I really admire how Pete keeps everything 'ship shape and Bristol fashion! A lot of channels cover topics like the cost of living on the canals, CRT charges and rules but no one has tackled a vlog of 'must have items and why you need them' a guide quite like Pete did with the floating rope and anchor explanation and getting the prop reconditioned. It’d be fantastic to see a breakdown of what’s essential, what’s nice to have, and why, to help equip narrow boats for both canals and rivers.
He really does keep everything very organised, and that is an excellent idea for a vlog! I'll add it to the list. Thanks for wacthing and your wonderful input 😊
Hi folks You are one of the best editors and channels on TH-cam on narrowboat life. With extreme anxiety watching your episodes every week helps me put my mind in a calming place. Thank you folks. Be safe and cheers ❤👍🍻🇨🇦
You don't know how good that is to hear, high praise indeed, but even more so that our videos bring you some peace. Thank you so much for supporting our channel 😊
You were right by where my husband lived when he was a child after his family moved off boats. He lived in one of the tall houses by the basin that you showed, the one with the picket fence and plaque above the door. They were owned by the waterways (possibly Severn waterways) and house was the armoury for Stourport Malicia.
I watch you going past all those big houses, and I think to myself "Which would I prefer - living in the big house, looking out at the river? Or, living on the narrowboat, watching the big houses go past?" Guess which one I would choose... 🚢 (closest pic I could find of a narrowboat! 😊)
Oh we say exactly the same Paul, we love our ever changing views and our cosy living space! We have said so many times on our travels that we can enjoy so many beautiful towns and villages without the high price tag of property in the areas! 😊
21:10 It’s like the canal is welcoming you all back and the narrow lock is the canals way of giving you, the dogs and the boat a nice big beautiful hug..
You're so right, it really was! I'm glad we had friends helping that knew the basin area though, as however welcoming that narrow lock was, it was not very obvious where we were actually meant to be going as a first timer in the area! Thanks for watching as always 😊
'A right bugger' is exactly right David! Add in wind and a hire boat that had not long been picked up and it made it even more entertaining. Would have loved to hear your commentary as it happened 😂
We were so glad we listened to friends' advice Swanny, and got off as the water was rising! Not an adventure we want to experience, being on a order in flood. Hope you are both well, and counting down the days until your boat launch! 😊
With the Severn rising I think we are all a bit relieved to see you back on the canals! Stourport looks lovely. And that was a complex set of basins and locks; well navigated by Pete. Thanks for another terrific video Caroline. Cheers.
You're so welcome as always Neil!I'm sure you could sense our relief the we finally got off the river. We are thankful that good friends gave us the advice to move off by early-mid September, as they had been stuck in Worcester for a month the previous year, when the river was on red boards for a long time. We wanted to avoid that if at all possible 😊
Thank you for the video. Hope the family / crew and you are doing well. I agree - you got off just in time. Weather here is turning very cold. Next 3 or 4 days will be single digit sub zero temps. Bitter cold wind chills and weather you think of cooking spicy chilli and staying inside. A 'bunch' colder up north in Wisconsin. My friends near the dells are looking at negatives in the teens at least one night. Take care - be safe and stay warm. Spin and the Boss. 🙂
Always lovely to hear you've enjoyed the videos! As you could tell, we were relived to be off the river just in time for those rising waters! Those negative wind chills are no fin at all! You and the boss stay warm 😊
Definitely a good time to get off the river. The river is great in lots of ways but it is also big and deep and those pontoon poles indicates it gets a lot deeper sometimes! Having the locks done for would be a great treat and you can go a little faster. Still the canals seem much more safe at least most of the time. Great tour of that lovely area. ❤ BTW it's a windy 17 today and it's going to be -1F tonight! Monday and Tuesday even worse. 🥶
We definitely made the right decision to get off when we did Dorothy, and were very relieved as you could see! Having seen videos and photos of the river in flood we didn't want to experience that 'adventure'. I'm on a last minute trip to visit our daughter Sophie in Wisconsin and I think it's the coldest I have ever experienced in my life, at -14ºF/-26ºC 🥶
Great vid Caroline your mix of the music to match the scene is fantastic and we love the occasional black and white shot 😀. You also took time to show us a bit of Stourport. You took Ruth and I back to that day we caught you up on the River and helped you through the locks. The contrast of Poppy and Hamish casual and Pete's and slightly concerned face being on the rising river is 😂. Thanks for showing us a great day with you both. We have just watched this moored in our motorhome near Braemar. ❤
Glad you enjoyed it David and Roth (and Ruby and Too of course!), and thank you once again for all your help in Stourport! It made it SO much easier to have experts of that area with us! You were there to see the relief we had getting back onto the canals 😊
Great video, as usual. When was this happening? We're following your journey via your playlist of all videos in chronological order and watch all new videos as they are published until we catch both up. We love your filming, your editing and the background information you supply. Thanks and have a great day.
That's so good to hear that you're enjoying the videos, and following the playlist! This was filmed this past September, but we will be catching up to be a lot more current soon, as we head into the winter footage, where our traveling miles slowed way down 😊
Your engine coped with the downstream current very well. Some narrowboats have little two cylinder Lister dumptruck engines and I just can't imagine them coping with a strong flow on the river. I'm looking forward to the Staffs and Worcs as I don't know it well at all.
when we are on rivers, we always confirms that we made the right decision to upgrade to the 42 bhp Canaline engine from the standard 38 bhp. You saw our friends, David and Ruth, ahead of us on the river in this video, but I didn't film them passing us so easily, and then found out later that day that they have a Canaline 50 engine! This was the first time doing the southern section of the Staffs & Worcester Canal, and we had high hopes and were not disappointed as you'll see! Thanks for watching as always 😊
Lovely vlog again, Hamish and Poppy are safe now for winter! 😜keeping the crew toasty needs some serious planning on the canals, i’m sure. Have a great weekend.❤
Thanks as always for your lovely words Eric! Poppy for sure was happy to be back on the canals, with far more to see close up! The squirrels are far too far away on the rivers for her to stalk 😂
He's a handsomely for sure! Staircase locks are not my favourite at all. I always double and triple check the instruction boards just to make sure I'm doing them right. It's much easier when there are volunteer lockies who know the flights well to help with them 😊
The working narrowboats were only used on the canals, to transport the goods from the ports that were established where the rivers met the canals. The cargo from larger vessels that brought the goods up the river was unloaded onto narrowboats in inland ports like Stourport to continuethier journey across country. Thanks for watching 😊
That's good to hear, there are some shots that just work so well in black and white! Hamish and Poppy are not related, just the same breed. We rescued Hamish as a 6 month old puppy, and he will be 16 in March! Still going strong and still stealing Poppy's toys when he has the chance. Poppy will be 5 in March 😊
Glad you made it off the Severn and back onto the canals. Why is the Llangollen such a popular place to spend the winter? Where is that beautiful super tall bridge at the end of your vids located? I think it's so pretty. You've probably heard that back here in Houston, we are preparing for 4 days of frigid temps, ice and 2-6" of snow. I hope so on the snow, as I won't have to drive in it. I do feel a little sorry for the runners in tomorrow's Houston Marathon, as the wind chill is supposed to be in the 20s and 30s. Hug the wee fuzzies for me and be well. Leigh
As you could see Leigh, it was a big relief. We were glad we took friends' advice to get off the river before mid September, as they were stuck in Worcester for a month the previous year! That high bridge at the end is my most favourite on the network, on the Shropshire Union, actually called High Bridge! You'll see it again in an upcoming video very soon, as we took that route to get to the Llangollen Canal. I think the Llangollen Canal is such a popular winter destination as it doesn't freeze as much as or as often as other canals due to the flow, as it's fed from the River Dee. It also has so many lovely small towns and villages along the way, stunning scenery and of course the Chirk and Ponycysyllte aqueducts too, and not many locks. Being a dead end, at the Llangollen basin, you often see the same boaters moving backwards and forwards slowly over the winter months, and make great friendships! So quite a few reasons really. Stay warm in the Houston freeze! I was telling Sophie (who is now in Wisconsin with extremely low temperatures forecast) that I'd received cold weather advice from the Friendswood City email that I'm still signed up for, like 'wear a coat' 😂 😊
Thanks so much Paul. The audio has been the biggest challenge in this whole very steep learning curve on filming and editing these vlogs. far form ideal conditions, with wind, engine noise, rushing water and us and different distances from the camera (my iPhone). The external microphone with wind muff that I was using had a firmware issue, but I didn't realise that at the time of filming, so I did the best I could adjusting the audio levels during the editing process and adding subtitles when I thought it was too hard to hear, and the volume was at it's maximum. We now have lapel mics that we are getting to grips with, and you will be seeing those in upcoming videos filmed in 2025. Thanks for sticking with us! 😊
@@onedaymoreaboardwasnt meant as criticism. Love your channel I follow a few of you and your fellow floating buddies. Find you all a lovely bunch to watch and appears you all have a lovely community spirit
It really is a wonderful community Paul, which we liken to the days when we were growing up and all the neighbours knew each other and helped out all the time 😊
I don't think we have ever seen anyone swimming in the canals, rivers yes, but not the murky waters of the canals. I'm sure it must happen though, but not something we would like to risk! Thanks for watching 😊
I really admire how Pete keeps everything 'ship shape and Bristol fashion! A lot of channels cover topics like the cost of living on the canals, CRT charges and rules but no one has tackled a vlog of 'must have items and why you need them' a guide quite like Pete did with the floating rope and anchor explanation and getting the prop reconditioned. It’d be fantastic to see a breakdown of what’s essential, what’s nice to have, and why, to help equip narrow boats for both canals and rivers.
He really does keep everything very organised, and that is an excellent idea for a vlog! I'll add it to the list. Thanks for wacthing and your wonderful input 😊
Hi folks
You are one of the best editors and channels on TH-cam on narrowboat life. With extreme anxiety watching your episodes every week helps me put my mind in a calming place. Thank you folks.
Be safe and cheers
❤👍🍻🇨🇦
Excellent. It’s so good when you find something that makes a difference. ❤
You don't know how good that is to hear, high praise indeed, but even more so that our videos bring you some peace. Thank you so much for supporting our channel 😊
You were right by where my husband lived when he was a child after his family moved off boats. He lived in one of the tall houses by the basin that you showed, the one with the picket fence and plaque above the door. They were owned by the waterways (possibly Severn waterways) and house was the armoury for Stourport Malicia.
Wow, what a wonderful connection Tanya! Thanks for commenting and sharing that with us, and for the extra information 😊
I watch you going past all those big houses, and I think to myself "Which would I prefer - living in the big house, looking out at the river? Or, living on the narrowboat, watching the big houses go past?" Guess which one I would choose... 🚢 (closest pic I could find of a narrowboat! 😊)
Oh we say exactly the same Paul, we love our ever changing views and our cosy living space! We have said so many times on our travels that we can enjoy so many beautiful towns and villages without the high price tag of property in the areas! 😊
21:10
It’s like the canal is welcoming you all back and the narrow lock is the canals way of giving you, the dogs and the boat a nice big beautiful hug..
You're so right, it really was! I'm glad we had friends helping that knew the basin area though, as however welcoming that narrow lock was, it was not very obvious where we were actually meant to be going as a first timer in the area! Thanks for watching as always 😊
Your puppies are so sweet. You are so patient with Hamish who is getting on I know. Your babies are definitely loved 😊
Hamish is doing so well at almost 16. They both make boat life even better 😊
Beautiful town, great footage and description as usual. Lovely vlog and glad you're back in the safety of the canal systems xx
So glad you enjoyed it Laura 😊
We love your channel. Thanks for letting us tag along.
You're so welcome! We love that you can join us for the ride if only virtually 😊
Love watching you both and the two dogs. Looking forward to your cruises on the next few weeks.
That's so lovely to hear Elizabeth! We are glad you can join us on our travels 😊
The flow on the river looked strong.
Those locks at Stourport are a right bugger to get in between, in both directions.
'A right bugger' is exactly right David! Add in wind and a hire boat that had not long been picked up and it made it even more entertaining. Would have loved to hear your commentary as it happened 😂
Thank you. We love dogs
You're so welcome Ken, glad you're are enjoying the videos!
A very nice way to end my day . Thanks for the lovely video.
You're so welcome Ann, glad you enjoyed it 😊
Excellent video guys. I know with our experience when coming off the Severn at Stourport, it was like enveloping yourself in a faithful old cardigan.
That's the perfect analogy Fraser! Our river adventures were wonderful, but that narrow lock back onto the canal network was a welcome sight 😊
Thanks for the details of moving through a staircase lock.
You're welcome John, glad it helped 😊
Happy that you're back on the canals. Sort of feels safer!!
You're so right, you cold sense our relief couldn't you! As always, thanks for watching 😊
That was a great video - could see your relief in getting off the river - hope all good cheers Swanny
We were so glad we listened to friends' advice Swanny, and got off as the water was rising! Not an adventure we want to experience, being on a order in flood. Hope you are both well, and counting down the days until your boat launch! 😊
With the Severn rising I think we are all a bit relieved to see you back on the canals! Stourport looks lovely. And that was a complex set of basins and locks; well navigated by Pete. Thanks for another terrific video Caroline. Cheers.
You're so welcome as always Neil!I'm sure you could sense our relief the we finally got off the river. We are thankful that good friends gave us the advice to move off by early-mid September, as they had been stuck in Worcester for a month the previous year, when the river was on red boards for a long time. We wanted to avoid that if at all possible 😊
Thank you for the video. Hope the family / crew and you are doing well. I agree - you got off just in time. Weather here is turning very cold. Next 3 or 4 days will be single digit sub zero temps. Bitter cold wind chills and weather you think of cooking spicy chilli and staying inside. A 'bunch' colder up north in Wisconsin. My friends near the dells are looking at negatives in the teens at least one night. Take care - be safe and stay warm. Spin and the Boss. 🙂
Always lovely to hear you've enjoyed the videos! As you could tell, we were relived to be off the river just in time for those rising waters! Those negative wind chills are no fin at all! You and the boss stay warm 😊
Definitely a good time to get off the river. The river is great in lots of ways but it is also big and deep and those pontoon poles indicates it gets a lot deeper sometimes! Having the locks done for would be a great treat and you can go a little faster. Still the canals seem much more safe at least most of the time. Great tour of that lovely area. ❤ BTW it's a windy 17 today and it's going to be -1F tonight! Monday and Tuesday even worse. 🥶
We definitely made the right decision to get off when we did Dorothy, and were very relieved as you could see! Having seen videos and photos of the river in flood we didn't want to experience that 'adventure'. I'm on a last minute trip to visit our daughter Sophie in Wisconsin and I think it's the coldest I have ever experienced in my life, at -14ºF/-26ºC 🥶
@@onedaymoreaboard What a time to be in Wisconsin! At least Indiana is better than that. 🥶
Nice video thanks for showing 😊
You're so welcome, glad you enjoyed it 😊
Great vlog guy's, stay safe 🙏 .
Thanks, you too Billy! 😊
I have to say i love your fur babies
We always knew they would be the stars of the show 😊❤️
Great vid Caroline your mix of the music to match the scene is fantastic and we love the occasional black and white shot 😀. You also took time to show us a bit of Stourport. You took Ruth and I back to that day we caught you up on the River and helped you through the locks. The contrast of Poppy and Hamish casual and Pete's and slightly concerned face being on the rising river is 😂. Thanks for showing us a great day with you both. We have just watched this moored in our motorhome near Braemar. ❤
Glad you enjoyed it David and Roth (and Ruby and Too of course!), and thank you once again for all your help in Stourport! It made it SO much easier to have experts of that area with us! You were there to see the relief we had getting back onto the canals 😊
Love all your videos but glad you are back on the canals. Cosy somehow.
Cosy is the perfect word for returning to the comfort of the canals Jill! 😊
Great video, as usual. When was this happening? We're following your journey via your playlist of all videos in chronological order and watch all new videos as they are published until we catch both up. We love your filming, your editing and the background information you supply. Thanks and have a great day.
That's so good to hear that you're enjoying the videos, and following the playlist! This was filmed this past September, but we will be catching up to be a lot more current soon, as we head into the winter footage, where our traveling miles slowed way down 😊
Your engine coped with the downstream current very well. Some narrowboats have little two cylinder Lister dumptruck engines and I just can't imagine them coping with a strong flow on the river. I'm looking forward to the Staffs and Worcs as I don't know it well at all.
when we are on rivers, we always confirms that we made the right decision to upgrade to the 42 bhp Canaline engine from the standard 38 bhp. You saw our friends, David and Ruth, ahead of us on the river in this video, but I didn't film them passing us so easily, and then found out later that day that they have a Canaline 50 engine! This was the first time doing the southern section of the Staffs & Worcester Canal, and we had high hopes and were not disappointed as you'll see! Thanks for watching as always 😊
great vlog cranking it on cut thanks for share on channel keep up the great vlogs thanks lee
Glad you enjoyed it Lee! Have a great weekend 😊
I still think you should do a black and white picture book. I know I'd buy it
I really should think seriously about that Terrie, as quite a few people have said the same no 😊
Lovely vlog again, Hamish and Poppy are safe now for winter! 😜keeping the crew toasty needs some serious planning on the canals, i’m sure. Have a great weekend.❤
Thanks as always for your lovely words Eric! Poppy for sure was happy to be back on the canals, with far more to see close up! The squirrels are far too far away on the rivers for her to stalk 😂
@ i was just thinking that! She needs the squirrel action to get her all excited, lol! Wrap them warm now, it is freezing here!🦴♥️🦴
Hamish looked so posh in his life jacket.
Emmmm stair case locks look complicated.
Take care X X X
He's a handsomely for sure! Staircase locks are not my favourite at all. I always double and triple check the instruction boards just to make sure I'm doing them right. It's much easier when there are volunteer lockies who know the flights well to help with them 😊
In the days of the working canal boats how did they work the rivers with no tow paths for the horses?
Sailing barges and trows. Google „River Severn Trading Vessels“.
Sailing barges and trows. Search for „River Severn trading vessels“.
The working narrowboats were only used on the canals, to transport the goods from the ports that were established where the rivers met the canals. The cargo from larger vessels that brought the goods up the river was unloaded onto narrowboats in inland ports like Stourport to continuethier journey across country. Thanks for watching 😊
Luv the black and white section of video.
The west highland fur children are Brother sister or Mum Dad .
Watching from young NSW Australia 🦘🦘.
That's good to hear, there are some shots that just work so well in black and white! Hamish and Poppy are not related, just the same breed. We rescued Hamish as a 6 month old puppy, and he will be 16 in March! Still going strong and still stealing Poppy's toys when he has the chance. Poppy will be 5 in March 😊
Glad you made it off the Severn and back onto the canals. Why is the Llangollen such a popular place to spend the winter? Where is that beautiful super tall bridge at the end of your vids located? I think it's so pretty. You've probably heard that back here in Houston, we are preparing for 4 days of frigid temps, ice and 2-6" of snow. I hope so on the snow, as I won't have to drive in it. I do feel a little sorry for the runners in tomorrow's Houston Marathon, as the wind chill is supposed to be in the 20s and 30s. Hug the wee fuzzies for me and be well. Leigh
As you could see Leigh, it was a big relief. We were glad we took friends' advice to get off the river before mid September, as they were stuck in Worcester for a month the previous year! That high bridge at the end is my most favourite on the network, on the Shropshire Union, actually called High Bridge! You'll see it again in an upcoming video very soon, as we took that route to get to the Llangollen Canal. I think the Llangollen Canal is such a popular winter destination as it doesn't freeze as much as or as often as other canals due to the flow, as it's fed from the River Dee. It also has so many lovely small towns and villages along the way, stunning scenery and of course the Chirk and Ponycysyllte aqueducts too, and not many locks. Being a dead end, at the Llangollen basin, you often see the same boaters moving backwards and forwards slowly over the winter months, and make great friendships! So quite a few reasons really. Stay warm in the Houston freeze! I was telling Sophie (who is now in Wisconsin with extremely low temperatures forecast) that I'd received cold weather advice from the Friendswood City email that I'm still signed up for, like 'wear a coat' 😂 😊
Love your visuals great channel but think your mics need attention very low sound a lot of the time.
Thanks so much Paul. The audio has been the biggest challenge in this whole very steep learning curve on filming and editing these vlogs. far form ideal conditions, with wind, engine noise, rushing water and us and different distances from the camera (my iPhone). The external microphone with wind muff that I was using had a firmware issue, but I didn't realise that at the time of filming, so I did the best I could adjusting the audio levels during the editing process and adding subtitles when I thought it was too hard to hear, and the volume was at it's maximum. We now have lapel mics that we are getting to grips with, and you will be seeing those in upcoming videos filmed in 2025. Thanks for sticking with us! 😊
@@onedaymoreaboardwasnt meant as criticism. Love your channel I follow a few of you and your fellow floating buddies. Find you all a lovely bunch to watch and appears you all have a lovely community spirit
It really is a wonderful community Paul, which we liken to the days when we were growing up and all the neighbours knew each other and helped out all the time 😊
Does anyone swim in the canal
I don't think we have ever seen anyone swimming in the canals, rivers yes, but not the murky waters of the canals. I'm sure it must happen though, but not something we would like to risk! Thanks for watching 😊