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Post by lumi on Apr 9, 2024 6:06:10 GMT 2
Wow, what an amazing journey. This is such a good thread. I would love to enjoy such a relaxed holiday in nature. If only I had the right skills to manor a canal boat!
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Post by kuskiwi on Apr 9, 2024 7:53:13 GMT 2
Lumi. If we could manage the Ashby I'm sure you could. No locks, no narrow bridge areas and plenty of lovely spots to moor, either secluded or in towns.
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 9, 2024 8:06:44 GMT 2
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 9, 2024 8:07:38 GMT 2
A few more random photos as we go along. A memorial to someone, didn’t stop to have a look - Walking route under a road to get to the end of the lock - A bird - Stood and looked at this under a bridge as I walked along the towpath. Took me a minute to work it out after I’d checked the other end as well. It rotates and would be where the tow rope runs to stop it rubbing on the stone of the bridge - Continuing walking along the towpath - Probably a permanent mooring and trying to make it homely - One (of many seen) run down boat - The canal version of a service station - Just before entering a town - The local town and quite attractive. I stopped there for a walk round and get my hair cut -
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Post by lumi on Apr 9, 2024 16:42:37 GMT 2
Lumi. If we could manage the Ashby I'm sure you could. No locks, no narrow bridge areas and plenty of lovely spots to moor, either secluded or in towns. I have zero experience with boats. So probably not a good idea to try it out for the first time in such narrow spaces. And I am assuming you need a boat licence. I have no idea if Mr Lumi has ever driven a boat - will have to ask him as I do like the idea of a different type of nature vacation.
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Post by lumi on Apr 9, 2024 16:44:13 GMT 2
Mark, I love that you got a hair cut in a random town you happened to moor at. Those are the memories I usually keep - an everyday task made more fun due to the unplanned nature of it during your holiday.
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 9, 2024 17:33:40 GMT 2
Lumi, Britain is one of those few countries where unless you are doing it commercially, no boat/captain/crew licence is mandatory. I put it down to us being a historical sailing nation. You've never needed one to set off in your own boat to sail anywhere around or in Britain. Many stories there are of someone being advised not to set off on some adventure in a home made boat but there is no regulation to stop them.
Most rental companies will ask if you have experience but you are not disallowed from renting a boat if you haven't. They will give you some training and information to help you. One thing is due to the slow speeds you go, there is very little damage you can cause.
Regarding a haircut, it was a spur of the moment decision when I saw an advert that is in one of the photos. Unfortunately the Turkish barber spoke virtually no English or at best didn't understand my accent and when I asked for a hair wash first he agreed but then set off at a great rate of knots with the electric hair clippers until it was too late anyway.
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Post by ninchursanga on Apr 9, 2024 18:04:34 GMT 2
What a wonderful travel thread! This is my kind of dream vacation. For a few years I've been eyeing on a trip like this. As you mentioned earlier, during main season renting such boats become quite costly and unfortunately I am bound to school vacations.
Also, anywhere in the UK is out of question because getting a visa for Mr. Nin is just a pain in the backside. But there are also very nice itineraries in the Netherlands, with smaller boats that also do not require a boating licence.
I wish my dad was 10 years younger and a bit healthier. He used to be a captain on a barge and would have a blast on a boat trip like this. Those locks and sluice would probably make him giggle as he use to navigate much larger ones.
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 10, 2024 7:48:15 GMT 2
My mother was relatively immobile for the last years of her life yet my parents rented a boat a few times. She would get on the boat and not get off it for several days, up to a week, until she got off it at the end.
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 10, 2024 7:55:54 GMT 2
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 10, 2024 7:58:07 GMT 2
I’d decide earlier that day I’d call at a canal side pub for my lunch. I was pretty hungry when I got there but was disappointed in the menu options - and the price. Maybe having the name Neil Morrissey added a premium. I saw they did triple cooked chips and never having them decided to give it a try. Being hungry I added a soup to it as well. The menu said for any sandwiches you could add a soup for three pounds and as I was ordering I expected just to pay an extra three quid for the soup. But no. They asked me for the full price of the soup. I said, it said three pounds. They said no, you have to pay the full price as a chip sandwich is not a sandwich - never mind it was in the list of sandwiches. A “discussion” occurred where I pointed to the menu, the location of the food item I wanted, the category it was included in and the fact that the next line actually stated the soup thing. The lad and lass involved had to go away and ask for clarification - wtf?! They came back and said, “We can do that for you” as if it was a one off request. I said it must be difficult for someone to ask for what it says on the menu. They went away - So it came. Mushroom soup - good but too rich, too many mushrooms and the worst being they were tinned mushrooms, or at least seemed like it. The chip sandwich was, all I can say, interesting - Anyway, with full stomach I continued - The chap in the safety vest - he told me his name is Bob the Lock. He volunteers off his own bat to help people through the locks. He was quite happy I was by myself because he could throw himself into the full service. There were a flight of four locks, I met him at the first, he apparently saw me coming and opened the gates for me so I sailed in - At the end of the lock process he’d open the exit gates, close them behind me and then get on his bike, whizz past me and sort out the next one for me. Wonderful bloke. All just for the enjoyment of helping, fresh air and exercise.
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 10, 2024 9:10:54 GMT 2
most people are wonderful.
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 10, 2024 19:33:53 GMT 2
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 10, 2024 22:45:28 GMT 2
I have not yet visited that region of the UK... you made me want to, Mark. Thank you.
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 11, 2024 7:23:04 GMT 2
You're welcome.
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 11, 2024 12:15:56 GMT 2
Love the photo of the cat. Now, Mark, have you rembered what flowers the cat is snoozing by?
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Post by ninchursanga on Apr 11, 2024 12:47:47 GMT 2
Looking at the pictures of the rest of your trip and have some serious travel envy :-) Thanks for sharing!
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Post by auntieannie on Apr 11, 2024 14:05:58 GMT 2
hey, Nin!
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 11, 2024 16:31:18 GMT 2
Baz, of course. Orchids.
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Post by Scrubb on May 3, 2024 1:41:57 GMT 2
I have a small group of close friends (5 besides me) who have got into "slow TV" in recent years. An example of what we've watched* is a real time train trip through Sweden on a very slow local train. It's about 24 hours of footage, and we'd see a couple hours at a time, once per week, so it lasts for several weeks.
And we are now watching a narrow boat journey.
The camera is stationary- it's the view of the front of the boat looking forward.
*when I saw we "watch" it - it's more like we put it on, and it plays while we chat. Some of us keep our eyes on it a lot, some a little. Sometimes we chat about something we see, like a sign on the towpath, or another boat that keeps reappearing, or a lock.
It's very restful TV.
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Post by Scrubb on May 3, 2024 1:44:20 GMT 2
Also we watched a British series called "Zomboat". There's a zombie apocalypse and the show is about a pair of sisters escaping on a narrow boat. It's a comedy, and very silly.
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