Perhaps boating is not for her?

Published: Thursday, 31 August 2017

IT WOULD be interesting to know where the writer has cruised for 12 years without needing a handcuff (anti-vandal) key? ( Not prepared for Erewash anti-vandal paddles) asks Keith Gudgin.

 Would she have prefered to have found the pound empty just so she didn't have to buy a key?

Not easy

I can't work it out, if she found the Erewash difficult, what did she think of her journey to get to it? The T&M with the 'orible six or Nottingham via the Trent, neither is easy, obviously didn't do the Soar via Leicester because, as I seem to remember, it needs the aformentioned dreaded key for some locks! It's needed again at Stoke on Trent and also through Birmingham and on the Grand Union. You can't go too far without finding a locked lock so to speak.

Locking up to a winding hole to lock back down again in order to turn around is far from unusual on the system. Is doing a few locks too much like hard work? If so perhaps canal boating is not for her!!. Also a bit of pre-planning would have helped, then she would have seen that it is a dead-end canal and that she would have to wind to get out!? The locks on the Erewash are all wide locks as well so two boats could have shared or, better still, breasted through them, then with both crews working the locks it makes it easy and fast.

ErewashCanalGem of a canal

The Erewash Canal is a gem of a canal. Nice and rural in most places, clean clear water and very friendly people and hard working Association members (EC&PDA). Okay. it's not busy like the T&M or Shroppie but that's it's charm. It's not bad for maintenance either when compared to the rest of the system so I really do have to wonder where the writer does all her cruising because I want to visit there.

A fully maintained, lock and winding hole free ring with no need for anti-vandal keys or windlasses or winding etc—must be paradise or very very boring!

Need a hand spike

I can only hope she never goes to the Yorkshire canals because I dread to think what she'd say when she got to one of the locks needing a hand-spike!

vicsPicsPaddlePerhaps she's one of those boaters who only go out to the pub down the canal and then back to their marina space for a quick clean and polish once a fortnight and think they've been cruising?

Not be doing it again

As she states "...it is far from an easy canal to cruise, and a bit short on maintenance, and we shall not be doing it again!"

Well all I can say is if she refuses to go on what she conciders to be poorly maintained canals a second time then she is going to run out of options very, very fast indeed!