donnygeoff

Yes, Well done to the pilot and about £50,000 of tax payers money...... for a poorly foot...... put them down like you would a horse....

Holly s*&t..... Hope that clears up, and I bet getting on and off the boat is painful.......

That is why I could have done with your services Iain, I couldn't understand her . For all I know she could have said "Black Sheep, John Smiths, Ghost Ship and Carling" The only word I understood was Carling so had one of those...

BRIDGE 49.... All (most) of the bridges on the canal are numbered the first bridge from the Wheel is bridge 63.... Edinburgh is bridge 1, (then the lift bridge into Edinburgh Quay, I said most had a number) When I asked the trial guy why this was he replied with a grin..... So you can tell the boatyard where you are when you break down.......... The eatery at Bridge 49 is the BRIDGE 49 BISTRO & BAR...(They think of original names up north) Now, being a Yorkie bloke, I like things nice and simple..... walk into pub, order drinks, sit down, look at menu and go to bar to order..... This was different.... walked through door, young girl came straight up to us and asked how many for the table, I said depends on the food, she said here's a table the foods good. I didn't want to cause a scene so I sat down. She asked what we wanted to drink, 1/2 larger for Mrs DG, coke for Miss DG, soda water for nanan DG...... Now Mr DG (that's me) asked what draught beer they had.... The young girl replied " ****&^%^£ !£$%&()( ^&*(( and Carling" So as not to upset her I thought for a moment and said I would have a pint of Carling (where is Mr Broad Scott when you need him) We ordered the food, Mrs DG and Nanan DG had Thai green chicken curry (or something like that) Me and Miss DG had steak and ale pie. Now, the young girl said the food was good.....SHE LIED It was blerdy marvellous Another round of drinks to wash it down Asked for the bill, cos that's what you do in posh places.......... £65......yes 65 quid.... I left a tip here is the BRIDGE 49 BISTRO taken from BRIDGE 49 (what a surprise)

Hi Alan, Our trip into Linlithgow will be up shortly. And the story of me sampling at The Bridge Inn, Ratho......

As it was about 3pm I decided on a short cruise to our overnight destination of Bridge 49...... When I left the lock to get into the wheel, as it was my first time on a narrow boat, I decided to take it very steady, a little too steady I think. A trip boat was already in the wheel waiting for me. The wind was blowing a little and as I left the lock, it blew me to the left of the pool, the trip skipper waved at me to moor to the right of him (I don't know how he thought I could moor to the left as he was tied to the side) I put a little more power on and crabbed towards the wheel, when the nose was just about in line with the gap, I put a little more power on, pushed the rudder hard over, and the back end swung around, straighten the rudder in to reverse a little in to neutral and DEBBIE slid in without touching trip boat or side. ( I was well chuffed) As we went to tie up to the side, the trip boat crew took the ropes and tied around their cleats, very nice of them. While we were rotating in the wheel the skipper and I chatted, when I told him it was my first time he congratulated me on getting into the wheel, but gave me some advice. if you look at this pic, to the front of the boat you will see the TV aerial and a narrow gap just before the tunnel. This gap is called "THE SQUEEZE" if your boat doesn't fit through it, you can't go on the canal, the squeeze is the same size as the narrowest bridge on the canal. His advice was..... You go first out of the wheel, when you crossed the pool, the wind took you right, up here it is stronger, leave the wheel with more power, don't be afraid and don't slow down, keep it straight and let off power when you are through. So I did as I was told, I was a little apprehensive, but pointed the nose at the gap and went..... I went through, eased off the power and headed for the two large locks at the start of the Union Canal. After the locks comes the Falkirk Tunnel, 620M long, another first a long tunnel done and ticked off. 3 hours later we were moored at Bridge 49 in on a floating pontoon in a little "harbour" for the night. Here is a pic of the entrance As you can see, this pic is dated Fri 10th April, I took all of the photos on my phone, and it decided to delete all of the Falkirk tunnel, the two large locks and the Saturday mooring, I will try and get them from my daughters phone and add them later, I knew my phone did this so with Wifi on board I emailed pics to myself, but forgot to do the Falkirk tunnel, the two large locks and the Saturday mooring. We had an excellent meal in The Bridge 49 Bistro and retired early for the night It had been a long day.... but very enjoyable...

And now my RANT...... Even though a member of the AA........ THEY ARE NOT THE 4TH EMERGENCY SERVICE...... even though their advert says they are...

Well it all started, really started, about eight months ago. SWMBO said she wanted to "DO THE WHEEL" I thought my luck was REALY in, until she explained it was the FALKIRK WHEEL on the Forth and Clyde & Union canals, not page 253 of the Karma Sutra. So I looked around the tinterweb and booked Debbie from Marine Cruisers for the Easter week. Debbie, is a 52' narrow boat, (not the blonde from behind the bar in my local) Here she is We picked her up from Marine Cruisers right next to the wheel on Sat 4th April. When I looked at her, I really thought, "How the hell am I going to do this" a 2 1/2 foot wide canal, with a 52 foot boat. After we had unloaded the car, and filled the boat with our Rain Coats, Woolly Jumpers, Extra thick socks etc (It is Scotland) it was time for the trial run. The guy from the yard showed me around Debbie, you know , the usual, here is the cooker, her is the fridge etc and asked me if I had been on a narrow boat before. I answered to the best of my knowledge and said NO. Half way through him telling me that a boat steers from the back and not like a car, I told him that I had done a few years on "The Broads" So we set off on the trial Well, the Boat Yard, is just the canal bank, the Wheel is 30 yards to a lift bridge, turn left into the lock and into the "pool" where the wheel is. I set off, under the bridge, managed to steer Debbie round the left hander and into the lock, the trial run bloke then said " Normally we would spend a little time in the pool, learning the handling, but I will get off now. See you next week" All I could think of was, if West can do it, then so can I Into the WHEEL, and it begins Moored next to one of the trip boats on the way up.... view from the back looking forward we are moving view from back don't look down At the top, 8 mins later, and a lot better than 12 locks. It was now time to head off, over the viaduct and through the first tunnel. The first hour on board and we had done a lift bridge, a lock, The Wheel, a viaduct and a tunnel..... Scotland here we come....

£1.08 a little bit more than I have just paid when the boat was filled before handing it back on Saturday.

Beagles About

Blerdy typical........

I don't think Que has a big stick....... So Trev says.... COME ON...... GET THE ADVENTURE BACK

What is wrong with it.... If you don't like purple, and have got 100 grand to buy it.... Change the colour..... SIMPLES

Hi Alan, Yes, setting off from Falkirk, and heading towards Edinburgh, then probably back to Falkirk and to the Kelpies before taking boat back. Geoff

I was hoping next week would be in Scotland and the Wheel..... If Scotland is the week after, Sunday 5th, it will be funny watching them, while I am moored somewhere between Falkirk and Edinburgh....

I always have a pair of forceps when fishing on holiday on the broads.......... I do not fish for pike, but have once, while reeling in a little roach had Mr Pike eat my catch..... Forceps out, unhooked and put back quick, before he had me for tea....

I use the same method......... Let two women do it.... (Mrs DG and daughter)

And there you have the reason my mum told me....... DO NOT SPEAK TO STRANGERS

FISHERMEN...... PROPER FISHERMEN..... REAL FISHERMEN..... FISHERMEN WHO SPEND HUNDREDS AND SOMETIMES THOUSANDS ON THEIR GEAR..... FISHERMEN WHO GO FISHING...... DO NOT DO THIS..... ............................................................... People who go fishing, once in a while, whether on holiday or just to try it, buy a £5 rod and do this..... ...................................................................... REAL FISHERMEN SHOULD NOT BE TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH AS........ ..................................... I like to think that even though not a REAL FISHERMAN, I do try to take care of not leaving anything behind, but a bad cast, gust of wind at the wrong moment, and my line is snagged. The poor swan could have been tangled in line that was left "by accident"...... ................................... Now start the next thread about this happening in the closed season............ (if it did, but as the article said it had grown over, so it probably happened some time ago, but that won't stop someone saying it did happen in the closed season) As paladin said, non fishermen (ie General Public) cause more harm to wildlife... ...................................................................................................

Hi Andy.. From the richardsons skippers manual she is 7' 2"

And as you can see, it is waterproof, It was pouring it down...

Not very clear, but was floating

in the slow motion part, it looked like the dog from "THE THING"

As long as we have it in the Summer, so we get a good chance of sunshine to celebrate it properly...

happy birthday Gramps..... And I agree with you about our saints day..... St George........ Every year my "local" has paddy day with guiness at a discounted price, but never bitter at a discounted price on St Georges day..... Do I let my feelings be known....... YES.... If you are not Irish, why celebrate paddys day....... We will be having a 4th of july soon sorry rant over.....