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Monday, 17 April 2023

Messing about ...


'When the weather is fine, then you know it's a sign for messing about on the river canal.
If you take my advice, there's nothing so nice as messing about on the river canal.
There are long boats and short boats and all kinds of craft, 
And cruisers and keel boats and some with no draught. 
So take off your coat and hop on a boat;
Go messing about on the river canal.'   Tony Hatch


Plenty of people seemed to be doing just that in the sunshine over Easter.  I think some of these boats were queuing up waiting to be guided down through the complications of Bingley's Five Rise Locks, the upper gate of which can be seen in my photo below. (I showed them from the bottom looking up HERE.) There is a lock-keeper permanently stationed here and Canal and River Trust staff drafted in to help at busy times. 


 

6 comments:

  1. If they had to wait as long as that at the traffic lights they'd not be so laid back and cheerful! I remember that song from "Children's Favourites", though I didn't know that Tony Hatch was responsible for it.

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  2. Our Canal won't open for boating traffic until May.

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  3. What a fun warmer day activity, getting your long boat going down the canal! They do look such fun, and I imagine very few were homes during the wintertime. I see them as a family boat, used for recreation...or am I wrong?

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    1. Barbara, some of these are holiday hire boats (the red liveried ones) but quite a lot of our canal boats are privately owned and either lived on all the time (they have cosy wood-burning stoves for warmth) or used for weekends and holidays.

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  4. That is quite a line-up of boats.

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