Andrew noted in his twitter box at GrannyButtons that CanalPlanAC was down. It was for me too, so I checked with a site-Uptime service and it said the server was down (that is mihalis.net rather than the canalplanac domain). So a bit of digging and I found:

Nick Atty’s Canal Route planner (Canalplan AC) will be unavailable for a bit because I have to move the server.

Just completing final precautionary backups in case the current server never comes back to life (it has been mostly up and running for over five years and is just a homebuilt PC in my basement)

posted 1st June 2008

So lets hope you’re not just setting out on your boat and have forgotten to plan a journey and wanted to do it “last thing”.

There are tons of canal events and festivals that occur, and whilst large ones such as Crick will always attract 1000’s of visitors, how do you make a less known one a successful event? One way could be to host an unusual competition, such as the Duck Race being held in the Delph Locks for the 150th anniversary event taking place this weekend (7th-8th June)

“The race will see 800 ducks swimming between the locks for a 1st prize of £150.”

Its amazing that they got 800 ducks to enter the race, who’d have thought it, mind you I’m sure some will be doing it for charity. I always thought humans were strange because some have the urge to race a marathon, but at least we’re not the only species. I wonder if there will be any there racing in fancy dress?

Yes I do realise they’ll be plastic!

You can, if it lets you, get carried away producing or improving any video project you are working on - usually there’s a deadline by which you need to finish them. Not so with my video’s, so I could take forever re-tinkering with them, however I’ve tried not to. Producing these time lapse video’s has been a learning process and can easily be shown by viewing the videos. The actual time lapse sequence method remains the same but my earlier ones simply had static titles on, where as later ones incorporated a moving canal map.

Whilst archiving some old photo’s, I realised I still had all the project files for one of the past days, so I thought I’d have a tinker. Just a few hours work but hopefully improves it. I’m not likely to redo all the days - after all I’ve two weeks of new stuff from my cruise down the Avon to do, but thought it’d make a nice distraction.

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GU Canal D11 Lock, Sink, and Tunnel to Braunston

Day eleven of my September 2007 cruise down the GUC sees us almost back to base. As a side note I finished this video in early April, but no idea why I forgot to actually put up an entry for it here?

It was a sunny but blustery day, so we head off up the Grand Union Canal passing Weedon before we see our first boats out to Braunston. Warm autumn days are a great time to be out on the cut, there are less boats out and you can just travel without a sole around. Of course you can get the timing wrong and end up with several days of rain when you’ll either push on through or sit inside looking at the world around. Luckily today was fine and sunny, though we pass a sunken cruiser, or as many refer to them “Tupperware boat”, with its top open - has it sunk under heavy rain or did it have a leak and its been left open as the owner grabs all their belongings and ‘abandons ship’.

Next up are the first locks of the day, Buckby Locks. As we empty and ready the first lock, a boat comes round the corner - ah help, may as well beckon them in, much easier to ascend wide locks with two boats. An American couple on a hire boat NB Poppy rounding off a trip to the UK. Once through we both carry on heading towards Braunston Tunnel. Its now 1pm, and time for lunch at some point. The southern side of the tunnel is all in cuttings, so rather than moor here, we carry on through to the side. We passed a couple of boats inside, though I could tell the first was a boat, but the second looked more like the northern portal, although the engine noise said otherwise. Passing in tunnels is part of the canal experience, but you’ll be amazed at the number of boats you see waiting until they think its clear - I wonder if they panic when half way through they see an oncoming boat decide to start on into the tunnel?

There’s plenty of space above the north portal to moor, but as much of its in shade with a seemingly permanently muddy towpath we set off through the first lock with NB Poppy before parting company whilst we moored for lunch on board. The canal in September isn’t as empty as I first thought, or Braunston is so special it always has a healthy volume of boat traffic, as when we set off lo-and-behold another boat pops round the corner. Well we were about to set off, so I asked their skipper if they wanted to lock share (after all they may already be paired with another lock-partner from Buckby), and off we set down Braunston Locks. A surprise at the first lock was a BW employee painting the gates - well BW painting the lock gates wasn’t a surprise, makes me sound as if I believe they “don’t do maintenance”, but that the guy was painting the gates and letting boats still use the lock. He hung from one arm almost oblivious to the gates opening and closing and the stream of boats passing through - though I did try my best to ensure I didn’t knock him off as we passed.

When you’re out and about on the cut and see other boats, you often make assumptions. With hire boats you’ll treat the steerer as if if its their first time out, unless you find out otherwise, and those on their own boat having at least some skill. I’ve passed oncoming boats at crowded moorings with inched to spare, and usually most boaters are okay with close encounters. Obviously not all, the boat we were lock-sharing with went close to the lock gates whilst waiting for the occupant to rise up, but then had to reverse as the steerer of the boat in the lock refused to leave until they reversed. There was plenty of room and the lock was in-line with the canal (so it wasn’t as if there was a tricky manoeuvre to be done), it turned out to be another Ownerships boat - there goes my believe that even shared-owners can steer too.

Lastly we come to the camera shy boater. Once into Braunston we found a space through the bridge-hole and behind a line of boats. Once we were firmly tied up I went inside and was about to stop the boat-cam when someone pops out of the boat in-front and sets off. Obviously just coincidence, though he sets off quickly and doesn’t look behind him - which is a pity especially as a boat came through the bridge behind us and was almost forced into the bank opposite as they had to quickly slow to avoid colliding with them.

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Granny Buttons posted about the canal boat magazine game, and several bloggers have taken the challenge. So I thought I’d be like a sheep and join in:

1. What’s your favourite canal?
   The one I’m on at the time. Each usually has something I like about, such as Northern Oxford looking at the shortening that occurred. Then again apart from this it’s quite boring and maybe I should nominate it for Q2.
2. And your least-favourite?
   The one I’m on, if its pelting it down and there’s no decent moorings around. I’ll nominate the Southern Oxford as you can go ages before you find anywhere.
3. Who would be your ideal cruising companion?
   A clone of myself, that way I could drive the boat and operate the locks. Hmm. Its not that I’m a loner or totally big headed I just like steering and operating the locks.
4. What was the last book you read? (I reckon the question should be “last waterways book you read, not including magazines or canal guides”)
   Barking by Tom Holt, and as far as Waterways book, I guess the first Narrow Dog book, or can we have books that mention canals?
5. What’s your favourite time of day on the waterways?
   A sunny afternoon, you can relax and enjoy the cruise without having to squint at the sun which is usually the case a few hours later.
6. What irritates you most on the waterways?
   Impatient boaters, such as those who empty/fill a lock that’s set for you just because they got there first. Ooo and owners who moor right next to locks or the mooring posts and then moan because you come close to them because you want to use the lock.
7. When would you most like to have lived?
   Either 1790 or 2090. It would have been great to live through the Canal Mania, assuming that I was involved, though not just as a navvie - don’t think I’d like to have been some factory worker with no access to canals. So how about some time in the future when there are solar powered narrowboats and you can easily work virtually from onboard.
8. When did you last fall in?
   December 2005, a chilly afternoon when I was just mooring up in a marina having been out for a week and was tying the bow to the next boat.
9. What did you want to be at 12?
   Not sure, it could well to be a canal boater as that was my first holiday on a hire narrowboat - I’d been on the Broads a few times when we hired cruisers, but this time it was with our neighbours who’d hired many times, so we had a 70′ hire boat and I was given a few goes at steering.
10. If I didn’t have narrowboating I’d … ?
    be on the Broads, or possibly be non-floating caravan.
11. Narrowboaters are … ?
    A very friendly bunch, willing to chat and always willing to help.
12. After a day’s cruising I most look forward to …
    A beer at the pub we’ve moored near.
13. The waterways need … ?
    Straightening, there’s too many bends in it … LOL. Less longterm moorings, I go out to enjoy the canals not passing miles of moored boats who’s owners use it as a weekend floating caravan. I was pleased when BW said they’d remove moorings in proportion to new marina moorings coming on-line, but not so when they gave-in to some boaters who complained when they tried to remove their cheap moorings.
14. If you met the Waterways Minister on the towpath, what would you say to him?
    Nothing, because I’m sure he’d only politely say he’d “do his best” to take my suggestions on board and then forget them as soon as I’ve left.
15. Windows or portholes?
    Windows, since I like to be able to see when inside.
16. Pumpout or cassette?
    Pumpout. I like my flushing toilet, well I say ‘like’ I just prefer not having to mess with cassettes every day or so. Some people call narrowboats “floating caravans”, but that doesn’t mean I want the full camping experience.
17. Canals or rivers?
    Canals, though like both.
18. Where will you be when you are 70?
    Steering a boat, or complaining the locks aren’t at easy as they used to be.
19. What do you think is your greatest achievement in life?
    Don’t know yet.
20. What would your superpower be?
    The ability to know what my greatest achievement will be so that I ensure I do it.

You’re chugging along on your boat at 3mph when suddenly something gets caught on your propeller, maybe  it just makes a brief noise, so you give a blast in reverse and it clears, or maybe it stops dead and so you engine stalls. Either way its usually just a minor inconvenience, it just slows you down if you carry on or delays you whilst you delve down the weed hatch if you stop and clear it. This isn’t too much trouble when you are out on the cut, but there are times when it causes more of a problem, for instance doing the Warwickshire Ring in 2007 my prop got snared on the way into Birmingham when time was an issue - it was early evening and I still had a flight of locks to get through to reach the city centre mooring. That wasn’t too bad, a slightly more frantic time was when I got a ground sheet on my prop just as I was entering a lock. It stopped my engine and I just carried on into the empty lock until my bow fender met the cill and brought me to a stop.

However getting a snag on a river can be a completely different kettle of fish. Kevin, a fellow time-lapse boater, told me about the time his engine gave out turning his boat into a very large  Poohstick bobbing along the river until he was eventually brought to rest on the bank downstream. My experience wasn’t so gentile, mainly due to the sound of rushing water - that’s right whilst approaching a weir!

Heading down the Avon I got something on my prop, but after giving it a blast in reverse it seemed to clear so I carried on. I guess as we were going downstream and taking our time it wasn’t apparent that anything was wrong. It was a sunny day and waters calm, so something we could do when we stopped, after all it probably had cleared itself. As I approached IWA lock on the Avon, a tight turning infront of the weir I found I didn’t have enough power (so there was something on my prop slowing me down enough that I couldn’t go much more than tick over) and the boat turned, caught by the current, and turning broadside straight for the weir … well, straight for the safety buoys. So after shouting for everyone to brace themselves it was a case of leaning away until we reached the buoys and it took the strain bringing us to a halt.

I  was now running on adrenalin and after checking we were okay, it was a matter of rescuing the boat! The bow was near the bank and luckily there was a hire boat in the lock who’s crew came to help. So I put the boat into gear pushing it forward as everyone else pushed the bow round to the lock channel entrance (luckily not far, a couple of feet) and the boat went forward and we were out of danger. Quite an experience, and all captured on camera!