Glorious sunny day. Took some pics for t'other blog to show bits of lock.
A frequently seen angler asked that I take his pic & put it on t'web, so here they are:
The pics I took for the lock stuff:
Don't click the arrow, click the black edge
27 September 2011
Town & back
Walked to town (Wilko's: no own brand cat food!!)
Glorious sunny day. Took some pics for t'other blog to show bits of lock.
A frequently seen angler asked that I take his pic & put it on t'web, so here they are:
He's always accompanied by his puppy.
Fishin' ain't my thing but his looks like a pretty good way to spend a sunny day.
The pics I took for the lock stuff:
Glorious sunny day. Took some pics for t'other blog to show bits of lock.
A frequently seen angler asked that I take his pic & put it on t'web, so here they are:
The pics I took for the lock stuff:
26 September 2011
23 September 2011
Not happy
Additional: If you look at the whole blog you'll miss the wonder of the sidebar! Something I did somewhere has vanished it - no idea what - it's OK on individual posts but …
My Computer's not a happy bunny. It claims to have run out of memory. (despite there being over 100Gb free!) I'm reduced to posting text only.
T'other day I read on a blog that the "right" price for a 1 Kilo bag of sugar was £1.70. She was compaining at being asked £2.25/kg - I'm not surprised! I haven't paid more than 89p for ages.
Some time ago the price was hovering around £1.00 and then the local pound shop started selling 1½Kg bags for £1 (67p/Kg). Immediately all the local shops dropped their prices. Although the pound shop ran out a few months ago, the price in the rest of the shops - even the local open all hours "convenience store", is 85→89p. What do these shops pay for sugar? If they can afford to make a profit at under 90p then what sort of money are they making at £1.70, not to mention £2.25? Of course if they're selling it at a loss, then more fool them and good for us.
Similarly milk is £1.00 for a 2L "bottle" everywhere. Led this time (I think) by Iceland (the shop, not the Country).
Was Einstein wrong? I'm watching the live webcast from CERN about neutrinos that go faster than light. My life, it's full o'stuff. Interesting that no English speaking nation is a member of the group that did the experiment but the guy's talking English. What's that mean?
So far mostly about how they tell the time and the distance.
It's all beyond me! (did I need to say that?)
Well, that's left me behind!
Interesting: they've just had a slide up showing how the two ends (730km apart) moved - continental drift is real.
Seems like a nice guy. Well, I don't know what he said, but he said it beautifully. I wonder if he could fix my computer?
I've a glut of grapes on my vine - yummy!
Speaking of grapes: a "tweet" t'other day read: @PollyMars: Does anyone else feel sad to see fruits going to waste on the trees ? Not really, Polly. On the trees they're food for anything that flies or climbs, once fallen they feed everything from mice to slugs to microbes. Possibly more use to the planet than making pies. Having said that, I do love fruit pie!
My Computer's not a happy bunny. It claims to have run out of memory. (despite there being over 100Gb free!) I'm reduced to posting text only.
T'other day I read on a blog that the "right" price for a 1 Kilo bag of sugar was £1.70. She was compaining at being asked £2.25/kg - I'm not surprised! I haven't paid more than 89p for ages.
Some time ago the price was hovering around £1.00 and then the local pound shop started selling 1½Kg bags for £1 (67p/Kg). Immediately all the local shops dropped their prices. Although the pound shop ran out a few months ago, the price in the rest of the shops - even the local open all hours "convenience store", is 85→89p. What do these shops pay for sugar? If they can afford to make a profit at under 90p then what sort of money are they making at £1.70, not to mention £2.25? Of course if they're selling it at a loss, then more fool them and good for us.
Similarly milk is £1.00 for a 2L "bottle" everywhere. Led this time (I think) by Iceland (the shop, not the Country).
Was Einstein wrong? I'm watching the live webcast from CERN about neutrinos that go faster than light. My life, it's full o'stuff. Interesting that no English speaking nation is a member of the group that did the experiment but the guy's talking English. What's that mean?
So far mostly about how they tell the time and the distance.
It's all beyond me! (did I need to say that?)
Well, that's left me behind!
Interesting: they've just had a slide up showing how the two ends (730km apart) moved - continental drift is real.
Seems like a nice guy. Well, I don't know what he said, but he said it beautifully. I wonder if he could fix my computer?
I've a glut of grapes on my vine - yummy!
Speaking of grapes: a "tweet" t'other day read: @PollyMars: Does anyone else feel sad to see fruits going to waste on the trees ? Not really, Polly. On the trees they're food for anything that flies or climbs, once fallen they feed everything from mice to slugs to microbes. Possibly more use to the planet than making pies. Having said that, I do love fruit pie!
20 September 2011
Want to get a closer look at a lock?
BW:
Shireoaks Top Lock (42) and Shireoaks Middle Lock (43) - October 10th to 14th
May Gurney on behalf of British Waterways will be partially dewatering the canal pound between Locks 42 and 43 (Shireoaks Top Lock and Shireoaks Middle Lock).
This essential work will enable grouting to be carried out, stopping leakage through the lock structure from causing damage and saving precious water
BW:
Turnerwood Double Bottom Lock (34), Quarry Lock (35) and Turnerwood Top Lock (36) - October 12th to 14th
British Waterways will be partially dewatering the canal pounds between Locks 34, 35 and 36 for three days. This should enable investigation of the ground paddle chamber to determine the extent of pressure grouting requirements. This investigation is required prior to a major works scheme at this site during 2012.
Shireoaks Top Lock (42) and Shireoaks Middle Lock (43) - October 10th to 14th
May Gurney on behalf of British Waterways will be partially dewatering the canal pound between Locks 42 and 43 (Shireoaks Top Lock and Shireoaks Middle Lock).
This essential work will enable grouting to be carried out, stopping leakage through the lock structure from causing damage and saving precious water
BW:
Turnerwood Double Bottom Lock (34), Quarry Lock (35) and Turnerwood Top Lock (36) - October 12th to 14th
British Waterways will be partially dewatering the canal pounds between Locks 34, 35 and 36 for three days. This should enable investigation of the ground paddle chamber to determine the extent of pressure grouting requirements. This investigation is required prior to a major works scheme at this site during 2012.
18 September 2011
Update on t'other blog
I've added some pretty pictures to the Questions and Random facts page.
I'm slowly adding to the Top Pound section of the Worksop→Kiveton walk; just stuck in some pics of what I call "pinches" - dunno if there's a "proper" name -pure ignorance.
I'm trying to do something with maps of the canal. Wish I knew how to do the zooming trick & how to keep different information for different zoom levels, I understand it requires AJAX - about which I know nothing.
I'm slowly adding to the Top Pound section of the Worksop→Kiveton walk; just stuck in some pics of what I call "pinches" - dunno if there's a "proper" name -pure ignorance.
I'm trying to do something with maps of the canal. Wish I knew how to do the zooming trick & how to keep different information for different zoom levels, I understand it requires AJAX - about which I know nothing.
16 September 2011
15 September 2011
To Turnerwood
Walked up to Turnerwood on Tuesday
Four boats that had been at Retford on Saturday were on the Marina:
Walking up Turnerwood locks, I noticed something off to the left:
Yup! It's a tank!
Chatting to Mick on Phoenix on Monday, I learned that he's in hospital with an ulcer on his foot and he's been diagnosed as diabetic.
He's a lovely guy with a load of info about the canal and always ready to help anyone he meets on the water or the towpath.
Four boats that had been at Retford on Saturday were on the Marina:
 |  |
| Dreamcatcher | Phoenix |
 |  |
| Wineberry | Sentimental Reason |
Walking up Turnerwood locks, I noticed something off to the left: Yup! It's a tank!
Now: a bone to pick with a reader. Someone (no names, no packdrill) said there was a photo of me in the phone box at Turnerwood.
Oh dear is that the impression I leave?
Not me.
Trevor the hairy faced BW guy:
Not me.
Trevor the hairy faced BW guy:
Chatting to Mick on Phoenix on Monday, I learned that he's in hospital with an ulcer on his foot and he's been diagnosed as diabetic.
He's a lovely guy with a load of info about the canal and always ready to help anyone he meets on the water or the towpath.
Couldn't resist the two "animals" on Wineberry's roof on the way back:
 |  |
Just below Shireoaks locks I saw a rather strange sight:
She was photographing in the drizzle.
 |  |
The tree that had been across the canal had been moved, leaving no sign it had ever been there:
 |  |
14 September 2011
Sorry!12 September 2011
Testing Stret
Pics
I was out fairly early today: Shopping at 8:30 - back home and then out to see the convoy of boats up from the Gathering of Historic Boats at Retford travelling (hopefully) to the tunnel.
Five boats were coming through Worksop Town Lock as I got there, this put a spike in my intended visit to Birds for a sarny. There were loads of crew and passengers: I never worked out who was with what boat.
Up at Morse I watched them through: Chertsey was first and failed she had to back down to the wind.
The rest got through safely and on to Stret.
NbBath Aquarius couldn't manage Stret, Petrel had to take two goes and only got through with the aid of multiple flushes and bodies on a rope (mine included)
Aegis, Petrel andAquarius Bath all made it through. They had no problems through Haggonfields or Doefield Dun but, just as Aquarius Bath was in Doefield Dun, A passing motorist pulled over to tell us that a tree had fallen across the canal a short distance up.
The offending object was just before Shireoaks Miner's Welfare, Where Archimedes and "James" are moored.
Although not the biggest of trees, it completely blocked the canal. The guy on Archimedes said it had only been down 25 minutes - good job it hadn't come down on a boat - he had already phoned BW.
All three boats "parked up" above Doefield Dun for lunch.
I took over 450 pictures: they're all on Flick here.
Meanwhile a call was received from NbBath Aquarius that they were jammed in Morse Lock on their way down. Two bikes and a Tirfor went down to rescue them.
By the time I walked back to Morse,Bath Aquarius had been freed and was long gone.
Nb Phoenix was just leaving Morse - the captain(pilot? driver? helmsman?), Mick, was intending to return to his base at Shireoaks Marina. He was understandably a little put out when I told him about the tree and he made plans to moor above Deep Lock.
Passing Worksop wind was Dreamcatcher, also heading for the Marina, also disappointed!
I was out fairly early today: Shopping at 8:30 - back home and then out to see the convoy of boats up from the Gathering of Historic Boats at Retford travelling (hopefully) to the tunnel.
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS !
Names having never been my strong point,
and
the various crews referring to each other's boats by their owner's names,
and
me being just
rubbish,
I cocked it up.
Turns out it wasn't Aquarius that made it through Stret but Bath.
Hence the crossings out below.
If I'd just checked my piccies I'd have seen that!
Names having never been my strong point,
and
the various crews referring to each other's boats by their owner's names,
and
me being just
rubbish,
I cocked it up.
Turns out it wasn't Aquarius that made it through Stret but Bath.
Hence the crossings out below.
If I'd just checked my piccies I'd have seen that!
Five boats were coming through Worksop Town Lock as I got there, this put a spike in my intended visit to Birds for a sarny. There were loads of crew and passengers: I never worked out who was with what boat.
Up at Morse I watched them through: Chertsey was first and failed she had to back down to the wind.
The rest got through safely and on to Stret.
Nb
Aegis, Petrel and
Although not the biggest of trees, it completely blocked the canal. The guy on Archimedes said it had only been down 25 minutes - good job it hadn't come down on a boat - he had already phoned BW.
I took over 450 pictures: they're all on Flick here.
Meanwhile a call was received from Nb
By the time I walked back to Morse,
Nb Phoenix was just leaving Morse - the captain(pilot? driver? helmsman?), Mick, was intending to return to his base at Shireoaks Marina. He was understandably a little put out when I told him about the tree and he made plans to moor above Deep Lock.
Passing Worksop wind was Dreamcatcher, also heading for the Marina, also disappointed!
11 September 2011
Sunday: an idle day
No change there.
New(ish) "questions and facts" page on t'other blog. Now gonna start with pics for top pound there and then carry on to the tunnel.
I think I might use this blog for blogging and scraop the blog element of t'other & just use it for … whatever comes to mind. Thinking …
I'll put yesterday at Retford here sometime, but tomorrow (Monday) we're promised that a load of boats from Retford are coming up to run through Stret & on to the Tunnel so that's washed out as far as computer's concerned.
New(ish) "questions and facts" page on t'other blog. Now gonna start with pics for top pound there and then carry on to the tunnel.
I think I might use this blog for blogging and scraop the blog element of t'other & just use it for … whatever comes to mind. Thinking …
I'll put yesterday at Retford here sometime, but tomorrow (Monday) we're promised that a load of boats from Retford are coming up to run through Stret & on to the Tunnel so that's washed out as far as computer's concerned.
10 September 2011
Saturday 10th September
Just been to Retford: "Gathering of Historic Boats" in Town Lock pound.
I've got 426 photos to sort & play with so I might be a little while.
Uploaded to Flickr: just tagged 'em all Retford, Chesterfield canal, Town lock and whacked 'em into a new set "Gathering of historic boats Sep 11
Should anyone want a large (3872 x 2592) copy, just let me know.
They are all: copyright © 2011 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons
This means that you are free to use them for non commercial display as long as you don't alter them and you must say that they came from me.
I've got 426 photos to sort & play with so I might be a little while.
Uploaded to Flickr: just tagged 'em all Retford, Chesterfield canal, Town lock and whacked 'em into a new set "Gathering of historic boats Sep 11
Should anyone want a large (3872 x 2592) copy, just let me know.
They are all: copyright © 2011 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons
This means that you are free to use them for non commercial display as long as you don't alter them and you must say that they came from me.
07 September 2011
Wed
Chat:
Note to self: if a cat is on top of the fridge, don't shut the door without checking its tail is out of harm's way. I've just had a black beast bouncing round the kitchen and out of the window at speed.
Got as far as Thorpe top lock on t'other blog. Believe it or not it's hard work. I used to get paid a decent amount for doing this stuff. Blogging's harder than walking.
I've also started a page about the canal.
Maybe I ought to finish one thing before starting another!
Strange how things go: I'm about to take a break by washing the pots!.
Only been to town today - Heron on the pond; grebe count at five (two pairs and one youngster), swan count gone up to three. A plastic was just leaving Morse on its way down. Pics to upload later.
Note to self: if a cat is on top of the fridge, don't shut the door without checking its tail is out of harm's way. I've just had a black beast bouncing round the kitchen and out of the window at speed.
Got as far as Thorpe top lock on t'other blog. Believe it or not it's hard work. I used to get paid a decent amount for doing this stuff. Blogging's harder than walking.
I've also started a page about the canal.
Maybe I ought to finish one thing before starting another!
Strange how things go: I'm about to take a break by washing the pots!.
Only been to town today - Heron on the pond; grebe count at five (two pairs and one youngster), swan count gone up to three. A plastic was just leaving Morse on its way down. Pics to upload later.
05 September 2011
Update
I'm slowly putting the walk from Worksop to Norwood tunnel on the other site: I will add more pictures from previous walks once I've got to the end. Formatting the pages is a bit of a pain. What I've decided to do is put small pics on the main page (see here for example) and give links to bigger views of individual features on sub-pages like this.
Google maps for the overview's quite good.
So far I've got to Milestone lock — plodding on!
I've so many pictures archived that it's gonna take some time to dig 'em out and post 'em all. I'll get round to it.
The Wordpress format is better (IMHO) than Blogger as you can have static pages. Is fun learning!
Found this about Aqueducts on t'web yesterday: interesting specially in view of this blog post from "canalartist". (incidentally, why is it spelled aqueduct rather than aquaduct?)
Something to play with if you're a bookaholic like me. It's quite good: tried it with one or two of my favourite authors and it brought up some I'll have to try.
Google maps for the overview's quite good.
So far I've got to Milestone lock — plodding on!
I've so many pictures archived that it's gonna take some time to dig 'em out and post 'em all. I'll get round to it.
The Wordpress format is better (IMHO) than Blogger as you can have static pages. Is fun learning!
Found this about Aqueducts on t'web yesterday: interesting specially in view of this blog post from "canalartist". (incidentally, why is it spelled aqueduct rather than aquaduct?)
Something to play with if you're a bookaholic like me. It's quite good: tried it with one or two of my favourite authors and it brought up some I'll have to try.
03 September 2011
02 September 2011
SEPTEMBER!
First things first: The bloody computer went down again! 486 pics downloaded from Thursday's walk. Fortunately I'd still got 'em on the camera card. Back on the laptop!
Nb Archimedes and Nb James were moored at Shireoaks Miner's Welfare as always.
In Shireoaks Marina Little Lucy was preparing to sail.
Passed Thomas Harold …
… and Lazy Dreams locking through Turnerwood flight,
and, at Thorpe Top, a "plastic" Studland Warrior.
Nb Wilderness was moored at its usual place
and Umnyama at Albert's dock.
Having a thorough clean out at the summit mooring was Nb Cheddington: vacuum cleaners rule!
Returning:
In addition to Umnyama, Wilderness, Thomas Harold and Lazy Dreams; a new (to me) narrowboat
Changing PaceRather unusually, they were a young couple who were fitting out a shell on Shireoaks Marina.
Little Lucy was out and, having turned at Turnerwood basin, was descending to moor at Stone lock.
A wasps' nest that someone had broken open, …
… a dead owl …
… thoughtfully(?) placed on a lock gate
and a dead moorhen on the towpath.
On the more pleasant side:
A brood (gaggle? flock? herd?) of mallard chicks.
The top pound water looks grey and uninviting but there are some really big fish in there.
It's right in the centre of this pic so …
… zoomed, enhanced, cropped
and again …
… doctored.Until you've seen one in flight, you just can't imagine the brilliance of the plumage.
I'm going to put some pics on t'other blog soonish. And then it's tagging and uploading to Flickr. This blogging & stuff takes longer than the walking! More uploaded.
Thursday
Walked to the tunnel entrance and back. According to Google maps, it's 5.65 miles just to Kiveton park. With the extra (about ½mile) to the tunnel entrance, I reckon the return trip's about 12 - 13 miles.Boats
Nb Archimedes and Nb James were moored at Shireoaks Miner's Welfare as always.
In Shireoaks Marina Little Lucy was preparing to sail.
Passed Thomas Harold …
… and Lazy Dreams locking through Turnerwood flight,
and, at Thorpe Top, a "plastic" Studland Warrior
Nb Wilderness was moored at its usual place
and Umnyama at Albert's dock.
Having a thorough clean out at the summit mooring was Nb Cheddington: vacuum cleaners rule!
Returning:
In addition to Umnyama, Wilderness, Thomas Harold and Lazy Dreams; a new (to me) narrowboat
Changing Pace
Little Lucy was out and, having turned at Turnerwood basin, was descending to moor at Stone lock.
Wildlife
A wasps' nest that someone had broken open, …
… a dead owl …
… thoughtfully(?) placed on a lock gate
and a dead moorhen on the towpath.
On the more pleasant side:
A brood (gaggle? flock? herd?) of mallard chicks.
The top pound water looks grey and uninviting but there are some really big fish in there.
Kingfisher
At the very end, near the tunnel, a brilliant flash of blue. I'd got the wrong lens on to capture it well but:It's right in the centre of this pic so …
… zoomed, enhanced, cropped
and again …
… doctored.
Trip
I'd set out to take a full day so, in addition to the camera, I'd packed spare lenses, waterproof, sarny (Bird's Corned beef salad), flask of coffee and two plastic bottles of Robinson's orange juice. Unfortunately I'm not as young as I was, so by the time I got home, I was fit for nothing: flaked out straight away (after feeding hungry cats!). Thinking back, I once did 40 miles in 24 hours (Lyke Wake walk) - it'd kill me now.I'm going to put some pics on t'other blog soonish. And then it's tagging and uploading to Flickr. This blogging & stuff takes longer than the walking! More uploaded.
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