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  Never have I dropped a 🔑 key in the canal. Should it happen, each key ring has a cork ball to keep the keys at the surface of the water. Theoretically, that is. I have no idea how many keys one cork ball will hold at the surface. I suppose I should test it — I mean in a bucket, not in the canal. #CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #key #keyring #float #cork

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  The boat is at a high point of the canal network. From here, all the locks descend. All the water from up here flows away — 100,000 litres (22,000 gallons) each time a lock cycles. Next to the boat, a pipe steadily feeds water into the canal. I don't know which reservoir feeds it — could it be the Knypersley wildlife refuge? — or whether it's being pumped back up from below. #CanalLife #canal #WaterLevel #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #water #reservoir #wildlife #UK...

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  A lower water level of 2 inches (5cm) made a difference in the middle of the Harecastle tunnel. Even keeping my head down in the dark, I still scraped my raincoat hood on the ceiling. It was 40 minutes in the dark, with that pinpoint of light getting gradually larger. It's hard to estimate the distance. When it looks like 30 seconds to the exit, it's actually still four minutes. Toward the end I took this photo. #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #tun...

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  How will this end? Three coot chicks, still in the black fluffy stage, have lost their parents. They were panic-peeping, tightly grouped and paddling away from a lock. Other boaters heard from pedestrians that the adults are above the lock with a fourth chick. After a half hour, the three chicks eventually settled on some reeds (see photo). They have food, but without an adult to protect them they're too young to make it. #CanalLife #canal #waterfowl #coot #bird #wildlife #UK #boat #boa...

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  Tomorrow another guest arrives for an overnight stay. Two weeks ago our guest took a famous person on a semi-private tour, and we're hoping for a full report of how that went. And if not, it's always good to have extra hands on board. We'll have some locks to do, and there's the water tank to fill. Of course, a lovely stretch of waterway to boat through, and some meals to share. #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #BoatHands

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  Green tunnel effect. The canal here is cut into the land, and the trees reach for the light. #CanalLife #canal #cutr #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #UK

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  From the bow, I clipped a bouquet from a stand of staghorn sumac that's growing on the offside of the canal, only accessible by water. These plants are native to southeastern Canada, so were obviously brought to the UK for their ornamental appeal to gardeners. These ones are growing wild, gradually spreading alongside a short stretch of canal in Shropshire. #bloomscroll #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #flower #bloom #tree #plant #vegetation #garden

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  Canal & River Trust's "parking pole" says: mooring to the right for five days. That weird black shape with the slash represents a bollard with a rope tied to it. It means: "You can tie up your boat here." After an overnight stay, the boat's moving on. There are 15 locks start about 30 meters (roughly 35 yards) from here. And it's time to find a pump-out, maybe tomorrow.

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  This ground paddle has been raised, as shown by the straight, toothed rack: it is all the way up. (A paddle is a door that holds back tons of water.) The shiny black parts are greased. Grease helps the gears move smoothly. Sticking out on the left is a steel rod, or spindle. A boater puts a tool on the spindle to wind the mechanism up or down. The tool is a windlass. #CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #lock #GroundPaddle #paddle #spindle #gear #rack #windlass

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  Decoded to turn right and take the 5×-as-long route because the direct route is closed due to water shortages. Even the Canal and River Trust's own volunteers say CRT is "too reactive" —not even tactical — about managing canal water levels. #CanalLife #BoatLife #BoatingLife #canal #boating #boat #narrowboat #CRT #water #shortage #drought #climate #management

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  🧵 The boat was listing, this morning, one side hanging on a stone ledge, after the water dropped 1 foot (30 centimeters) overnight. I couldn't push it off. After some water came through from the next few locks, the water rose just enough. I managed to float the boat, and it was time to move on. But it wasn't far to the next stoppage. The boat is improperly tied up, now, below a lock that's been padlocked by Canal & River Trust. But there's no official place to tie up here....

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  Windlass in hand for winding lock paddles, I hopped off the boat on the way to a lock. On the 50 meters (about 50 yards) of towpath, I passed under an apple tree, from which I picked three medium apples. Arriving at the lock, another boater said, "I thought you brought tennis balls." Nope, just apples and a windlass. The apples, with the addition of flour, butter, sugar, and spice, will later become tarts. #CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #narrowboat #apple #baking...

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  I just wrote (emailed) Baroness Bakewell, who introduced the Rights of Boat Dwellers bill, aimed at closing a legal gap for 100,000+ people in the UK who live on boats. I asked her to include a clause that bans financial services (banks and credit agencies) from lowering the credit rating of boat dwellers based solely on the fact that their home floats. https://members.parliament.uk › member › 4285 › contact #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #law #BoatDwellers #NoFixedAd...

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  Canals and navigable rivers in England are falling apart at a faster rate. Inland Waterways Association reports a 40% increase in indefinite stoppages—an outage or closure of more than 30 days without a set re-opening date. (Imagine the uproar if road repairs were managed that way.) Here's a photo of a creative, low-cost repair. The solid oak beam that levered the gate open and closed had rotted. It's been replaced with a series of planks, bolted together. #canal #maintenance #repair...

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  A half-day of nonstop locks is a workout for my glutes and shoulders. Glutes must get a workout when I use my legs to push open a lock gate that doesn't really want to budge yet. I could wait a bit longer for the lock to fill, but when you have 20+ locks to do, I apply "let's get this over with" tactics. Shoulders must get a workout when I wind paddles up and down. #CanalLife #canal #lock #exercise #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #UK

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  A cast-iron milestone in traditional black-and-white paint, along the New Mainline of the Birmingham Canal Network or BCN. The letters are raised, so can still be read up close, despite the black paint having flaked off. Heading left, or southeast: • Northbrook Street. • Rotton Park Junction. • Gas Street Basin. Heading right, or northwest: • Winson Green Junction. • Rabone Lane. • Galton Valley. #CanalLife #canal #BoatLife #boat #BoatingLife #boating #narrowboat #CRT #UK #milestone #history

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  Along the canal there were wild roses. It was on the off side, not the towpath side, in an stretch that nobody can reach on foot. Have boat, will flower. With the bow nosed in close, ot was possible to clip a small bouquet. These roses are in full blat but there are also some buds tucked in below. #CanalLife #canal #vegetation #plant #rose #flower #bloom #boating #narrowboat #boat

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  Where a weeping willow hung low over the canal, the only option was to slowly boat through the hanging curtain of leaves. Then: an enormous TWANGGGG. Something caught the solar panel brackets. Amidst the twigs and leaves was a hidden limb with a diameter of 5 inches (12½ centimeters). Out comes the electric chainsaw. That tree got a trim. #CanalLife #canal #willow #tree #vegetation #pruning #maintenance #boating #narrowboat #boat #solar #SolarPanel #CRT #CanalRiverTrust #CanalAndRiverTrust

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  In dim light, spiders always look bigger than they are. One just did a Tom Cruise Mission Impossible drop from a ceiling vent. Straight down, like it owns the place. . | 🕷️ I turn to the light switch, flick on the lights. By the time I turn back to it, the spider has made a speedy return to the ceiling. It's medium sized. One gentle tissue-grab-and-shake later, and this spider finds itself on the canal towpath outside the swan doors. #CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #bug...

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  A long day of boating. It was busy on the cut, but not crazily so, which is good for a bank-holiday (long) weekend. The weather was gorgeous so I wore a wide-brim hat, long sleeves, and cotton gloves. There's nothing like holding a tiller all day for getting a sunburned right arm and hand. Call it a boater's tan. #CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #weather #sunshine #holiday

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  Today was an enjoyable day. Though overcast and windy to start, with the wind at my back it was fine. I wore 4 layers: a T-shirt, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and two hoodies. By the afternoon it had turned sunny. Now it's nearly 2 am and I'm still wearing all 4 layers, wondering when the weather will warm up. #CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #weather #wind #chill #cold

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  @GeoffHale After checking the definition, I'd guess canals do have a microclimate. Microclimate: Localized atmospheric conditions in the near-surface layer, which includes the air immediately above a surface as well as the shallow soil and water environments below it. A microclimate can be from a few meters to a few kilometers across. It has a set of persistent, measurable differences in the climate conditions from those in the adjacent surrounding areas. #CanalLife #canal #weather #...

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  We share the Grand Union canal with all kinds of birds. Here are some swans and their cygnets at the aptly named swan doors of the boat, eating bird seed. Their long necks help them graze for underwater greens. #waterfowl #bird #birds #aquatic #wildlife #swan #cygnet #canal #CanalLife #boating #narrowboat #boat

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  Our boat has a dedicated brush in the outside locker just for dog 💩 on shoes. When you're trying to moor a moving boat, handling ropes, mooring pins, and mallet, it's easy to overlook an abandoned turd. Dog owners who use the towpath to let their dog out—but who don't pick up after their pet—should be dunked in canal water. And then helped back out, of course. Boaters aren't mean-spirited folk. #CanalLife #canal #towpath #pet #dog #walking #boating #narrowboat...

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  We were set to pass a steel narrowboat when it slowly backed directly across our path. At 2 miles per hour, that's enough time to walk through the boat to the bow and push off. "Sorry, sorry!" they said. I said, "No worries; it's just boating. Everybody knows backing up is hard to do." Like that 1960s Neil Sedaka song: 🎵 Don't take your boat 🎶 away from me 🎵 'Cause backing up 🎶 is hard to do (I'm quite sure those are...

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  It's time for moving on. Cloudy days are days you don't get sunburned. If it rains, it usually blows over quickly, on days like this. #CanalLife #canal #waterways #boating #narrowboat #boat #CRT #UK

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  When the boat is in the water, the stern deck is about a foot (30 centimeters) above the water level. When it's on land, it takes a substantial stepladder to board the boat. #CanalLife #canal #board #boarding #boating #narrowboat #boat #maintenance #ladder #stepladder

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  When the boat's out of the water, and I can see the propeller clearly, I am always surprised at how that small thing can propel 15 tonnes of steel forward. #CanalLife #canal #waterways #boating #narrowboat #boat #propeller #propulsion

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  Along the canal towpath, a mole has pushed up a row of molehills. A toddler just came and planted a small stick in each hill. When he grows up, maybe he'll plant flags on mountains. #CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #UK #wildlife #mole #towpath @ukwaterways

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  I'm at a CRT bin for garbage and recycling, so I've emptied a ⅔-full bin bag rather than risk having an extra bag kicking around for days, before the next CRT bin. Since I'm boating alone. Everything is 3× the effort, once mooring and unmooring are factored in. I'm down to the last of the last rolls of Wilco bin bags. (I may have slightly overbought, since Wilco went bust a few years ago.) #CanalLife #canal #boating #boat #narrowboat #bin #recycling #garbage #w...