Towpath Talk

Breaking barriers on the water

A PIONEERING project to build the UK’s first plastic, all-electric narrowboat is just steps away from becoming a reality if more supporters get behind a crowdfunding appeal. The Accessible Waterways Association CIC (AWA), founded by Tim and Tracey...

Historic navigation will be reconnected to national network after 70 years

ONE of the UK’s largest waterway restoration projects has been awarded £6.46 million which will see its link to the national network reinstated for the first time in more than seven decades. Through Cotswolds Canals Connected (CCC), the canal between...

Spooks ahoy!

The nights are pulling in, there’s a sharpness to the air, and the leaves are turning. Your stroll along the towpath at dusk is eerie in the half-light. What’s that noise? Is that a figure in the gloomy tunnel ahead? Author Nick Ford, in conversation...

Flower power!

Boat horse Flower pulls 1906 Shroppie fly-boat Saturn from Dimmingsdale to the bottom lock at Bratch, a highlight of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society’s Annual Rally of Boats at Bratch Locks, Wombourne, on August 30, with help from David...

Hanging ang ng gardens of the Ashby Canal anal

Weather brings woes as waterways dry up

THE DRIEST spring since 1893 and hot, rainless June and July have made some of England’s waterways a no-go for boaters. And there is no end in sight for the water-starved network as the Canal & River Trust warned boaters to plan ahead to avoid...

Locks tighten as drought looms

WATERWAY agencies are stepping up efforts to conserve water on the canals after some of the driest months on record. Although the Canal & River Trust says most of its 2000-mile network is currently unaffected, the warm spring weather has led to a...

Volunteers to compile huge canal survey thanks to lottery cash

A VOLUNTEER-LED heritage survey of 2000 miles of canal network in England and Wales has started this year – the first in more than three decades. The work, which will take four years to complete, will create a vast digital database which will detail...

Flotilla will take cash message into the heart of Westminster

AN ARMADA of boats will arrive in London in May with a simple message to government – “put money into waterways”. Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW) is hoping more boats will join the protest cruise into the capital and drive home the need for more...

Brave Hannah’s waterside respite lodge dream nears reality

COURAGEOUS brain cancer sufferer Hannah Roberts is hoping she will see the £203,000 waterside holiday home for other patients and their families finally become a reality. The 21-year-old has now raised £ 189,225 towards the cost of the respite lodge...

Shimmering in sunlight

The low sun highlights Atherstone’s Grade II-listed derelict Britannia Mill, locally known as the Hat Factory, as narrowboat Clara passes towards Atherstone Top Lock on the Coventry Canal. Part of the former hat-making premises, which has been closed...

Owners of unregistered boats hit with £55,000 in fines

A COURT crackdown on unregistered boats moored on the River Thames has seen 40 owners fined a total of £55,000. And the Environment Agency warned more patrols are planned to track down non-payers. On the River Thames alone, the agency recorded more...

Not a ripple…

The water is like a mirror, perfectly reflecting narrowboat Alpha as the golden hues of winter sunshine on brick contrast starkly with the vessel’s deep blue paintwork. Alpha was moored alongside the Ashby Boat Company’s Stoke Golding boatyard.

Essential repairs under way on historic River Severn lock

THE Canal & River Trust is undertaking essential repairs to the Grade II-listed Holt Lock on the River Severn in Worcestershire. The top and bottom gates of the 180-year-old lock are being repaired as part of a £280,000 project to maintain and improve...

Boaters are missing out on vital public services

HUNDREDS of boaters are missing out on access to vital services such as healthcare, education and banks. Waterway users say many central and local government agencies just aren’t able to deal with people who don’t have a permanent address – leaving...

Campaigners call for better canal access for people with disabilities

CAMPAIGNING couple Tracey and Tim Clarke have called on waterways bodies and town planners to put equal access for everyone at the top of their agendas. The plea – from the Accessible Waterways Association they set up – comes after permission was...

Beautiful Braunston boasts a cascade of colour!

HELD in its traditional slot in June, the rally attracted 74 historic narrowboats – slightly down from last year but understandable due to stoppages and mechanical problems (perhaps to be expected with these canal leviathans). The numbers attending in...