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ONLY too often we cruise up the Trent to Derwent Mouth Lock to find a Canaltimer struggling to understand how it works, at which She Who Must etc asks if they want help, and to which they desperately agree.
As I have mentioned before, a lock beam stuck in concrete together with a waterless model gives little idea of the working of a actual lock, especially as the hirers have to suffer up to two hours instruction of one sort or another, that most likely has them completely bewildered.
But with Long Horse Bridge once again spanning the Trent, and a fair bit of roadway, it would be little trouble to hoist a cycle on the front deck, give real lock instruction at an actual lock, then peddle back. I shouldn't imagine it would be too difficult to arrange to have a few holiday crews at the lock at the same time. It would certainly make life less fraught for the Canaltime newcomers.
Less
I understand that 10 more Canaltime boats have left Sawley for another location, and what with those on the sales jetty, I'm wondering why so many are going.
I've been told that the daily 'output' of boats next year will be reduced, and there have been no new replacement boats now for quite a few years.
Low key
There wasn't much of a fanfare at the eventual opening of Long Horse Bridge—in fact I did not know it was even open, with the notice on the approaching towpath telling that it was still closed.
Perhaps being three months overdue and costing quite a few thousand more, the powers-that-be decided to keep it low key, and simply take the barriers down.
The sting
There seems to be quite an effort at getting a Waitrose supermarket at Northwich, even though many locals believe there are enough already for what after all is only a small town.
It boasts of a Sainsburys, Tesco, Tesco Express, Marks & Spencer, Lidle, Aldi, Co-op and Iceland—all within walking distance. Just how desperate is it for another?
And there's a sting—the proposed development will mean the loss of the British Waterways Hayhurst repair yard, slipway and shed, which is in constant use by private boaters, Mike Carter tells me. But who cares about them?
Got yah!
 There has been a great deal of comment this season about speeding boats, and we have met our fair share.
Though there has always been those attempting to do the Five Counties and such in an impossible time, we have found that the plastic jobs seem to be more of a problem this year, with the bigger the boat the higher the speed.
Rommer was certainly breaking the limit, obviously on purpose as his grin at our moored rocking boat clearly shows.
Doesn't make sense
 Can someone explain to me that while overhanging hedges and bank sides on every canal are well overgrown, making it impossible to moor or even see round bends, wide towpaths and wide waterways are religiously cut back?
Every year the wide towpath by the Trent has its vegetation cut back and even its banks cleared—though there are notices stating that mooring is not allowed!
It just doesn't make sense to do all that work where it is not needed yet do nothing where it is...
Mind you, what do you expect?
Get insured
The Association of British Insurers is warning cyclists that an accident could prove very costly, with the association pointing out that accidents involving cyclists have risen 12% in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2010.
With ever increasing speeding by cyclists on the towpaths, and the risks to pedestrians and boaters, that surely is good advice, and I wonder if the cyclist who destroyed an angler's rod and was involved in a subsequent fight on the Rochdale Canal towpath had any insurance?
Victor Swift
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