Thanks to “Cheeky Charlie” for the last post we have had a busy few days here at the marina. Due to the winter stoppages we have had a large number of narrowboats having to be craned in from all over the country rather than been cruised in to go on to brokerage.

For those of you who are aware of British Waterways and the winter stoppage programme please stick with me, for those who are not aware of the programme I will endeavour to shed some light on to the topic. As the waterways are becoming more and more popular with boaters the waterways system which is around 200 years old needs regular maintenance to cope safely with the traffic that cruises our canal system.

Locks, bridges, tunnels, and even tow paths need to be maintained and repaired, to do this efficiently British Waterways publish a Stoppage list which details the maintenance plan that they intend to carry out through the winter. This list can be found at www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/stoppages you can even subscribe to get the emergency stoppages e-mailed to you, which is always useful when planning a journey.

So if you are planning a cruise over the next few months and you are new to boating it is well worth checking out to see how far you can get before hitting a stoppage. Getting half way to your destination and then having the system close at your bow and stern can be a bit of a nightmare, you have been warned.

All our new arrivals that have been craned in have all got something special about them you might have heard that narrowboats only travel at 3 miles per hour top speed, well all of these have been clocked at least 56 miles per hour, with no chipping to the engines either? Not bad….

Ok not sure it counts on the back of a truck, not sure if it is a real selling point either. In the arrivals lounge are the following Masquerade a 53 foot Traditional boat, George (2) A 50 foot Trad not to be confused with George (1) a 40ft Springer. Just Us a 57ft Semi traditional narrow boat with a nice seat on the back.

Moving in to the departures lounge were two boats yesterday, Leopard was bought in full, and a deposit was paid for Ubique. Leopard had only just finished being over plated and was fresh in to the water, with the surveyor only signing her off hours before.

We have Surveyor Eddie Freeman on site today doing a pre-purchase survey on Narrowboat, Trudie Anne. We have some customers driving across from Ipswich to look at George (1) another coming up from London to have another look at Narrow Boat Salamander, and another who has agreed a price in principle on Bo-Jo so a busy afternoon looms.

Until Next Time

Andy Robinson