Watery Ways

I got a surprise when catching up on my Canal Boat magazine today (yes, I know the next issue will be out soon - I'm rationing myself!)

Val Poore, formerly known as VallyP, a regular commenter on my and many others' blogs, has written a book called Watery Ways. It's reviewed on page 15 of the current (April 2013) Canal Boat.

Now I know I shouldn't be surprised. I have looked at Val's blog before and knew she was an author, but I confess I hadn't kept up-to-date with her books' progress - she has written at least three.

So what is Watery Ways about? Borrowing from CB:

"This is the story of the author's adventures amongst the historic craft in the Oude Haven harbour in Rotterdam. After a marriage break-up she is trying to make a new home aboard an unconverted ex-working barge. The harbour community supports her as she struggles to learn the language and to install a basic water and electricity supply, and refurbish the woodwork of the old cabin ... Romance and travel feature strongly ... It's a personal story, set against the background of a waterways community rather different from our own."

Sounds like one for Captain Ahab to read and review.

Val, I wish you every success with your writing.

The Adlard Coles Book of Diesel Engines

I was pleased to find the Adlard Coles Book of Diesel Engines, by Tim Bartlett, in the Oxfam bookshop recently.


The blurb at the front reads:

   "Aimed at boatowners rather than experienced mechanics, this book explains clearly how a diesel engines (sic) works and how to look after it. Tim Bartlett looks at tools, working practices and winterizing (sic) as well as providing handy hints and tips. This new edition has been revised and updated to take into account new developments in engine technology."

The slim paperback book was first published as The RYA Book of Diesel Engines in 1998 (this edition 2005).

It gives more emphasis to sea-going boats than canal boats, with raw-water cooling and dual station controls described in detail. But there's plenty relevant to the standard modern multi-cylinder narrowboat engine.

I read all through it in a couple of sittings, which gives an idea of the readability (high). Nevertheless, it immediately plunges into the workings of fuel injection pumps. I learnt about the "jerk pump" with its cleverly designed plunger, and how an in-line injection pump is a series of jerk pumps looking like a miniature engine. I also know now why there's a leak-off feed from the injector back to the fuel tank (some of the diesel fuel is intentionally allowed to flow past the needle valve and push rod in order to lubricate them).

There are occasional moments of levity, such as when Mr. Bartlett mentions how relieved the crew of a Viking longship must have been when they realised they'd get less wet if they stuffed rags in the gaps between the oars and the boat. This was in the section introducing stern glands!

The book is also full of "Things to Do" boxes taking you through procedures such as replacing the fuel filter, bleeding the fuel system and checking drive belts.

I found it good to give a background knowledge of how the engine - and its ancillaries - works, and I will certainly refer to it when attempting a new (to me) job. Perhaps then the book will lose its "as-unread" condition.

£1.49 well spent, methinks!

Shakespeare and his Birthplace

While visiting them this afternoon, Jan's parents produced a book which had been presented to Jan's grandmother 109 years ago. Shakespeare and his Birthplace was written by Emma Marshall. I didn't have time to read much, but it had some beautifully coloured - hand-tinted? - engravings of Stratford and its environs.


One of the first pictures to catch my eye was of a lock on the "old canal" (click on the image above for a larger version). Is this the Stratford Canal? Or is there another, older, canal which this could refer to?


The pages of the book were the thickest I've come across, being heavy card with gold leaf edges.


The book was a prize awarded by the RSPCA for an essay on "Man's Duty towards Animals" and was presented to Isabel Careless at the Crystal Palace on May 14th 1904.



updated to add detail

Early Nicholson Guide - a brief review part 2

Yesterday I talked about an early version of the Nicholson guide to the waterways, and how it differs from modern versions.

Now to the maps - the raison d'être of the guides.

1978 guide (on the left): 1/2" to the mile; towpaths not marked; orientated such that the waterway runs approximately vertically on the page, i.e. North is rarely up; roads indicated with black lines but not labelled.

1997 edition (the latest I have): 2" to the mile; towpaths marked; North always up; parts of OS 1:25000 map (with some road numbers) surround the waterways.

Here's part of the BCN from the old guide. Where are the bridges, you ask? The text helpfully explains:

"The Birmingham Canal Main Line passes through a heavily industrialised and built up area. The many bridges have been omitted in order that they should not obscure the map."

Elsewhere:

"Access throughout the BCN is bad: to visit shops or a pub usually involves scaling walls. Leaving your boat unattended is not a good idea due to the likelihood of vandalism. The waterways have been used as unofficial rubbish tips for years, and navigators with fibre glass hulls to their boats should proceed with the utmost caution. It goes without saying that old ropes and polythene sacks will foul your propeller. Not everyone's cup of tea, but a vivid relic of the Industrial Revolution."

It all gives the impression that they really didn't think anyone should actually try to navigate these waterways. I'd have loved it!


In terms of the guides things have improved enormously since those early days. The scale of the maps is now four times larger for a start, making it much easier to read. And today's mile marker pins make route planning easy. But the old guide brings home how much of the past has gone for good. Or should that be, "for bad"?

Early Nicholson Guide - a brief review part 1

Some months ago Capt. Ahab reviewed a 1963 British Waterways cruising guide. Last week I was given an early Nicholson guide, first published 1978; second revised edition 1981. Comparisons between then and now are fascinating.

1978/1981 edition (cover price £1.95) on left; 1997 edition (£9.99) on right

To start with, the size. In 80 pages in a slim paperback all the "Midlands" waterways are covered. Just two other volumes cover "South" and "North". And the text size is even smaller than that of the current Nicholsons - even with glasses I have to use a magnifying glass as well! There are some similarities, though: there's the same predominate red cover; and Derek Pratt's photographs are still used, albeit in colour these days.

But it's in the text where much of the interest lies. In the four pages given over to cruising information the section headed "Running aground" is one of the longest, ending with:

"Remember that winding holes are often silted up: do not go further in than you have to."

Advice is given about what to do when meeting a working boat, still possible then, but what about this sentence?

"If you meet a boat being towed from the bank, pass it on the outside rather than intercept the towing line."

How many horse-drawn boats were around at the end of the 1970s? Perhaps bow-hauling (of broken-down leisure boats) was common. Actually this advice is still in the modern guide, but the long treatise on what to do when you run aground has gone.

There's a list of daily checks which would be regarded as over the top now. Anyone following this religiously would be spending half-an-hour in the engine hole every morning (perhaps they should be changing the oil while they're at it!)

Here's the list (pruned down slightly):

• Check the oil level in the engine
• Check the fuel level in the tank
• If the engine is water-cooled check that the filter near the intake is clean and weed free
• Check the level of distilled water in the battery, and ensure that it is charging correctly
• Lubricate any parts of the engine, gearbox or steering that need daily attention
• Check that the propeller is free of weeds, wire, plastic bags and any other rubbish

It continues on the prop clearance theme:

"Although this is an unpleasant task, it is a constant necessity and will remain so as long as canals continue to be used as public rubbish dumps. The propeller and the water filter should be checked whenever there is any suspicion of obstruction or overheating - which may mean several times a day."

In those days it seems that there were more petrol engines than diesel engines powering boats. The guide suggests that cruise planning should take into account where the canal goes near roadside filling stations.

"Diesel powered boats pose more of a problem in obtaining fuel although their range is generally greater than that of petrol powered craft. [...] The tax-free diesel [...] can only be sold by boatyards, which are still few and far between on the canals."

Today there's just one line: "Hire craft usually carry fuel sufficient for your rental period."

Rubbish in the canals is a constant moan for the 1978 guide:

"Some canals are in a poor state today because they have long been misused as unofficial dumps for rubbish, especially in towns. Out of sight is only out of mind until some object is tangled round your propeller. So keep all rubbish until you can dispose of it at a refuse disposal point. (See the maps.)"

And that's where I'll stop for now - the maps themselves can wait until tomorrow.

Inland Waterways Facilities at the Port of Liverpool (1957/58) (continued)

Continuing from where I left off yesterday, this is the rest of the Port of Liverpool's 1957/58 handbook's section on inland waterway facilities.

The Shropshire Union Canal entered through the docks and locks at Ellesmere Port can be used by barges of 50 to 60 tons capacity serving the Chester and Nantwich areas, and giving direct waterway communication between theses areas of Cheshire and the Docks at Liverpool and Birkenhead.

This canal also serves Audlem, Market Drayton and Wolverhampton with direct connection at Autherley to Birmingham and the South Western Waterways Division (River Severn, Gloucester, etc.) and through Birmingham to the Waterways of the South Eastern Division (River Thames, London, etc.).

A British Waterways fleet of modern self-propelled boats operate between the Midlands and Ellesmere Port or via Middlewich and Anderton to the Weaver Navigation and Weston Point Docks.

All the canals have extensive areas alongside for industrial development, particularly suitable for works dependent on the Ports of Liverpool and Birkenhead for the imports of their raw materials or for the export of their finished products. The Waterways enable manufacturers to enjoy the facilities and advantages of Direct Overside Shipment of Goods in the Ports of Liverpool and Birkenhead while at the same time permitting their works to be decentralised and situated away from the immediate vicinity of the Port.

ROCHDALE CANAL

The Rochdale Canal Company owns extensive warehouses and wharves at Manchester, Rochdale, Heywood, Todmorden, and other places for the accommodation of merchandise of all descriptions, information respecting which can be obtained on application to the General Manager and Secretary, at the head offices, 75 Dale Street, Manchester.

And that, apart from a half-page ad from British Transport Waterways, is it as far as mention of inland waterways is concerned.

The photograph's caption reads "Good stowage, a port feature". What can one say?

Inland Waterways Facilities at the Port of Liverpool (1957/58)

As promised, here is an extract from the fascinating handbook of the Port of Liverpool, compiled and edited by the Public Relations Dept. of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board for 1957/58.

INLAND WATERWAYS FACILITIES

The Port of Liverpool, comprising the docks, wharves and warehouses situated on the Estate of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, both at Liverpool and at Birkenhead, is well served by the Inland Waterways in the North Western Waterways Division of the Inland Waterways Board of Management, British Transport Commission, at Liverpool.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, navigable for barges of 50 to 60 tons capacity has direct connection to the Liverpool Docks through the Canal Locks at Stanley Dock.

A British Waterways fleet of 50 ton capacity diesel engined barges afford quick and regular movement of traffic between the Port and the towns of Wigan, Leigh, Blackburn, Church, Burnley, Nelson, Skipton, Keighley, Shipley (for Bradford) and Leeds, where British Waterways warehouses provide local storage and distribution or collection services.

Through traffic can be routed through Leeds to and from East Yorkshire and the ports of Goole and Hull over the North Eastern Waterways Division and to and from Manchester or Salford Docks through Leigh over the Bridgewater navigation.

The St. Helens Canal, with locks at Widnes, is navigable by barges of 100 tons capacity serving the Warrington area and the sugar refineries at Earlestown.

The Weaver Navigation provides a waterway through the locks at Weston Point for coasters or barges up to 400 tons capacity serving the salt and chemical producing areas of Mid-Cheshire at Winsford and Northwich.

At Weston Point the Commission's well-equipped Docks with modern electric cranes comprise a storage area and transhipment port with extensive wharves and warehouses where temporary accommodation is offered at low rates for materials being collected preparatory to shipment at Liverpool or Birkenhead or awaiting distribution inland; large consignments can be handled in vessels up to 1,500 tons in capacity. There is direct communication at Weston Point with the Bridgewater Navigation for traffic to or from Manchester and Salford Docks and at Anderton with the Trent and Mersey Canal for traffic to and from the North Staffordshire Potteries and the Midlands.

(That's half of it - the rest will follow.)

It should be remembered that these were the days before containerisation, where cargoes had to be handled by the barrel, case, bundle etc.

It's an indication of how much canal transport was withering at the the expense of railways, that there are nine pages devoted to railway facilities, and only one and a bit to inland waterways facilities.

The photo is from the handbook, and shows the Tobacco Warehouse. Is that a boat about to go under the bridge?

The Gateway of the West

For my birthday recently I was given a 1957/58 edition of the handbook of The Port of Liverpool, subtitled "The Gateway of the West".


I have yet to browse through it properly, but the first few pages of ads evoke an era from before I was born (just). Several shipping firms take adjoining full-page ads: Harrison Line; Brocklebanks; the Blue Funnel Line; Anchor Line; Clan Line; Houlder Brothers & Co.; Furness Warren Line and Johnston Warren Line; Booker Line; Pacific Line; United States Lines; Mac Andrew Line ... and the list goes on.

The ports their ships served read (mostly) like a table of exotic holiday locations: Calcutta, New Orleans, Galveston, Brazil, British West India Islands, Venezuela, Curacao, Colombia, Cristobal, Central America, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Mexico and Charente. And that's just the Harrison Line! Other trading destinations include Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Australia, Egypt, Pakistan, South Africa, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Demerara...

As with most publications of this age, the advertisements are at least as interesting as the main text. There are 97 pages of them! And 110 pages of details about every aspect of the port: its history; the Graving Docks; Unloading Sugar in Bulk; Dredging; Railway Facilities; Canteens etc.

Yes, there's a section on Inland Waterway Facilities, which I will write about another time.

Henry Rodolph de Salis and my possible connection with him

Henry Rodolph de Salis compiled Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England and Wales (1904) after spending 11 years exploring every inch of them in his launch, covering 14,000 miles in the process. The book is a marvellously detailed record of every navigable waterway in existence at the beginning of the twentieth century. It lists all the locks and distances between junctions, wharves and towns. It gives brief details of what goods were carried, maximum size of vessels and through which counties the waterways passed.

Mr. de Salis includes a glossary which contains the now well known "gongoozler" (an idle and inquisitive person who stands staring for prolonged periods at anything out of the common. This word is believed to have its origin in the Lake District of England.) The glossary includes such essentials as "loodel", "soar pin" and "jambing pole".


I have a 1969 David and Charles reprint of the 1904 edition and find it a valuable adjunct to Nicholson's Guides, especially to find out a bit about the history of the waterway I might be on.

For example, here is the start of the distance table for the Worcester and Birmingham Canal (No. 90b) (every waterway in the guide is given a reference number).

Birmingham, Worcester Bar,                   Miles.   Fur.

junction with Birmingham

Canal Navigations, Main Line

(No. 10a1), to-

Birmingham, Granville Street Bridge          -     2
Birmingham, Davenport's Brewery             -     3
Birmingham,

      Sturge's and Bloxham's Wharves           -     4
Edgbaston Brewery        ...       ...       ...        -     6
Islington and Wheeley's Road Wharves      -     7
Stop Gates,

      Worcester end of Edgbaston Valley       1    6
Pritchett's Wharf           ...          ...       ...       2    2
Metchley Park Tip         ...          ...       ...      2    4

Kirby's Pool Tip             ...         ...        ...      2    6

Selly Oak Wharves, and junction with

      Birmingham Canal Navigations, 

      Dudley Canal, Line No. 2 (No. 10f2)    3     0

(I hope the formatting comes out right - I don't know how to do it properly.)

That should give you an idea of what it's like. You can pinpoint, to the nearest furlong, each listed wharf etc.

And my (possible) connection with the great man (who was also a director of Fellows, Morton and Clayton)?

Well, on Saturday we left the BCF AGM in Kidlington to drive straight to Norwich for a meal with other members of our village choral society. I discovered the surname of one of the singers there was de Salis. She confirmed that there were Rodolphs in the family, and thought it likely that she was related to H.R. I was impressed.

There's a sad footnote. The February 26th 1936 edition of The Times reports:

Mr. Henry Rodolph de Salis, brother of Count Sir John de Salis, was found shot dead yesterday in his bedroom at his home, Acton Lodge, Church Hill, Leamington. A revolver lay near the body. Mr. de Salis, who was 69 years of age, was prominent in business circles in Birmingham. A recognised authority on canal traffic problems, he was the chairman of Messrs. Fellows, Morton and Clayton canal carriers.

Discovering Lost Canals

A while ago I acquired a slim paperback called "Discovering Lost Canals" by Ronald Russell. It was first published in 1975; my copy is a second edition (1980). To each of 16 canals Mr. Russell devotes about three pages, divided into a section on History; one on The canal today; and a sketch map. Being concise the book is very readable, but manages to pack a wealth of information about the canals' start in life, problems in construction, their main cargoes, the reasons for their decline and eventual abandonment.

It's fascinating to read about canals which have since been restored, notably the Rochdale and the Huddersfield Narrow.

This is the start of the section on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal:

Many eccentric and ambitious projects flowered in the 1790s, a decade in which, to canal promoters, nothing seemed impossible. [...] One such, however, was the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, one of three completed projects to take waterway traffic across the Pennines and provide a link between the east and west coasts.

Further on:

The Huddersfield Narrow still supplies water for industry and the tunnel serves to drain the railway tunnel above it, but the locks are unusable.

Then in the Canal Today section:

Vivid descriptions have been published of voyages through the tunnel [Standedge] in recent years, but it is considered too dangerous for visitors to be allowed through. [...] A long term and admittedly costly plan for the restoration of the canal to navigable standard has been drawn up by the Huddersfield Canal Society.

Now, of course, the restoration has been carried out (hooray!) and we have ourselves cruised its length.


These are the canals covered:

The Bude Canal
The Chard Canal
The Chesterfield Canal (Chesterfield to Worksop)
The Dorset & Somerset Canal
The Grand Western Canal
The Grantham Canal
The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal
The Lancaster Canal (Kendal to Tewitfield)
The Leominster Canal
The Rochdale Canal
The Shropshire tub-boat canals and the Shrewsbury Canal
The Somersetshire Coal Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal
The Wey and Arun Junction Canal
The Wilts and Berks Canal

There is a chapter headed Some other lost canals; and another headed Lost canals found.

The book would make an excellent companion for an exploration of any of the featured canals, especially for the section on history. One to watch out for in a second hand bookshop.

New waterways guides

All I wanted yesterday (actually, that's not quite true) was to be able to link* to HarperCollins, the publisher of the Nicholson's Guides, and I found myself at Collins Maps blog. There in front of me were details of a book released that very day (30th September 2010): The Times Waterways of Britain by Jonathan Mosse. It's subheaded "An Illustrated Guide to Britain's stunning waterways".



Looking more coffee table than cabin top, the blurb on the blog says

A highly illustrated hardback book of the navigable waterways of Britain, it is packed with maps of the canals and photographs of scenes along the waterways.


I came across the author while cruising the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in the rain two years ago.


I was cruising, that is; Jonathan Mosse was covering the system by bicycle, researching for the next edition of the Nicholson Guides. In the photo he's getting a GPS fix for the water and elsan points at Burscough Bridge.

+++++++++++++++++++++

On her Lucky Duck blog Amy rues the disappearance of the Nicholson Guide to the Broads and Fens, which went out of print, she says, in the early 1990s. Well, Amy, I have news for you. On the same Collins Maps blog I discovered that there is a new Nicholson Guide to the Norfolk Broads. (Although I expect you're far more interested in the Fens waterways, and there's no mention of them.)



Incidentally, I'm pleased to see that there's no "New Edition" flash on the cover. I have a "New Edition" Nicholson guide (number 1) dated 2000. No doubt there have been several reprints since then, and, no doubt, there will be a new "New Edition" in the fulness of time.

*I didn't get round to putting in the link yesterday.

Landscape with Canals

... or what I DID get for Christmas.

This is the second book in L. T. C. Rolt's autobiographical trilogy, and I'm about half way through. It's a fascinating read. At this point Tom Rolt is living with his first wife Angela on NB Cressy at Tardebigge New Wharf where they were to remain for "eighteen hundred days".

Let me quote from some of the description of their journey there. Here Cressy is on the Stratford-on-Avon Canal encountering rubbish on the prop and passing through the still functioning (just) stop lock at the junction with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Boaters today still have to deal with fouled props; but there must be few still alive who can remember the distinctive gate opening:

... the narrow channel beneath the bridge was thickly blocked with junk, as we soon found out when Cressy ground to a sudden stop.  However, while two men continued to hold the bridge open, their fellows hauled manfully on bow and stern lines and managed to drag us over the obstruction.  Beyond this, the canal was densely overgrown with weeds, but as we now had only three hundred yards to go to reach the stop lock, with its guillotine gates, which guarded the junction with the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, we ploughed on under our own power.  By now our volunteer helpers, entering into the spirit of the thing, were accompanying us along the towpath with encouraging noises.  It was as well that they did so for we needed their willing hands again when we stuck fast in the mouth of the stop lock.

Once inside the lock, I removed from our blades the Stratford Canal's final gift of two bicycle tyres and a length of old rope.  Of the many miscellaneous objects that can become entangled in a propeller, tyres are the worst, as anyone who has ever tried cutting a tyre wire will readily appreciate.  However, the job was done at last and the western guillotine gate opened like a camera shutter to reveal, framed in its aperture, a picture of the still, clear waters of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

I love the imagery in the last sentence. It makes me want to do more pioneering-type boating. I was going to include a photo here of us weed clearing on the Wednesbury Oak Loop, but it's somewhere in an external hard drive (I hope) but I don't know where or how to find it.