Hospital boat on the Ouse

Strolling around the Godmanchester backwater today I saw a substantial boat heading my way, featuring a St John's Ambulance badge.

I know there are emergency retrieval boats, the AA of the water world, but I'd never seen an ambulance boat. I wondered, are there boating paramedics too?
Of course a moment's searching threw up this link to Ladybird used to give trips to disabled children and the terminally ill. It turns out that Fox boats at March, Cambridgeshire, built Ladybird, its third boat for St John's. There's more about that here. And the passengers were having a good time on a substantial, light and quiet vessel, ten feet wide I believe.
Good for St Johns!

Sail has finally given way to power

With other projects taking his time, including of course narrowboating, John has decided to sell his much loved but, in recent years, rather under-used Mirror sailing dinghy. It was bought 15 years ago, but in the last year or two had spent most of its time in the garage rather than on the water. It was advertised on the excellent web site http://www.apolloduck.com/ which specialises in sales of boats of all types. After putting a free advert up on Friday afternoon, he had 5 enquiries and had sold it within 24 hours!
This has released more space in the garage - we now just need to sell the two very comfortable reclining swivel chairs with matching footstools and we might even get a car in there one day! Any takers? [NOW SOLD!]

Trolling Banned!

Oh no, just when I had planned a bit of weekend trolling!

Noticed this on the way up The Great Ouse north of Ely. I didn't feel guilty - but then I didn't quite know what I would have been guilty of! Should I support a campaign to BRING BACK TROLLING? Am I relieved that EBSSC have protected me from Trolls? Are Trolls endangered by my cruising up and down river? I just didn't know what to think. Until I got home and Googled it. Maybe you know already ... but for those of us to whom trolling is a novelty here's the answer from wikipedia.


And if you think the answer is a let-down - just Google it again, to find the alternative meanings. Oh ... really?! And here is a very serious article about nasty trolling, from the BBC. Definitely not a joke.

And if you've time on your hands try guessing what EBSSC is. If you think it's a secondary school in Santa Cruz you've been cheating by Googling - and you're wrong anyway!

[Postscript: Trolling, defined as "online abuse" or "virtual violence" is a form of bullying that has hit the headlines in March 2012. This blog entry was written long before I became aware of this and the lighthearted tone of this blog entry reflects that. There can be no excuse for insulting and bullying people online.]

Solved the Mapping Problem

Following on from my previous blog I'm now thrilled to say that I've solved the problem! For the benefit of those who care, here's what I did.
I checked I had Google Earth installed.
[Update: latest blog for list of Railways near Canals]
Choose the downloaded kmz file to open in Google Earth.
Knowing I wanted mainly railway lines and stations I selected More > Transportation > Rail in the Layers panel and unticked mostly everything else.

River Ouse and Railway Bridge at Ely

Finally in the Places panel I ticked My Places > Temporary Places > UK_Canals_Route_only and ticked absolutely everything within that. If you're only interested in a small number of canals you need only tick those you need. Screenshot below with Ely station highlighted for clarity. The Ouse is lined in blue.

So here's my next (or the one after that...) project - noting railway lines near to canals so I can moor up, catch a train and come back later - or friends and family can catch up with me while I'm away.
Next, to find friendly folks who will accept me mooring for a short while and where I won't block anyone else - a bigger problem altogether!

Best Canal Map in the UK?

We use the Norie and Wilson Guide when underway (The River Great Ouse and Tributaries by Andrew Hunter Blair) and find it perfect for our needs, full of detail. But looking further afield and using up to date technology Google Maps and Google Earth are fantastic information sources.
I've just come across a site called UKWRS here which shows all UK canals laid on Google Maps. I know Canal Planner does this but there it's static, while the UKWRS is more interactive.

Now I'm confused over the relationship between Google Maps and Google Earth. The reason? I'm trying to find a way of overlaying the canals and the railway stations on a single map so I can identify places where I can moor up for a few weeks, walk or bike to a railway station and make my way home for a break before returning to continue where Patience left off.
Anyone know a way? It must surely have been done. To have marinas featured too for safe short term moorings would help ....

[see next blog entry for my answer ...]
See 2015 Blog for my final solution - a Google Earth layer featuring railways near canals.]

Porlock Weir

July saw us away from our usual Ouse rivers and down in Somerset in Minehead near the Porlock Weir. Porlock Weir has been a small port for hundreds of years populated mainly by fishermen and their families.

The harbour at Porlock has some fine and recently restored dock gates and a sluice tunnel to keep the harbour free of stones and to stop inrush of heavy seas during storms and high tides.

Here you see the gates open at low tide ...

... and here a closer view from the side. Pulleys linked by wires to electric winches on the harbour wall pull the gates closed as required. No hand winding of lock gates here .....

Hilgay on The Wissey

I drove down from Stoke Ferry, where I'd been told there were no moorings until Hilgay. It was rumoured that there was a single landowner who held the land between Hilgay and Stoke Ferry and would not permit moorings.

So Hilgay came as a pleasant surprise, with a flurry of boats, a lengthy GOBA mooring and some additional green stretches alongside a recreation ground for general visitors. Shops and a garage too.
The GOBA mooring is just yards from the Rose and Crown which boasts food every night except Mondays. From here it's a little over 2 hours by narrow boat to Stoke Ferry and half an hour to  the Great Ouse and thence Denver.
George Manby lived most of his life in Hilgay, famed for his invention of a rocket to send a line to ships in distress. His memorial is in the churchyard.