Rory the skipper

One of my former colleagues is featured in this week's edition of the BBC newspaper, Ariel.  It's in a double page spread about people who've left the BBC, and what they're doing now.  Rory Maclean, who used to be a Home Affairs Correspondent, and who owns Sudbury.  He appears to be enjoying himself, having landed a job as a skipper on the waterbus from Little Venice to Camden.

Farncombe Boat House

Travelling back from a weekend seeing family, we stopped at Farncombe Boat House on the River Wey for lunch.  On the other side of the road is Farncombe Lock, the most southerly on the river.

After lunch, we walked the short distance along the towpath to Godalming Wharf, the head of navigation.

Norbury Junction Streetview

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Google Streetview has gone nationwide, and includes a nice shot of Norbury Junction. Given the number of boats in the basin, I'd guess that the shot was taken on a Friday, the OwnerShips handover day. Unfortunately the picture isn't good enough to see whether Debdale is there.

Braunston

A visit to Braunston yesterday, in the bitter cold.  The trip was primarily to see Caxton undergoing its stretch, but there was also time to chat to Dave Taylor of OwnerShips, and have lunch with Lesley and Joe at the Old Plough.  It was trying to snow by the time I left; further south it was snowing quite heavily.

Sarah's sticker album

Sarah from Warrior and now Chertsey has started a new blog, the Town Class Sticker Album, where she's trying to spot and photograph all the Town Class GUCC boats. It made me wonder how many I'd got photos of. The answer is nine ten that I can immediately lay my hands on, although there may be others that I can't identify. I know this is not really the point, because Sarah wants to see them all herself, but here goes anyway.

ALTON -- September 2009 at Bugsworth Basin. We bought a couple of bags of coal from Brian.


BALDOCK -- At the Canalway Cavalcade, Little Venice, 2008.


BARROW -- Braunston, 2008

BATTERSEA -- Braunston 2008

DOVER -- Braunston, 2008.

HADLEY -- With a wedding on board, Braunston, 2008.


NUNEATON -- Sarah's comment reminded me of this photo of Nuneaton, with the butty Brighton, stuck in a bridge hole, Uxbridge, April 2007.

NUTFIELD -- Braunston, 2008.

RENFREW -- Braunston, 2008.

SALTAIRE -- Black Country Museum, September 2008 (just behind President and Kildare).

Muscovy Duck?

If you've seen the comments on the previous post, you'll know that there's been some discussion about a duck (or possibly not a duck) which appears in my December photos on flickr. There are quite a few of these at Norbury Junction, and we've never known quite what they are. Halfie reckons they're Muscovy Ducks, and provides a fairly convincing case. Unless anyone else knows differently.

Photos

I've posted nearly 50 photos from our New Year cruise in a new set on Flickr.

Button End on test

The February edition of Canal Boat has been in the shops a week, but we had no post for several days last week because of the snow, so I've only just got my copy. It contains my test of Button End, a Goldsbrough boat. The test was done just a couple of days before we set off on our three week trip last September, and we had weather we can now only dream of: sunshine and warmth.

Button End is based on a previous Goldsbrough boat, Footsie 100. Imagine my surprise when just a couple of days into our September trip, we passed Footsie 100 moored just south of Stoke. I managed to grab a quick picture, which also makes an appearance in the magazine.

New Year Cruise - Day Eight

We were very grateful this morning that we'd taken the decision last night to get into the basin rather than stopping just short. The whole of Norbury Junction was frozen and it was snowing, with the snow settling on the ice.

I was glad I went out when I did to take photos, as a Norbury Wharf hire boat arrived back a little later, crashing through the ice. It took him quite a while to get alongside the wharf, and the noise from on board Debdale was tremendous. We were soon packed up and on our way home.