfortunately the holiday was a disaster, but that was nothing to do with the holiday itself.
The boat was great if a bit basic, as is usual for hire boats.
They’re built with the expectation of getting some rough handling from inexperienced crews, so they’re probably built and fitted out more robust rather than luxurious.
Here she is, Sams Drum.
To cut a long story short, we came home 2 days early.
Anne infected me with the bug. I reinfected her, she still couldn’t fight it off because she’s got no immune system, so it hit her just as hard again.
She felt so terrible it just wasn’t worth carrying on.
A few snaps
Looks a lovely canal, sorry to hear about your wife’s illness though, that would put a dampener on any holiday, hope she gets a bit better soon.
My own quick update, we’re off up to the boat tomorrow, my and the kids, and we’re picking my Mum up on the way, we’re just going to go for a short cruise, my Mum is going to stay at a lovely little canalside pub at Newbold-on-Avon as there’s not sleeping room on the boat for all of us, on Sunday I’ll be preparing the boat for the onset of Winter, checking the antifreeze, draining down the domestic water etc. Plus I think I need a new set of leisure batteries so I’ll have to measure the old ones before I order a new set. So a mixture of cruising and maintenance, which is what I like really, although I won’t enjoy paying for the batteries!
Harry Monk:
Looks a lovely canal, sorry to hear about your wife’s illness though, that would put a dampener on any holiday, hope she gets a bit better soon.My own quick update, we’re off up to the boat tomorrow, my and the kids, and we’re picking my Mum up on the way, we’re just going to go for a short cruise, my Mum is going to stay at a lovely little canalside pub at Newbold-on-Avon as there’s not sleeping room on the boat for all of us, on Sunday I’ll be preparing the boat for the onset of Winter, checking the antifreeze, draining down the domestic water etc. Plus I think I need a new set of leisure batteries so I’ll have to measure the old ones before I order a new set. So a mixture of cruising and maintenance, which is what I like really, although I won’t enjoy paying for the batteries!
Cheers Harry, she’s back in hospital tonight, they are going to give her a right good dose of antibiotics again tonight and see how it goes. She should be starting another round of chemo, but while she’s this ill with what ever bug it is, a round of chemo would be a bad idea. However they want her on chemo as soon as possible, because it appears to be working well on her cancer and has shrunk them considerably.
We like that canal, it’s where we went for our first couple of canal boat holidays
Have you looked at gel batteries for your boat? I don’t know how good they are for deep cycling, but the gel battery I’ve put in my bike this year has been fantastic so far. Pressing the starter button almost has my bike spinning round the starter motor 
. It seems to spin the starter motor for quite a while as well. Even a brand new ordinary lead/acid battery would run down quite quickly when spinning the starter motor over. I got a Motobatt battery. I went to the Motobatt web site, found the right battery for my bike and ordered it from an on-line motorbike parts place. It was a couple of quid more than the ordinary lead/acid, but comes filled, sealed and fully charged. I’m told, by completely independent customer reviews, that they last at least half as long again as standard lead/acid batteries do. If they’re right, it’ll be well worth the extra couple of quid.
Must be worth at least looking at for you, even if it’s just to discover they cost much?
Gel batteries are horrendously expensive. Trojans are meant to be good, but also expensive, although other people say Hankook make a good leisure battery at half the price. Being a cheapskate I’m thinking of asking KTS if they have any decent 200Ah truck batteries knocking around, as they are normally replaced in pairs even though inevitably only one cell in one battery has failed and the other one still has life left in it. I imagine they normally just get weighed in for scrap and as narrowboat batteries are wired in parallel rather than in series there’s no risk of a weaker battery damaging a better one.
I’m hoping to get up again later in the month although the early nights do tend to curtail the cruising day a bit, especially as it’s a 175 mile drive to get there 
Time for a quick update… firstly a short piece of video one of my boys filmed last weekend, getting the engine started for the first time in seven weeks in temperatures of around zero.
Secondly, next month’s trip. This will take around a week, and we will be setting off on Good Friday. Anyone who wants to come along for the day is more than welcome!
mrpj:
Melchett:
… no council tax,Really? I thought these zbs had every area covered and no-one escaped
They do. Corruption means you have to pay council tax even no law states you need to. TV licence the same. Councils hire out courts, judges make plenty, hence the reason so many convictions.
I do feel tempted sometimes, tho a boat would sink under all the weight. I think as I love heritage steam, diesel and electric locomotives a rake of three or four railway carriages would be my thing!!!
Harry Monk:
Gel batteries are horrendously expensive. Trojans are meant to be good, but also expensive, although other people say Hankook make a good leisure battery at half the price. Being a cheapskate I’m thinking of asking KTS if they have any decent 200Ah truck batteries knocking around, as they are normally replaced in pairs even though inevitably only one cell in one battery has failed and the other one still has life left in it. I imagine they normally just get weighed in for scrap and as narrowboat batteries are wired in parallel rather than in series there’s no risk of a weaker battery damaging a better one.I’m hoping to get up again later in the month although the early nights do tend to curtail the cruising day a bit, especially as it’s a 175 mile drive to get there
I’ve had various efforts at reusing redundant truck batteries, that have come my way through the workshop, for various applications, in the past, and in all honesty it’s not worth the hassle really. Even if they look promising, by testing them, they just don’t last and you get sick of lumping them about.
You’ve just missed it on your trip but Foxton Locks is worth taking in and also there’s a lot of interesting bits around Northampton like Stoke Bruerne.
Own Account Driver:
I’ve had various efforts at reusing redundant truck batteries, that have come my way through the workshop, for various applications, in the past, and in all honesty it’s not worth the hassle really. Even if they look promising, by testing them, they just don’t last and you get sick of lumping them about.You’ve just missed it on your trip but Foxton Locks is worth taking in and also there’s a lot of interesting bits around Northampton like Stoke Bruerne.
Yes, I’ve given up on that idea since I saw a photo of a battery which had exploded on a narrowboat forum.
I’ve now modified the route slightly, we intend to visit the Black Country Living Museum, which I’ve never been to but looks very interesting. My Mum will be along for that part of the trip and as she is 81, I think it will be just like going back to her childhood.
For anybody interested, here are some photos of our trip around the Warwickshire Ring at Easter. We covered just over 100 miles, and went through just over 100 locks, this took us eight days including a day off in Birmingham- we moored at Gas Street Basin and had a day out at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, which was superb.
The little old lady is my Mum, who caught the train to Birmingham and spent a couple of days with us, the other crew member is Little Harry who some may remember from the trucking diaries days. He’s better at steering the boat than I am.
Our next major trip will be around the Leicester Ring in August, this is 150 miles and will take a fortnight. Before then we’ll do a few short trips, and will use the boat as a base when we go to the Crick Boat Show at Whitsun.
Narrowboating really is a complete and total waste of time and money but somehow I just can’t help myself.
Bit of useless information for you Harry, First picture ( yours) showing the canal bridge at The Black Country Museum and the second pic showing it in its original position in Broad Street Wolverhampton, if your ever in these neck of the woods and need any assistance etc give me a shout, I will PM my mobile number if you want it, Cheer’s Pete
Harry Monk:
For anybody interested, here are some photos of our trip around the Warwickshire Ring at Easter. We covered just over 100 miles, and went through just over 100 locks, this took us eight days including a day off in Birmingham- we moored at Gas Street Basin and had a day out at the Black Country Living Museum inNarrowboating really is a complete and total waste of time and money but somehow I just can’t help myself.
I miss living on my old 47 ft we had it for 6yrs as livaboards mainly on the Leeds &Liverpool …that is a tidy looking little trad you have there Harry, and it is the best way to relax ever in my opinion.
pete smith:
Bit of useless information for you Harry, First picture ( yours) showing the canal bridge at The Black Country Museum and the second pic showing it in its original position in Broad Street Wolverhampton, if your ever in these neck of the woods and need any assistance etc give me a shout, I will PM my mobile number if you want it, Cheer’s Pete
That is fascinating stuff, I knew everything had been taken apart by hand and rebuilt, but I haven’t ever seen photos of any of the original structures in place… will have to go look for some of the others now!
Harry Monk:
pete smith:
Bit of useless information for you Harry, First picture ( yours) showing the canal bridge at The Black Country Museum and the second pic showing it in its original position in Broad Street Wolverhampton, if your ever in these neck of the woods and need any assistance etc give me a shout, I will PM my mobile number if you want it, Cheer’s PeteThat is fascinating stuff, I knew everything had been taken apart by hand and rebuilt, but I haven’t ever seen photos of any of the original structures in place… will have to go look for some of the others now!
Harry,
Here is the Bottle and Glass as it is now at the Museum and when it was in its original location on Brierley Hill road,Brockmoor right by the Stourbridge canal in 1979,the garage stood in Fighting ■■■■■ on the Dudley road in Wolverhampton,try to find a before and after for you.
