Picking up my narrow boat. (photo heavy)

[Polarbear]

At the risk of boring you all

Picked up my narrow boat from upper Heyford on the Grand union canal and sailed it back to Fenny Stratford near MK.

30 miles by canal over 2 days including 8 locks, the Blissworth tunnel (over 3000 yards long) and more than one pub!

A few pictures. I did take one inside the tunnel but it just came out black


https://imageshack.us/a/img823/6981/axqq.jpg
On our way

https://imageshack.us/a/img42/3664/hb81.jpg
In one of the locks near Stoke Bruerne

https://imageshack.us/a/img196/958/qe1y.jpg
Moored up for the night at Stoke bruerne. It was a lovely evening after a rainy day.

https://imageshack.us/a/img541/4510/rwl9.jpg
Breakfast time, and the Swan family invited themselves. A bit rude I thought as they hissed at us the night before coming back to the boat from the pub.

https://imageshack.us/a/img28/3606/80vi.jpg
Off again

https://imageshack.us/a/img19/572/w0xm.jpg
The horse tunnel at Cosgrove which allowed the nags to get from one side of the canal to the other as the towpath changes sides. It also allowed us to get to the pub from where we moored.

https://imageshack.us/a/img694/2057/q9f9.jpg
We didn't stop at every pub. Here passing the Peartree Bridge inn (it's a modern dump of a pub )

https://imageshack.us/a/img90/673/bsg5.jpg
Final destination. Moored up at Fenny Stratford by 5:30. 7 hours to do 19 miles from Stoke Bruerne, not exactly busa speeds!!
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[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Sweet!

Now paint an R at the beginning of your barge's name, and pretend you're hippy scum.
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[mistergixer]

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[Sable]

Hi

Nice! Are you going live a board or is it for evenings and weekends? Show us some pics of inside!

Cheers

[Ste]

Cool, you're continuous mooring cruising or have you got a mooring in a marina?

[Clutchy]

Pics of inside the boat please!
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[Polarbear]

Inside pics coming.

It's an evenings, weekends and when I'm in the doghouse boat.

It will be on winter moorings for 3 months and the rest of the time continuous cruising.
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[mysterious_rider]

what does something like this cost
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[Chuffin Nora]

[The Artist]

[-Matt-]

Very nice in need of much work or is she good to go pretty much?

Should rename it HMS BCF

[Rigga]

Nice one, how much are mooring fees etc, do you have to pay any kind of tax? Like a council tax but for waterways?
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[Rigga]

Nice one, how much are mooring fees etc, do you have to pay any kind of tax? Like a council tax but for waterways?
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[pepperami]

Mr Bear, that boat reminds me of your bikes!
Large & ponderous
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[Ste]

Many continuous cruisers are like the way gypsies/travellers live, they stay in one place for as long as they can and paying nothing towards anything.

[Nb]

Looks like good fun, the peartree pub is a dump but the carvery is ok and they do a good full english on a sunday morning.
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[darkhorizon]

Nic & gentle
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[Im-a-Ridah]

Not a fan.

It's like caravaning but with limited route options.

Also, a canal would not be my choice of sleeping locations.

[Furrybiker]

Last time I went past that pub, there was a Corsa in the cut.
That must have been 10 years ago so not much changes.

Good luck, it looks a lovely boat.

[Polarbear]

For those that are interested, here are some internal pictures.

It's fine for cruising now, but there's quite a bit I want to do as the inside is a bit 'tired'. First thing is to re do the wiring, put a telly in.

https://imageshack.us/a/img12/606/tixc.jpg

https://imageshack.us/a/img542/406/rpjn.jpg


I'll renew the control panel at sometime as well. The hole is where the horn button was and my ham fisted mate pushed it so hard he pushed it through the back.

https://imageshack.us/a/img138/7219/wnba.jpg

The boat was built in 1981 but the hull has just been replated and has had a full survey. The engine is a marinised BMC 1.5 litre diesel of ancient vintage. Is cooled by keel cooling and runs a calorifier for hot water backed up by a butane gas water heater. 1 starter battery and 3 leisure batteries on a power manager.

https://imageshack.us/a/img51/4396/nvxw.jpg

Full size 12 volt fridge Full sized cooker for the odd breakfast or two. Double and single beds. Bathroom with shower so all the amenities just on a small size. Diesel heater for winter as well although I'm thinking of a wood burning pot bellied stove would be nice.

https://imageshack.us/a/img209/4756/3qvk.jpg

For people interested in costs, a licence for a 39 foot boat is about £750. marina fees vary but you are looking about £1000 a year round here. Then there are the startup costs. For a narrow boat the smallest (about 27 foot) in full working condition start around £10000. Lower than that they are a project or fucked. Glass fibre cruisers are generally cheaper.

As Ste said, there are a lot of water gypsies who pay fuck all, Don't get licences, don't register their boats and there is fuck all the Canal & River Trust can do to them. They are just as bad as there caravanning brethren. On the way back from picking up the boat we must have passed 50 boats with no or out of date licences. Thats the best part of £30000 in just 30 miles that the Canal trust have lost out on and that's why there is so much needs doing and they are short of money.

To those that say it's caravanning with limited options, well yes but there are over 4000 miles of navigable inland waterways including rivers. With a maximum speed of 4 mph I'm never going to visit all of them.

https://imageshack.us/a/img208/2521/dxhz.jpg
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[darkhorizon]

[hellkat]

Nice.

So ... according to that map.
Say you picked up your boat in Colchester.
But you wanted to go visit your mate in Tonbridge.
Are you allowed to cross the Thames Estuary?
There seems no other way to get there.
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[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Be nice to have one of those but with all mod cons:

https://www.milweb.net/features/mv/us-gmc-dukw_009.jpg
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[Im-a-Ridah]

[Im-a-Ridah]

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