spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Oh man that looks like great fun. Absolutely want to do.
Canals, canal boats, canal walks, waterways
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Oh man that looks like great fun. Absolutely want to do.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Weybridge 25 mins from Waterloo.
The company I work for are in Shepperton so I’ve become quite au fait with the transport links down that way and surprisingly quick from East London.
I can get door to door Bethnal Green Woking in an hour.
Weybridge trains are fast, ones to Shepperton stop at every fucking lamppost though, Frau Bahn's mum lives there and we stayed with her for 6 months, fucking exhausting commuting to town from there. Buster Edwards thought the village was so remote he'd not be found hiding out there, it is a bit like the land that time forgot...
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
When I was a kid we lived in a house that backed on to the grand union. From age 9 to about 14 we spent almost every weekend in the summer and most holidays on a 25 ft wooden two berth cruiser my dad had converted. I had to sleep under an awning in the cockpit. When I was about 14 they got a narrow boat. Which I later went away with my mates on. Between all this we did most of the (then) available canals and rivers in the south and midlands. Including under tower bridge- not sure that would be allowed these days with no radio ? And up the Thames past the legal head of navigation till we went aground. Later they moved to Branston marina to live.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Tell me about it, quite handy for snoozing off a hangover on a Monday morning visit to the office though.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Pah, I've done this. Monmouth & Brecon canal, absolutely beautiful btw, pissed about for 4 days and didn't think we'd have time to get to Brecon where we would turn around. I saw a wide bend on the canal and decided to do it there. It didn't work. And my gf lost her glasses in the canal trying to free the boat.
She went boat happy. I had to kill her. *
* I might have made the killing bit up. The rest is true.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Lived on boats for 12 years, and Mr B did 18 years in total.
Everyone (particularly our families) expected us to move off when our son was born, but we got a bigger boat and did another 6 years. We've been on dry land for 15 years now - in a village that the Grand Union runs through, so in some ways it feels that we haven't left it!
Everyone (particularly our families) expected us to move off when our son was born, but we got a bigger boat and did another 6 years. We've been on dry land for 15 years now - in a village that the Grand Union runs through, so in some ways it feels that we haven't left it!
BassJunkie
Clams on the half shell, and roller skates.
My brother and I started walking the Grand Union Canal from Leicester in 2020 (when we were finally allowed to). Since then we've walked up to the Trent, as far South as Tring and towards Birmingham as far Solihull. That leaves us with 7 miles left to do to the Northern end - Spaghetti Junction(!). And about 2 days walking South to reach the Thames.
We've mostly done it by using 2 cars, parking one at the end and driving to the beginning. These remaining bits will probably be done by public transport.
We stride along quite quickly and often pass narrowboats going in the same direction.
As we're reaching the end of this 4 year odyssey I've become aware of how many other canals there are. It looks like we could do the Oxford Canal next. And of course, Birmingham has more canals than somewhere in Italy. And once we've finished the Grand Union we're definitely going to spend a pleasant day walking the Regent's canal. Most of which I've walked Regent's Park <-> Notting Hill Carnival. Never been as far as the Lea Basin though.
We've mostly done it by using 2 cars, parking one at the end and driving to the beginning. These remaining bits will probably be done by public transport.
We stride along quite quickly and often pass narrowboats going in the same direction.
As we're reaching the end of this 4 year odyssey I've become aware of how many other canals there are. It looks like we could do the Oxford Canal next. And of course, Birmingham has more canals than somewhere in Italy. And once we've finished the Grand Union we're definitely going to spend a pleasant day walking the Regent's canal. Most of which I've walked Regent's Park <-> Notting Hill Carnival. Never been as far as the Lea Basin though.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
We had a nice urban walk (and bike) in the Lea basin a few years ago now so would be nice to do that again next year maybe
gosub
~#
When I lived on Magic Roundabout mooring was on the Wey. Is a pretty navigation but really is a day out. You'd see weekly hire boats from Guildford getting to Weybridge after a day and think now what?
5 ywars living on the cut. Glad I did it. More glad I did it when I did
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
You could always complete the Thames Ring BassJunkie
It’s approx 250 miles, and being a ring you can start anywhere but from memory it leaves the Thames and goes up the Brentford arm of the GUC and then from the GUC it goes down the Oxford canal to the Thames.
It’s approx 250 miles, and being a ring you can start anywhere but from memory it leaves the Thames and goes up the Brentford arm of the GUC and then from the GUC it goes down the Oxford canal to the Thames.
gosub
~#
Yep
lazythursday
Averagely-Known Member
For exploring the network, I highly recommend the app Open Canal Map. I know the developer, who created this for his own needs and as a bit of a labour of love. It's way better than anything the canal and river trust have done.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Our boy is 21 now and is carrying on the family tradition, he's a couple of years into renovating a boat which he intends to live on.
There's some photos on another boat thread, but I can't find it
There's some photos on another boat thread, but I can't find it
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Our boy is 21 now and is carrying on the family tradition, he's a couple of years into renovating a boat which he intends to live on.
There's some photos on another boat thread, but I can't find it
This photo?
Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Yes! That's from quite early on in the process, before it went in the water and he cruised it up to Northants.
kalmatthew
Lurker Extrodinaire
I grew up living near the grand union and when I moved into my own flat and then on to the house I've always been close to the Wey (slightly further than Bahnhof Strasse but same town.) canals have often been part of walks from home although these days I'm more likely to walk beyond the navigable section.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
This was the thread I was thinking of
www.urban75.net
Urban boaties where are you?
Sigh - missing twentythreedom again. Daughter has bought a boat. Only a little mirror dinghy but moored just along the river (Yare) from our wood. £300 and another £100 for an outboard. £30 a month for mooring fees and we have an option to build a little jetty on an inlet on my neighbour's land...
www.urban75.net
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
I remember going on some family bike rides along the K&A and spending most of the day one time ambling down the locks at Devizes, helping out with opening and closing the gates at each one
Walked along the Llangollen canal across the Pontcysyllte aquaduct when doing the Offa's Dyke path, you really need a head for heights for this. Also done a circular route from Marple to High Lane along the canal, then across Lyme park and down to Disley and then back along the canal back to Marple, some stunning scenery when it's dry and clear but not nice when the weather is wet.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
We once had a great two week holiday on the boat from Milton Keynes to Stratford upon Avon and back again - a two hour round trip in the car 
I don't know about the northern half, but the bit from Lapworth down to Stratford is absolutely gorgeous, and would be good to walk.
The whole thing is only 25ish miles so could be walked in a weekend.
Loads of decent pubs and a few of these
www.landmarktrust.org.uk
I don't know about the northern half, but the bit from Lapworth down to Stratford is absolutely gorgeous, and would be good to walk.
The whole thing is only 25ish miles so could be walked in a weekend.
Loads of decent pubs and a few of these
Holiday at Lengthsman's Cottage near Lowsonford, Warwickshire | The Landmark Trust
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
Have run this route several times, it is very niceWe once had a great two week holiday on the boat from Milton Keynes to Stratford upon Avon and back again - a two hour round trip in the car
I don't know about the northern half, but the bit from Lapworth down to Stratford is absolutely gorgeous, and would be good to walk.
The whole thing is only 25ish miles so could be walked in a weekend.
View attachment 445109
Loads of decent pubs and a few of these
Holiday at Lengthsman's Cottage near Lowsonford, Warwickshire | The Landmark Trust
The aqueduct is quite fun as the footpath is below the water level
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
I remember watching a bbc kids show in the early 90s called Kevin and Co which was about kids who lived along a canal, possibly in that part of the world?
lazythursday
Averagely-Known Member
Some of my favourite stretches of canal are some of the least well known and in places people don't really expect to be nice. The Bridgewater Canal branch that goes to Wigan, via Leigh, winds through an area that was once coalfields and is now just a vast area of country parks and 'flashes' (large lakes caused by subsidence). Also love the Calder & Hebble through Brighouse, Mirfield, Dewsbury, Wakefield - as a boater you go on and off the river and canalised sections, its just really interesting in the mixture of nature and heritage and bits of post-industiral decay. On the other hand there are some deathly boring canals that are straight for miles and miles with no apparent change in scenery at all - eg the soul destroying New Junction Canal in South Yorkshire.
Plumdaff
joy in people
Sadly I'm a bit too old to have seen that. Was onto drinking Mad Dog in graveyards by the early 90s.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Nice time lapse of a trip down the GU from Grafton Regis to Cosgrove
I find these really soothing to watch!
I find these really soothing to watch!
