Standedge Tunnel update

Standedge Tunnel
26th February 2009

Great news: BW have announced their Standedge plans for 2009, and my passage(s) are booked.

As I said in my earlier blog on the subject, the tunnel will be open for through traffic on three days per week: Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Traffic will flow from east to west in the mornings and west to east in the afternoons.

Now here is the really good bit: the tug boat system has been scrapped, as have plans for piloted passages. Instead, BW will be operating a chaperoned system for the year, meaning I can steer Wand'ring Bark under her own power, accompanied by a BW "Tunnel Chaperone". The whole concept of a chaperone brings blushing damsels in costume dramas to mind, but I don't suppose that I will get to Diggle and find Helena Bonham Carter waiting for me (not that I would object of course) and a brooding Mr Darcy hovering in the portal at Marsden.

With only three slots in each direction on each of the days that means that the maximum through traffic is restricted to 9 per week in each direction. Add to that the fact that the exit to the Calder and Hebble will probably still be blocked (work starts on 10th March) and I suspect that we will be in for a few very quiet days on the Huddersfield side.

I am delighted at the turn of events and am eagerly anticipating steering WB through the UK's longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel. Anything less would leave me feeling that I hadn't really "done" the canal. Thanks BW - a great decision.

With the Huddersfield Narrow looking likely to the a "there and back" trip, other interesting possibilities open up:

1. Explore Salford Docks, the Irwell and the first part of the Manchester Bolton and Bury.
2. The remaindered western end of the Leeds Liverpool, right into the heart of the Liverpool docks.

February is rapidly coming to a close and its only four weeks to the off. Can you detect a whiff of excitement in the air?

New Friends

My sources tell me that hire boat bookings are consistent with this time last year, but my money is on 2009 being a bumper year in the final analysis.

Some sectors are becoming unexpected beneficiaries of the recession and it will be amusing if the slow nature of the canal boat hiring industry has something in common with fast food. I expect a flurry of late bookings as people realise that they will have a job in the summer, but are reluctant to spend the inflated prices needed for European or American destinations. As with eating out, people will trade down for their 2009 holidays.

To my mind, boating could be looking down the gun barrels of its own demographic time bomb, which would be bad news for all boat owners. Let me explain my thinking:

· The last 15 years of economic prosperity has parallelled an explosion in boat ownership, evidenced by the shortage of moorings and the belated opening on new marinas.

· A recent IWA survey indicated that about 80% of all boats are owned by the over 50’s.

· These boat purchases were largely funded from property sales and lump sum retirement packages (the market for boat loans is very small).

· Reduced property and pension values are not going to deliver the lump sums needed to sustain this expansion for the foreseeable future.

· The boat owning community will age and become less inclined to spend their time and money on cruising.

· Reduced demand for boats will decimate the new build industry

· Increased volumes of second hand craft for sale will outstrip demand, driving down values.

Fewer boats = less license income = less incentive to maintain the network

This is an unattractive scenario and it is in all our interests to see a thriving hire boat industry. We all started on hire boats and it is the standard point of entry into our watery world. We therefore need the next generation to catch the boating bug, and that demands exposure to the source of the infection.

I often read negative comment about hire boaters but I welcome them all. Like social clubs, churches and waterway restoration groups, the boat owning community needs a steady supply of new blood. Without it we die. Not today, not tomorrow, but slowly, member by member - we reduce.

So here’s to hire boats and all who sail in them. Yes, they can be a bit erratic at first but they are an essential part of the cycle of boating life. What’s more, they are our potential new neighbours and friends.

So I’m hoping for an exceptional hire boating season in 2009, with lots of people experiencing the pleasures of our wonderful waterways for the very first time.

Carpentry catch up

Saloon and galley projects
2006 to date

When we bought Wand'ring Bark we knew that the internal layout was far from perfect and changes were needed. The great thing about the boat (apart for the light airy nature and the price) was that the internal fit out was sound, just not very imaginative or creative. This was good news because I love my carpentry and this presents lots of opportunity to make "improvements", whilst at the same time maintaining a perfectly serviceable craft to play around on.

I therefore had a plan in mind form the outset and have gradually realised this vision over the last few years. It isn't finished yet but these photos give an idea of the progress made to date:





One of my first tasks was to create scope for two single bunks as an alternative to the crossways double. On the starboard side this was achieved by removing a tall and rather ugly cupboard and reducing it down to coffee table height, with a draw and a small cupboard underneath. To regain the storage space I created a triangular cupboard and attached a "flap" of worksurface to the front end, making this section either part of a bed, a coffee table or a food preparation area. I like the cupboard but not the table, which is made from offcuts of the old unit. You live and learn.



The crockery storage consisted of an open shelf and as a result everything got rather dusty. This was overcome with the installation of a pair of glass fronted doors with spring catches to keep them closed when we operate in ramming mode.


The cupboard under the sink suffered from terrible access, with a 12" lip over which everything had to be lifted. This was solved by enlarging the door hole and making a pair of raised panel doors which go to within 5cm of the floor. With raised panel router cutter sets costing over £100 you will see a distinct similarity in all my door manufacturing projects!


Storage in the front cabin was restricted to space under the bench seats accessed by removable panels under the cushions. This was inconvenient and remedied by the construction four very large drawers which slide on waxed wooden guide rails. So far we have never managed to fill these drawers to capacity.


On the port side the cross bed was lengthened to 6ft 6 inches by removing another large and boxy cupboard, again creating a coffee table cub bed extension with a large drawer under. In the reduced remaining space I created the entertainment zone, containing a stereo, 12 and 240 volt power supplies and a surface on which the laptop can be used to play DVD's (WB is a TV free zone) and charge phones / ipods etc. The cupboard is covered by another Ahab special door and there is another small draw underneath for the dustette.


It all looks quite neat when closed up and accompanied by a matching step / log box. I found that a certain "house style" emerged during construction and this was developed further as I moved into the rear cabin. More of that another time.

Pre Season Planning

Pre Season Planning
23rd February 2009

Easter is a movable feast and planning a destination for an early season cruise is proving to be a moving target. If flooding rivers don't drown your plans, overrunning maintenance or surprise breaches are likely to leave your plans dead in the water.

My experience of early season planning lotteries is in stark contract to the summer when you are likely to be free to roam untroubled by such impediments. But maybe that's part of the appeal of early season trips - there is more can I? / cant I? adventure in them. And then there is the fact that you have the more remote sections almost completely to yourself. During last years' trip we passed an average of one boat per day beyond Nottingham!

If you have been following my blog you may have noticed a preoccupation with Standedge Tunnel, as I want to cross the Pennines via the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Plan one involved a descent of the Trent all the way to Keadby and then up to the Huddersfield Broad via the Yorkshire Waterways. However, last years floods on the Trent have dampened my enthusiasm for this route so early in the season.

Plan two was to approach Standedge from the west, drop down to Huddersfield and then back across to Manchester via the Rochdale Canal. However, the washed out weir at Cooper Bridge on the Calder and Hebble has effectively blocked both these trans Pennine through routes.

Plan three is now to explore the Huddersfield Narrow on a "there and back" basis, which will probably let us get the most out of the waterway. With the tunnel now operating on Mondays as well as Wednesday and Fridays, this will allow a passage from west to east on a Friday, a couple of days on the far side and then back to the west the following Monday.

Plan three has the added advantage of giving time for an exploration of the Irwell and possibly the newly opened Manchester Bolton and Bury arm, all accessed via Pomona Lock,. There is also time for a trip right into the Liverpool Docks a couple of days later - providing the Barton Swing Aqueduct has reopened as planned during the 1st week of April!

One thing is for sure, we will be going on a two week cruise before Easter, but where we go exactly remains up in the air. If the weir is fixed I guess its back to plan B - but who knows.

In the end, I really don't care. I will enjoy the two week trip wherever it takes us and with all the options in the north, something is bound to be open. And what's more, the more bits we leave unexplored the more reasons remain for a return visit. I can't lose really!

New Years Resolution

New Years Resolution
22 Feb 2009

I don't generally make new years resolutions, but this year I did. It had nothing to do with abstinence or losing weight (I lost two stone last autumn) which are the more common focus of effort. No, when I was asked whet I really wanted to achieve in 2009, I said it was to achieve a "greater degree of carefreeness". Grammatically its a very bad aspiration but as a strategic aim it has great potential.

Those that know the real Capt Ahab will be aware that my domestic situation isn't exactly plain sailing, so achieving a more carefree spirit is easier said than done. I can't roam the seas at will because I am needed back at my home port most of the time - but that doesn't stop me giving my mind greater liberty.

I decided to indulge my curiosity more. If something captures my attention I have given myself the freedom to explore it and see where it leads - a bit like turning Wand'ring Bark's bows into silted backwaters and seeing just how far I can get, and then revelling in the whole experience of getting myself out again. Others may shake their sensible heads and scoff behind my back, but memories are made of such stuff.

So that brings me to my blog. Its lovely that others are visiting it and maybe vicariously enjoying my observations of the world, but basically it is a personal diary which logs my indulgences in the things I encounter and capture my imagination. The great thing about a blog is that it allows me to record those fleeting observations which are the colour within a sepia life, placing on record my feelings and impressions rather then a factual A to B to C itinary.

Yesterday I was struck by my lack of familiarity with my alter ego, the worthy Captain Ahab. I will share the story behind the name another time, but I have indulged my curiosity in his pursuit of Moby Dick with a visit to the Amazon on line bookshop and a brand new copy is winging itself to me as I type. Whilst on Amazon I couldn't resist buying a copy of Ray Shill's "The Birmingham Canal Navigations". I doubt it will be light read but I am sure it will be fascinating none the less.

In keeping with my resolution, I will indulge my curiosity and report back what I find.

PS - Its been a glorious weekend, the first real days of spring. Its a shame it wasn't a boating weekend as a trip to Brewood would have been lovely.