videoactive leisure

Between locks on the Atherstone flight, we were passing a row of moored boats. As always, I pulled the throttle back to 800 rpm to allow us to trickle by without causing any disturbance. It was a beautiful evening and some folks were having a barbie on the bank. I was woken from my reverie by a shout .... "Oi. Slow down you". I looked around to see just who was being shouted at. There were no other boats on the move. I looked at the red faced young man standing on the bank, with a can in one hand, who was clearly yelling at me ... "You know you're only supposed to be on tickover passing moored boats. Slow down". I don't do being yelled at terribly well. "This is tickover" was all I could manage to splutter in retort. "Well you should get a smaller prop" came the instant reply. Satisfied with that, he belched and sat down with a smug grin on his face. The girl with him was obviously impressed. I should have said of course "and you should get a smaller mouth", but like I said, I don't do being yelled at very well, and I didn't think of it.
I've thought long and hard about this incident. Was I really going too fast? I don't think so. I've since tried going alongside cruising swans with Morgan-Le-Fay doing 800rpm. The swans make bigger ripples than we do. I've observed very closely what moored boats do when I cruise past at 800rpm. They don't do anything very much. At worst, they gently move forwards and then back as our 15 tonnes of boat displaces 15 tonnes of water down the side. It has to go somewhere however slowly you go.
So what was the red faced guy on about? Does he shout like this at all the passing boats? His retorts were certainly well rehearsed. What pleasure does he get from shouting at passing boats on warm September evening? The clue, I think, is in the look on the face of the girl. This was a wierd kind of courtship display. By shouting at me and catching me off-guard, he had scored points over another alpha male. It made him look good in the eyes of the girl. That, for some people, is what life's all about.



The VideoActive Leisure Blog aboard nb Morgan Le Fay			Click here to add a comment to the blog.

14th Sep	My son Tony called and suggested we meet them for Sunday lunch when we got to Penkridge. Now we don't know Penkridge very well, and it's years since I have been in either of the canalside pubs listed in the Nicholson's guide. We arrived in Penkridge the evening before, and moored by the most northerly of the two, The Boat. To my dismay, it was filthy. The ground-in dirt on the carpet was grey and sticky, and had become polished with eons of foot traffic. When you rested an elbow on the bar counter, your sleeve stuck there in the accumulated stickiness. A feature film blazed from every direction on giant plasma screens, drowning any attempt at conversation with the half dozen or so other drinkers. Although they served food, the staff had sent out for a takeaway and were eating it behind the bar. I didn't even manage to stay long enough to finish my pint, which wasn't that special in any case. The Cross Keys on the other hand was a delight. It was spotlessly clean, with a warm and friendly welcome. The Sunday lunch was an absolute bargain at £4.95 for two courses. The service was good and the food excellent - home cooking at it's best. The only downside was that when we came to pay, they didn't take credit cards. However, the convenience store up the road has a cash machine.
13th Sep	Between locks on the Atherstone flight, we were passing a row of moored boats. As always, I pulled the throttle back to 800 rpm to allow us to trickle by without causing any disturbance. It was a beautiful evening and some folks were having a barbie on the bank. I was woken from my reverie by a shout .... "Oi. Slow down you". I looked around to see just who was being shouted at. There were no other boats on the move. I looked at the red faced young man standing on the bank, with a can in one hand, who was clearly yelling at me ... "You know you're only supposed to be on tickover passing moored boats. Slow down". I don't do being yelled at terribly well. "This is tickover" was all I could manage to splutter in retort. "Well you should get a smaller prop" came the instant reply. Satisfied with that, he belched and sat down with a smug grin on his face. The girl with him was obviously impressed. I should have said of course "and you should get a smaller mouth", but like I said, I don't do being yelled at very well, and I didn't think of it. I've thought long and hard about this incident. Was I really going too fast? I don't think so. I've since tried going alongside cruising swans with Morgan-Le-Fay doing 800rpm. The swans make bigger ripples than we do. I've observed very closely what moored boats do when I cruise past at 800rpm. They don't do anything very much. At worst, they gently move forwards and then back as our 15 tonnes of boat displaces 15 tonnes of water down the side. It has to go somewhere however slowly you go. So what was the red faced guy on about? Does he shout like this at all the passing boats? His retorts were certainly well rehearsed. What pleasure does he get from shouting at passing boats on warm September evening? The clue, I think, is in the look on the face of the girl. This was a wierd kind of courtship display. By shouting at me and catching me off-guard, he had scored points over another alpha male. It made him look good in the eyes of the girl. That, for some people, is what life's all about.
12th Sep	We started the long journey home to the Llangollen Canal today. Another perfect day. Met Paul from Waterway Routes coming the other way and flagged him down. We recognised his boat following the recent article in Canal Boat Magazine featuring his electric drive. Paul was running on diesel when we met him, and explained he has to do two hours running on diesel to put enough charge in his batteries for one hour of electric cruising. Paul is the "New Kid on the Block" with canal DVDs, and we welcome the challenge from someone else. We both took photos of our two boats together. Well met Paul, and let's hope we may prosper alongside each other. The Rose & Castle at Ansty has become a restaurant. It's family friendly with a large garden. However the beer is pricey, and there are no locals in the bar. Where do they drink?
11th Sep	Filmed down to Braunston. Excellent weather. A perfect September day. The sanitary station at Braunston was it's usual stinking, overflowing, out-order self, so had to use the one by the stop house.
10th Sep	Filmed down to Newbold-on-Avon. Warm and sunny but very windy making filming difficult. Both the Barlow Mow and The Boat Inn don't do food on a Monday. However, this forced us to find The Crown at the bottom of the hill. This 1950's road house style of pub didn't look very hopeful from outside, but surprise surprise, the food was excellent. They have a proper chef, not the usual boil-in-the-bag stuff. They also have a wide range of cask ales which are well looked after, and the service was great. It is highly recommended.
9th Sep 07	Filmed down to Coventry Basin. Moored up to watch the Italian Grand Prix. Alonso won, Hammy 2nd. Cruised back to the Greyhound at Hawkesbury for night stop. They don't do food on a Sunday night. Never mind, we had food on board.
8th Sep 07	Start of weeks filming cruise, to complete the Warwickshire Ring, then begin the journey home for the winter. Night stop near Charity Dock.
30th Aug 07	Day cruise above Atherstone with cousins; Wendy, Adrian, and their grandchildren Corky(9) and Nellie(8). Pulled in to the offside to let the children pick blackberries. As they are "townies" this was an altogether new experience for them, and they quickly got the hang of it; " .... one for the punnet, one for me, one for the punnet, one for me.... etc". You get the idea ! Blackberry & apple crumble for tea when we got home. Loverley.
25th Aug 07	Released the New Programme "Grand Union - Braunston to Birmingham" at the (very muddy!) IWA National Festival in St. Ives. The new programme is available both as a single programme ..... and as part of a 3 disk DVD set on the Grand Union, packaged with our existing programmes "Grand Union Southern Section" and "Grand Union Leicester Section" ....... Mike Mackay of GOBA has written a really great review of our earlier 3 disk DVD set on the Great Ouse, The Nene and the Middle Level released in May this year. GOBA showed me a copy and told me it was on their web site, but unfortunately I can't find it. Thanks Mike, that was much appreciated. May I have a copy please?
6th Aug 07	Ange & I moved the boat up to Kingswood Junction and then to Catherine de Barnes in glorious weather. Re-filmed from CDB to Bordesley Junction to complete the boat-based filming for the new release "Grand Union - Braunston to Birmingham", then filmed for the Warwickshire Ring down Garrison Locks to Salford Junction, and marvelled at this awesome place. Then out of Birmingham via the bottom road, Birmingham & Fazeley. The Boat Inn at Minworth did food, but no real ale and no atmosphere. Not recommended unless desperate. Then on to Fazeley Junction in the best weather all summer. Long queue (2 hours) at Glascote bottom lock because of a seriously leaking bottom gate. Just above Atherstone Top Lock, we met Andrew Denny (Granny Buttons) who was also photographing the locks. We ended up photographing each other and writing about each other, which is pretty incestuous. Moored at Nuneaton.
29th July 07	My son, Pete and his wife Sally took the boat for their honeymoon from Alvechurch to Stratford via Brindley Place. Anxious about the level of flooding at Stratford, at a time when Tewkesbury, Worcester and Upton were all experiencing terrible floods. I did a recce by car the day before they went. Stratford OK, but lots of piles of soggy carpet outside properties. Decorated the boat in bunting and white ribbons for the honeymoon (see picture). They had glorious weather and a lovely time. During the trip, the tiller broke off (we're still talking about the boat here!). It seems that it had been tack-welded on to the rudder stem post, with the intention of welding properly later on. The proper weld never got done. It's a wonder it lasted so long, and we are very fortunate that it happened in the still waters of the canal, with no other boats around. It would have been a very different story if it had gone back in May while on the Nene in flood!
July 2007	Moved the boat to Braunston, then filmed from Braunston to Birmingham, via Camp Hill, Bordesley, Digbeth, Ashted, Aston Junction and Farmers Bridge locks. Some atrocious weather, impossible to film from Catherine de Barnes to Camp Hill. Took the boat to Alvechurch. Applied non-slip Protectakote paint to side and stern decks and took it right up to the edge of the gunwale, so I shouldn't slip off it again!
May 2007	Ange & I moved the boat up the Nene in periods of intense rain. It was clear that the river would be closed soon, so cracked on to Northampton in the rain. I slipped off the side deck & fell in, between the boat and a high slippery bank, while trying to moor (illegally) against the river bank near Irthlingborough. Discovered that it's almost impossible to climb aboard a narrowboat from in the water when weighed down by wet clothing, and had to exit through a bed of nettles on to the bank (wearing shorts!). Left the Nene while it was officially under strong stream advice. There was enough headroom under Northampton Town Bridge, but the strong current made this potentially very exciting. Anchor at the ready in case the propellor fouled. Finished at Whilton Marina.
April 2007	Pete, Sally and Lucy took the boat for a long weekend, and loved it. Then Dave & Emily with Rich & Zoe had it for a long weekend.
Mar - April 2007	Initial "Learning the Boat" weekend cruise, then 10 days filming "The Middle Level". Return to March. The Middle Level programme was released at Crick at the end of May We also packaged it as a 3 disk set with our existing programmes "The River Nene" and "The Great Ouse and River Cam", making a complete set for boaters going to the National.
Mar 2007	Purchased Morgan-le-Fay from Mike & Linda Hancock, on her mooring at Fox's Narrowboats in March Cambs
	Click here to add a comment to the blog.	All comments are moderated before publication.