@@MinimalList Birmingham center was under construcktion in 1996 and was finished on the next trip on the warwicshire ring in 2001. I don't have video only a lot of photos :-)
My back garden. I live up on the hill overlooking Bumble Hole reserve. Lovely area. We get very few narrowboats mooring up here, so i think i vaguely recall seeing a blue boat moored up early last year. Prettysure it must have been you 3. Of course, i didn't know you guys then. Great vid guys.
Michael, this could be a long debate I am sure. You and Jo are a great example of the way Narrowboating should be. You both consider the other person and react responsibility.
You might want to get a set of these little PMR446 walkie talkies. We found them quite handy when boating. They are good up to more than 2 km even along a windy canal between hills. No need for phone handling, dialing etc and just go and talk. And while there are many in use, interferences are rare - especially with one of the newer 16 channel ones, as the upper 8 channels are virtually unused. Works as fine within a Tesco when shoping :))
Well done Michael for taking Jo's outro on the chin!! Beautiful piece of reversing it has to be said. English not your first language, doesn't matter if you can reverse like that. What use is mother tongue, when you have a bridge, corner, tight entrance and reversing too do.
I was also impressed with your reversing. I don’t like complaining about sunshine but winter sun makes any sort of driving difficult. Keep the vlogs coming and good luck to you both.
Great cruise today! Beautiful scenery, but that tunnel though!!! I should think that is like trying to navigate through a drinking straw! I loved the junction area with all the beautiful bridges. Okie, huh? LOL Yeah, we have a few of those who have been transplanted to Texas around here. Sorry I haven't commented in a couple of videos...been having computer problems and have watched the last couple of ones on my phone. Safe cruising!
Nice to see the old home port, didn't catch a glimpse of the boat though. Gosty is a nightmare, have had to pole through on some occasions and that section of cut out towards Windmill gets a bit shallow. Enjoy the next part of your journey, their are some nice rural stretches ahead.
wish i had seen you at hawen basin just seen my car parked behind you. yes walk my dog round there and work at the transport co.if you come back in may to the open week end events george and molly can have a good run over the fields love your comments and off cuff remarks
Another good video, bringing back fond memories of our trip. It is good to see you are still enjoying the journey. Looking forward to the next installment Andy
Well less that 4 months to go now for my trip on a cannel, I will be booking my holiday on the 16th Jan, just got to work out what cannel to travel on, another great vlog guys, thank you.
I was searching around for more info about the fool who got stuck in Dudley tunnel and found a story about a few people who got wedged in Gosty tunnel due to floating logs from CRT trimming trees, leaving the logs on the towpath and they were thrown in the canal by someone.
Quite a few boats have gotten stuck in Gosty Tunnel due to floating bits of wood, but I’m not sure said bits of wood can be directly ties to CRT actions, as at least one story of a wedging I heard was a 2x4 while another was some sort of plastic debris. M
@@MinimalList I'm betting you were totally cheating your Backsmanship... _Mr Bowthrusters_ :-P I'm thinking rudder amidships and just bow thrust would work pretty darn well to 'swing the rear around' as you drive in reverse
Famous last words, 'We're not going up those 3 locks ..... d'oh!' Remember, it is not about getting 'there' (wherever there is), but the journey itself.
I don't understand why the tunnel is “Gosty” but I recall Gorsty Hill. I cycled up it 3 days a week and no amount of expletives did it justice. Looking at the map the two coincide so I guess there is some history behind the variance.
Your Dudley accent was quite convincing, don't do it too often as it will stick - whenever you feel the need to say 'great, fantastic, brilliant' then simply saying 'bostin' will suffice. You've shown a wonderful side of the BCN at the worst time of year, its all been absolutely bostin
Every tunnel we’ve encountered that is too narrow for two-way narrowboat traffic has been short enough you can simply look for a boat-shaped shadow and a bright white light. Hopefully that continues to hold, though I believe there are a couple narrow tunnels ahead that you schedule ahead of time. M
You are meant to give a long blast on your horn before entering the tunnel to warn other users. If there is boat already in the tunnel heading your way they will give you a long blast of the horn back. Also some tunnels, Foulridge tunnel on the Leeds and Liverpool for example, have traffic lights.
Minimal List - I think you asked whether Lye is a town and also in the video that you'd be catching the train from Stourbridge. Lye is the first stop you will encounter. It's only a minor train station so about a 50/50 chance of actually stopping at it.
Guys do you have a fuel gauge to tell you when to shut off the fill up ,or is it a gush out the filler and you have the smell of diesel fuel for a few days . Great vlog but that tunnel hmm tight .thanks cheers from OZ .
The filler hose has an automatic switch off which works (most of the time) when diesel reaches it. Gushing out is a real no-no, you don't want diesel in the canal, also it would make the counter slippy and dangerous, even when wiped up. (The "counter" is the bit you stand on at the back).
They usually work in our experience... but in our case it's also pretty easy to see the level you've filled to, since you're basically leaning over and looking right down it when filling. So knock wood no spills! M
In my 5 weeks aboard, I believe I filled up once... and I knew it was full when the diesel came spurting out the pressure relief stem. :/ (If I actually filled up a 2nd time, that didn’t happen again and it was entirely unmemorable..)
OK so the person had to swim out, but how did they manage to get his boat out. wedging a heavy steel boat into a tunnel will require a lot of power to extract the boat, I hope they sent him the bill for extraction as well, since it was entirely his fault.
Well usually if you’ve gotten yourself wedged it’s ultimately due to some debris between the boat and the tunnel wall, rather than striking stone. From what little we’ve heard of such extractions it’s usually just tying up another boat and using a bit more power, coupled with moving weight off the wedged point, and possibly some rough handling of the thing wedged, and then it just pops free. As it’s rare to be in a tunnel narrow enough that it’s doesn’t take a pretty substantial log or something similar it’s not so much the boaters fault as bad luck. In the case of a tunnel where you entered without enough headroom it’s a harder problem, but usually fixed by adding a lot of extra ballast under the strike point. I’d hope there’s a good drubbing for anyone incautious enough to enter a tunnel without knowing they’ve got air draft, but I don’t think there’s a process for charging them for a rescue. M
I always enjoy your bloopers at the end but you need to have a show of boating bloopers- bumping about and stuff. Another youtube narrowboater is a young girl's endeavor . She seems to delight in catching every bump and grounding. Everyone else goes to great pains to edit that stuff out. Either that or you're all great helmsmen/women.
We don’t always catch them on film but do try and include them if we do! Skip to 14:00 in this vlog and you’ll see us slam into the side of the canal. And in vlog 139 we shoe is getting wedged in a bridge hole. If we catch them on film they go in the vlog. We certainly don’t edit the bumps and scrapes out!
It's not bad at all actually. I'd originally planned on modifying the wood we recovered from the old taff rail seats for that purpose, but once you get used to it it's a fine perch. M
Well done on that extended manoeuvring astern session Michael, you did that better than most land lubbers can reverse a motor vehicle. (See what I did there?)😉👍 Saw this article on canals which I thought you both might find interesting? www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/06/rebirth-of-britains-canal-network
Sorry that i not read all the reactions, i just want to know, if you have a deadline to return to the Trump country.. ? You rusting throughout the country, bud you can moorup, take a train or bus to visit Some Nice places, which do not have canals.
No deadline, thankfully, as I’m here on an immigration visa, so after another 2.5 years I can apply to remain, and even take citizenship. Still a lot of canal to cover before then though! M
I just loved the beeps Michael did once he could see you as he was approaching the opening of the tunnel. 🥰
Wondered if anyone would notice my little tune! M
Calling on memories of our first canal cruising in 1995 in a hireboat from Alvechurch marina. We were sailing the Stourport ring.
Wonder how much it’s changed since then. M
@@MinimalList Birmingham center was under construcktion in 1996 and was finished on the next trip on the warwicshire ring in 2001. I don't have video only a lot of photos :-)
My back garden. I live up on the hill overlooking Bumble Hole reserve. Lovely area. We get very few narrowboats mooring up here, so i think i vaguely recall seeing a blue boat moored up early last year. Prettysure it must have been you 3. Of course, i didn't know you guys then. Great vid guys.
That’s about the right timing, might have been us, but we weren’t near Bumble Hill long! M
Michael, this could be a long debate I am sure. You and Jo are a great example of the way Narrowboating should be. You both consider the other person and react responsibility.
Thanks! M
Epic reversing ...and a nice sunny day..it makes all the difference doesn't it.
I little bit of sunshine works wonders for the mood! Especially in these short winter days!
@@MinimalList Now you need to go back to the Gosty tunnel & do it in reverse.
Ugh! No thank you!
You might want to get a set of these little PMR446 walkie talkies. We found them quite handy when boating. They are good up to more than 2 km even along a windy canal between hills. No need for phone handling, dialing etc and just go and talk. And while there are many in use, interferences are rare - especially with one of the newer 16 channel ones, as the upper 8 channels are virtually unused. Works as fine within a Tesco when shoping :))
Thanks for the recommendation. We keep meaning to sort something out!
Jo aces the closing - and the crowd goes wild! Fun video - thanks!
Haha! Thank you! Didn’t have many bloopers though, will leave it to Michael in the future!
The most amusing thing about your sped up footage, is watching ducks calmly paddling along at 15-20 Mph.
Fastest ducks in the known world, our average canal canard. M
Silhouettes look cool.
Only 25 locks to go lol Plus my dog went nuts again when she saw George, thanks for the vlog.
I gave you a thumbs up, just for jo's one take wonder. Cheers
Haha! Thank you!
George isn't an animal hes one of us, and he's a superstar!!!!!!!!!!
He is a superstar!
I have to compliment Michael for his excellent reversing skills, very impressive. Atb, Peter.
Thanks! Always was good at the wrong way round! M
Well done Michael for taking Jo's outro on the chin!! Beautiful piece of reversing it has to be said. English not your first language, doesn't matter if you can reverse like that. What use is mother tongue, when you have a bridge, corner, tight entrance and reversing too do.
Thanks! I've got a talent for approaching things the wrong way round! M
I was also impressed with your reversing. I don’t like complaining about sunshine but winter sun makes any sort of driving difficult. Keep the vlogs coming and good luck to you both.
Thanks! I've always had a thing for doing things the wrong way round! M
Great cruise today! Beautiful scenery, but that tunnel though!!! I should think that is like trying to navigate through a drinking straw! I loved the junction area with all the beautiful bridges. Okie, huh? LOL Yeah, we have a few of those who have been transplanted to Texas around here. Sorry I haven't commented in a couple of videos...been having computer problems and have watched the last couple of ones on my phone. Safe cruising!
That is a good way of putting it, navigating through a drinking straw! Hope the computer problems get sorted! How annoying for you!
Nice to see the old home port, didn't catch a glimpse of the boat though. Gosty is a nightmare, have had to pole through on some occasions and that section of cut out towards Windmill gets a bit shallow. Enjoy the next part of your journey, their are some nice rural stretches ahead.
We've been enjoying them, lovely stretches once you get a bit out of Stourbridge! M
wish i had seen you at hawen basin just seen my car parked behind you. yes walk my dog round there and work at the transport co.if you come back in may to the open week end events george and molly can have a good run over the fields love your comments and off cuff remarks
What a shame we missed you! Hawen Basin is great! Everyone was so friendly!
Calmer day
Another good video, bringing back fond memories of our trip.
It is good to see you are still enjoying the journey. Looking forward to the next installment
Andy
Always enjoying the journey. Not always enjoying the weather, but always the journey! M
Another great vlog. Thanks guys. Enjoy the locks coming up. 😉. Some great views but hard work.
Just a few! M
Well less that 4 months to go now for my trip on a cannel, I will be booking my holiday on the 16th Jan, just got to work out what cannel to travel on, another great vlog guys, thank you.
There's so many to choose from! Luckily -- with the very definite exception of the Slough Arm -- we haven't found any not worth visiting! M
Thanks Michael.
We so want to do this, and my fiance comes from near that way. Great video guys can't wait to see more.
Thank you! Can highly recommend it!
I was searching around for more info about the fool who got stuck in Dudley tunnel and found a story about a few people who got wedged in Gosty tunnel due to floating logs from CRT trimming trees, leaving the logs on the towpath and they were thrown in the canal by someone.
Quite a few boats have gotten stuck in Gosty Tunnel due to floating bits of wood, but I’m not sure said bits of wood can be directly ties to CRT actions, as at least one story of a wedging I heard was a 2x4 while another was some sort of plastic debris. M
PS, happy new tear to you both, give George a hug for me.
Great video 👍🏻
Thanks! M
A fine bit of boating Backsmanship
( Is that a word? What is it called when boating in reverse?)
It is a word now!
@@MinimalList I'm betting you were totally cheating your Backsmanship... _Mr Bowthrusters_ :-P
I'm thinking rudder amidships and just bow thrust would work pretty darn well to 'swing the rear around' as you drive in reverse
Wow that’s what you call reversing.
Thanks! Always been know for doing things the wrong way round! M
At 7:00 The look "Can I go and play? Pleeease...."
That's his every moment look! M
Well done for attempting the Black Country accent. You were nowhere near but at least you tried 😊.
Haha. Thanks for that! 🤣
Famous last words, 'We're not going up those 3 locks ..... d'oh!' Remember, it is not about getting 'there' (wherever there is), but the journey itself.
Indeed! M
I don't understand why the tunnel is “Gosty” but I recall Gorsty Hill. I cycled up it 3 days a week and no amount of expletives did it justice. Looking at the map the two coincide so I guess there is some history behind the variance.
How strange!
The tunnel is under Gorsty Hill, but it's pronounced Gosty in Black Country dialect.
Thanks for the info!
Is it worth getting an Angela's landing net to retrieve items from the canal ?
If we ever happen to see one cheap that isn't too flimsy or small, I'll pick one up. M
Hiya - how long is your boat, is it 57 ft?
Yep, just shy of 57', bumper to bumper. M
@@MinimalList thank you xx
Your Dudley accent was quite convincing, don't do it too often as it will stick - whenever you feel the need to say 'great, fantastic, brilliant' then simply saying 'bostin' will suffice. You've shown a wonderful side of the BCN at the worst time of year, its all been absolutely bostin
Haha, thank you!
with a narrow tunnel like that how do make sure no other boat is coming the other way
Every tunnel we’ve encountered that is too narrow for two-way narrowboat traffic has been short enough you can simply look for a boat-shaped shadow and a bright white light. Hopefully that continues to hold, though I believe there are a couple narrow tunnels ahead that you schedule ahead of time. M
You are meant to give a long blast on your horn before entering the tunnel to warn other users. If there is boat already in the tunnel heading your way they will give you a long blast of the horn back. Also some tunnels, Foulridge tunnel on the Leeds and Liverpool for example, have traffic lights.
Very true! M
17:34 - all will be revealed when you catch the train. Assuming you head towards the city.
Which city?
Birmingham direction from Stourbridge. If you're going the other direction i guess all won't be revealed! :)
We got the train from Stourbridge to Birmingham but I’m still confused
Minimal List - I think you asked whether Lye is a town and also in the video that you'd be catching the train from Stourbridge. Lye is the first stop you will encounter. It's only a minor train station so about a 50/50 chance of actually stopping at it.
Oh, I see! We did get a train to Birmingham and if we did stop there I can’t remember. Thanks for the explanation all the same! 😊
Guys do you have a fuel gauge to tell you when to shut off the fill up ,or is it a gush out the filler and you have the smell of diesel fuel for a few days . Great vlog but that tunnel hmm tight .thanks cheers from OZ .
The filler hose has an automatic switch off which works (most of the time) when diesel reaches it. Gushing out is a real no-no, you don't want diesel in the canal, also it would make the counter slippy and dangerous, even when wiped up. (The "counter" is the bit you stand on at the back).
@@rebbward thanks for that , have had too many encounters with fillers that don't stop when they should . Plus I hate the smell of diesel .
They usually work in our experience... but in our case it's also pretty easy to see the level you've filled to, since you're basically leaning over and looking right down it when filling. So knock wood no spills! M
@@MinimalList thanks Michael , as a spill would be double trouble , for your back standing area ( counter ) and the canal . Cheers happy boating .
In my 5 weeks aboard, I believe I filled up once... and I knew it was full when the diesel came spurting out the pressure relief stem. :/ (If I actually filled up a 2nd time, that didn’t happen again and it was entirely unmemorable..)
Shave and a haircut... 🎵🎶🎶🎵🎵
OK so the person had to swim out, but how did they manage to get his boat out. wedging a heavy steel boat into a tunnel will require a lot of power to extract the boat, I hope they sent him the bill for extraction as well, since it was entirely his fault.
Well usually if you’ve gotten yourself wedged it’s ultimately due to some debris between the boat and the tunnel wall, rather than striking stone. From
what little we’ve heard of such extractions it’s usually just tying up another boat and using a bit more power, coupled with moving weight off the wedged point, and possibly some rough handling of the thing wedged, and then it just pops free. As it’s rare to be in a tunnel narrow enough that it’s doesn’t take a pretty substantial log or something similar it’s not so much the boaters fault as bad luck. In the case of a tunnel where you entered without enough headroom it’s a harder problem, but usually fixed by adding a lot of extra ballast under the strike point. I’d hope there’s a good drubbing for anyone incautious enough to enter a tunnel without knowing they’ve got air draft, but I don’t think there’s a process for charging them for a rescue. M
I always enjoy your bloopers at the end but you need to have a show of boating bloopers- bumping about and stuff.
Another youtube narrowboater is a young girl's endeavor . She seems to delight in catching every bump and grounding. Everyone else goes to great pains to edit that stuff out. Either that or you're all great helmsmen/women.
We don’t always catch them on film but do try and include them if we do! Skip to 14:00 in this vlog and you’ll see us slam into the side of the canal. And in vlog 139 we shoe is getting wedged in a bridge hole. If we catch them on film they go in the vlog. We certainly don’t edit the bumps and scrapes out!
@@MinimalList well then you are a fine pair of helmsmen/persons but I guess only George knows the truth- and he ain't talking.
Can someone provide a cushion for Michael to sit on the edge of the boat while he is steering, I’m sure it can’t be comfortable
It's not bad at all actually. I'd originally planned on modifying the wood we recovered from the old taff rail seats for that purpose, but once you get used to it it's a fine perch. M
I do so miss the "Click the Bell."
I’m sure it will make a return!
Well done on that extended manoeuvring astern session Michael, you did that better than most land lubbers can reverse a motor vehicle. (See what I did there?)😉👍 Saw this article on canals which I thought you both might find interesting? www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/06/rebirth-of-britains-canal-network
Spent too much time around Teamsters in my movie days... backing up and sitting around doing nothing rubbed off on me. M
Oh hey it's Emma!! She's a great kid! M
Minimal List Thought you would like it.😀👍
Michael, you are one mean reversed 😉
I blame my video game youth for my ability to do things backwards! M
I love you 2, you brighten my day up no end ,,,,,,,,mike when are you going to marry jo shes brill
About three years ago, come February! M
We’ll stay married then!
" reverser "
not even close as fer as us hillbillys ar consarned. git er a map Michael.
I dun tries ta esplain it! She give me wut fer! Da gumption! M
lol
@@MinimalList
Sorry that i not read all the reactions, i just want to know, if you have a deadline to return to the Trump country.. ? You rusting throughout the country, bud you can moorup, take a train or bus to visit Some Nice places, which do not have canals.
No deadline, thankfully, as I’m here on an immigration visa, so after another 2.5 years I can apply to remain, and even take citizenship. Still a lot of canal to cover before then though! M
Nice, welcom, i which you both lost of fine crusing, and hope the Brexit wil not spoil your stay in Gb.
Greetings Ben.