The smooth underbelly of the Westway Highway swings wide over the Grand Union Canal at Westbourne Park, creating a ceiling for the towpath and ½ a dozen canal boats moored below.

For architect Matt Hopkins, it's a sight to behold whenever he cruises into Paddington on his 70’narrowboat. But the breath-taking infrastructure has a troubled history; its construction in 1971 displaced over 3000 North Kensington families. Resulting controversy helped produce much more extensive neighbourhood engagement ahead of similar developments today.

In the half century since, the City of Westminster has responded to the Westway’s intrusion with a number of measures: A sports complex at Shepherd's Bush. Offices and shops at Portobello Road. But at Westbourne Park — where a football pitch length piece of land could support an all-weather market, musical performance, or whatever else the public wants — time stands still.

Why a place with such potential remains a destination for rough sleepers, scofflaw dog walkers, and occasional boaters refitting their interiors is a question I hoped to answer at a discussion Hopkins recently led featuring architects reviewing old proposals to re-imagine the space.

The discussion was part of a weekend program called "Building Dialogues" ̈the latest in a history of interventions for this persistently challenging spot. Besides an architectural discussion there was music, educational workshops and a visioning exercise for boaters and borough representatives. All to demonstrate the variety of programmes the space lends itself to, and which were last seen there during a month-long 2019 London Festival of Architecture installation.

I had been a participant in that, loaning my boat and its full length stage to the team who contributed the winning entry, the ̈Co-Mooring ̈, which for 30,000 pounds attempted to unite land and water, encouraging more and better interaction between boaters and visitors to the canal. Its lofty ideas collided with reality, however, when cyclists objected to its sinuous boardwalk and local hoodlums asked for money to not burn it down.

With more continuity, these might have been valuable learning experiences, except the final stakeholders ́ discussion atop Molly Anna was interrupted, and — with Covid around the corner — never resumed.

Four years later we reviewed the list of 49 companies who had submitted proposals for the 2019 competition. Architectural firms KMBH, Sisters & Tiger, Merritt Houmoeller and Make:Good all had received £500 to further develop concepts to temporarily transform the space. Though none were ultimately selected, all wanted to publicly review their old plans and discuss what might still happen.

The architects sat on chairs sandwiched between a vendor selling samosa chaat and an upright piano wheeled in for the occasion. They joked about their professional lot...submissions for design competitions that never pay the bills...but to which they repeatedly succumb, stubbornly believing that the right mix of ingredients can turn urban blight into community gold.

Asia Grzybowska from Sisters and Tiger had driven the furthest, 5 hours from Cornwall, to discuss why no such alchemy had happened here. In a sterile space animated by graffiti but not a blade of grass she related the story of a garbage strewn median in Oakland, California, and how a surreptitiously installed ceramic Buddha had sparked a metamorphosis. People brought flowers. It became a shrine. Crime fell by 80%.

With sympathetic City of Westminster leaders showing renewed interest in canalside opportunities, could something similar happen here? Community-led, in lieu of major investment?

What user groups could be induced to adopt this space? What changes would inspire a similar transformation as Vietnamese pilgrims had brought to an unloved highway median in Oakland?

Ladbroke Grove’s musical community could play a role, suggested Ben Crockett and Jezmond Farran, musicians who waited to perform on the event ́s floating stage. Local legends Hawkwind, the first space rock band, had played there in the early 70s, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the place, the only covered — and therefore weatherproof — stretch of canal in London.

Fifty years later, what stymies a design that will transform this space? So that vendors can sell goods, boaters can responsibly dispose of rubbish, cyclists can fix their bikes and no one gets run over?

The chief impediment — the architects concluded — is the site's ́complicated ownership. Each team had had to speculate on what various entities would approve: the Highway Department which owns the overpass, the Canal and River Trust which owns the towpath, Great Western Studios which owns a sliver of land and the City of Westminster which owns the rest.

“The Borough,” Hopkins said on behalf of everyone, “is the only entity that will be here in 300 years. They need to convene the other stakeholders and see what modifications are allowable.”

• Would the highway department allow public artwork and lighting on the underside of the Westway?
• Would property owners allow a storage facility for items needed for pop-up events to encourage further use of the site? tables and chairs? bins and bin bags? work benches for boaters and cyclists to do repairs?
• Would the bus facility allow lowering of the retaining wall and removal of barbed wire as elsewhere along the retaining wall? Opening up views and allowing light to penetrate?
• Would CRT create a bookable mooring(s) for roving traders to sell items and act as caretakers? Could a uniform ground treatment be installed, to reduce conflict between users and allow for greater flexibility of use?

Hopkins cited the Royal Parks for demonstrating how a uniform surface and appropriate signage can induce cyclists to give way to crowds and during events.

With those questions answered architects could produce a final design to heal a historic wound and with it, perhaps, create a new paradigm for local government, CRT and private entities to collaboratively wring utility for canalside locations across London.

We live in a canal side cottage, or rather we did in 1805 when the Somerset Coal Canal was opened. The canal actually ran so close that they piled the earth up against the cottage, so the kitchen appears to be 3-foot underground. Indeed, the neighbours still have the bridge in the garden and the loading bay for the earth mill. An evening's walk to the pub in Combe Hay passes bridges well cut with gritty ropes, and deserted locks complete with gates that haven’t seen a barge since 1898. It was then that the canal was replaced by the Camerton Branch Railway – which ran almost through the bottom of the garden and was immortalised by the 1950s film the Titfield Thunderbolt (about a group of railway enthusiast who wanted to save their line).

This sort of leads us neatly into this article as I have just read Sou'wester, the Inland Waterways Magazine and this has got me thinking.

The work being carried out and dedication to the cause should be applauded and recognised: parts of the old Coal Canal in Timsbury and Paulton now have water in them for the first time in over 120 years. Add this to work on Wilts and Berks, various canals in Gloucester etc., and it could be true to say that there are as many canal projects on the go now as there were during the  canal mania (the period of intense canal building in England and Wales between the 1790s and 1810s). One cannot but think the future of our network is a foregone conclusion considering the benefits to wildlife and to humans with walking, cycling and water pursuits. Plus the re-instatement of a simpler slow pace of life.

However, my concern is history will repeat itself.

The Somerset Coal Canal is a good point: it was extremely profitable in its day, making money for the company and more importantly for its share holders,  by moving a commodity that was becoming essential for the industrial revolution - coal. The canal was shut down and business converted to rail, because you could move more coal quickly and easily and thus make even more money. Until, eventually, 50 years after it was built, that too closed down because they mined out. The Bath council made good use of the canal's bed by filling it with the town's rubbish- which promptly caught fire and burnt for years !!! but is still a good source of old railings, glass bottles - you name it (even most of the toilet block from the old Somerset and Dorset railway station)!

So here’s the rub in the same magazine DEFRA have cut the grant to CRT by £12.6m a year. to quote the magazine, that means that means:

• Being unable to do winter maintenance on 586 miles of waterway.
• Being unable to operate maintain and repair 156 miles of waterway.
• 50 0/0 of the spend on reservoirs will be unfunded (one assumes these are to feed the canals with water?)

Add into this a recent BBC article on the Regent Canal boat dwellers, which I felt was skewed to highlight the fact that most residential canal boaters burn fossil fuel – the very thing the canals were built to transport - as well as running their diesel engines for hours in the winter to make and store a minimal amount of electricity compared to the energy used to make it – all rather bluntly pointed out in the article.

We are all struggling financially, none of us can really sustain an increase in licence fees, along with fuel costs etc. We have tightened our belts to the last hole and there’s worse: we have no time. Many of the people who are near retirement, or have already retired, are now raising grandchildren to keep their own children working to pay the endless bills. The skills required to maintain and restore a canal are dwindling, "retired stone masons , blacksmiths, brickies..." Soon the only skill any one can offer will be  "management or IT".

If we are going to save our way of life, we all need to start thinking up better arguments than environmental / green and social benefits and concentrate on the only thing government ministers ever understand. They are, I suppose, the equivalent of the old shareholders £ Sterling, and their 20% cut on any revenues raised. Today we have grown weary of the deadline headline. Ten years to save the planet, etc and gluing yourself to a canal could be problematic. However, I am concerned that history will repeat itself and the slow painful decline of our precious waterways will become evident by the end of my time.

Our travels this year so far have been anything but straightforward with the amount of different issues we've had with every canal we've been on.

We've had restrictions due to low water levels, broken locks and bridges on the Macclesfield, Trent and Mersey and the Peak Forest canals so far.

We're currently 'stuck' on the Peak Forest Canal because of a broken lift bridge, although we did have the opportunity to leave the canal on an assisted passage before CRT closed the bridge a few weeks ago.

We chose to make the decision to stay between Bugsworth Basin and the broken bridge (24) because there's just so much to do in the area and we love the town of New Mills.

There are 2 train lines running through New Mills giving us access to Sheffield, Manchester, Buxton and the Peak District and as we're keen walkers, we're happy to be able to walk in so many beautiful places.

We've been to Edale, Hathersage and Grindleford to walk in the surrounding areas and visited the East Lancashire Railway via Manchester and Bury.

New Mills is a great little town with a real community and there are fabulous cafés and pubs everywhere.

It seems perverse to choose to stay in one place whilst living on a narrow boat, but being able to fully immerse ourselves in the area feels very special and it really will be a struggle to leave when the bridge is finally mended....let's hope it's not too soon, we've still got walks to do!

For years, man has looked to the stars to try and relocate the human race. The Moon and Mars have been spoken about as future destinations, but could we actually colonise another planet if the Earth becomes unsustainable due to the current climate changing?

The way that technology and engineering has advanced over the years, it’s something that we cannot dismiss for the distant future generations of the planet. But the distant future is just that, a distant future. What about the here and now?

Many engineering and architectural companies have been looking at ways to create a better environment for the people in today's climate. With the population of the World’s cities growing at an alarming rate, outdoor space and living accommodation is now seen as a premium, something that was brought to the forefront of the masses during the recent global Covid pandemic.

Architects have been designing concepts to accommodate people in lesser spaces for years, especially in major cities where the populations are growing at a faster pace: more people means more demand for living quarters and the space to grow food to feed them all. Look at the population growth in places like Tokyo, Bombay, Beijing and New Delhi for example, and you will see the ever-growing problem.

Even in the UK, local councils are under tremendous strain from the government to build affordable houses for the ever-increasing population. The World Health Organisation have stated that the human race has escalated way beyond control and sustainability, stating that for the first 1800 years of human occupation, there was somewhere around 1 billion people on the planet. By 2084 it is estimated to grow to 9.84 billion. Do the maths, it's quite frightening to think how many people will eventually be on the Earth.

Tackling the situation is something that architects and engineers have been looking at for quite a while, and have gone through different stages, building high rise, low rise, underground, compact, concepts and now water, either on top or underneath the waves.

Regarding the water theory, there are specialist holiday companies that offer underwater rooms, where the guests can come face to face with the marine life.

Although these places are seen as luxury vacation accommodation, what about the day-to-day living? Could there be a demand for living on or under the water permanently?

Joint company venture between Luca Curd Architects and UK based Tim Fu Designs have designed an eco-friendly village that adapts to future living and climate demands. Called the Floating City, it is designed to support global climate change and the ever-increasing problem of finding space for people to inhabit.

The new city is made up of smooth white structures that are interconnected by a circular appeasing street grid, which gives it a modern feel.

The aesthetics of the village are enhanced with the greenery from the urban forest, bringing the white buildings to life by projecting the green against the white buildings.

The city is built over 25 acres of interconnected platforms and various neighbourhoods, providing accommodation for 50,000 people.

Each section will contain a mixture of high and low rise buildings, surrounded by a membrane of photovoltaic glass, which supplies the whole structure with an energy independent system.
One of the biggest phases, is the sub zero waste project which runs a 100% green system, including a water desalination renewable energy system, along with a farming and energy storage facility.

A spokesman for the architects said,  "The city allows its residents to get into a healthier lifestyle, working alongside natural elements".

The city is also being planned as a tourist attraction with areas set aside for hotels, fitness centres, shopping malls and leisure facilities, all accessed by sea or air. The structure is designed to support the global response to climate change, and could shape the way our future living accommodation will be.

The project will be presented for the first time during this year's International Architecture Exhibition, the Biennde Architettura.

Because of the need for future space and accommodation, engineering and technology will have to come up and develop future designs that fit the needs of the people and the planet. W>e at Bearingtech recognise the situations that will undoubtedly arise and have decided to take a look at the inventive cities, towns and villages that have changed the way people live.

From an early age, people have strived to live in bigger and better dwellings, starting from the earliest cavemen to the present day inhabitants, something that will continue all the time human beings inhabit the earth.

Some of the structures and layouts that we now live with, were at one point were seen as futuristic buildings. Developments like the Pyramids, Notre Dame, Empire State and the Taj Mahal have all withstood the test of time. Now new and exciting city projects are either under construction or at the drawing board stage, each offering a different style and design. Many are edging towards the green ecosystem, especially the Smart Forest in Mexico and the Chendgu City in China.

Like most countries, they will need to adapt to their surroundings and the people who inhabit the areas will need to be consulted as to which developments will be beneficial before building can be undertaken. It's not viable to build something that is not in the interest of its people; too many cities and towns have been built over the years without the people being consulted, and it's now time to start listening instead of placing all the emphasis on profit.

According to a recent survey and projection census, there are 10 principles that could develop and sustain future cities including….

Ecology: The city of the future will be developed around natural features, to protect the wildlife habitat and floral greenery; the city will be designed to be compact and dense to enhance the impact on the ecosystem and climate control.

Water: Will be seen as a vital commodity in the city of the future, especially rain storm- water, which will be collected and cleansed to improve the quality.

By using wetland restoration and sponge cities, that will revive and encourage wildlife habitats and protect against flooding and prevent sea levels from rising; wastewater will be treated for irrigation and human consumption.

Energy: According to data, the future city will be 100% renewable, producing enough power within or close to the buildings to be self sufficient, area buildings will share energy, generating as much energy as they consume.

Waste: General waste will become a resource to produce energy or alternative material`s, abandoned industrial sites and old landfill areas will gradually be converted for other purposes after soil remediation.

Food: In the coming decades, food production and sustainability will be the focus of development, concentrating on how food is produced will be vital if the climate change continues at the current rate, underground farming will become a necessity combating the weather conditions on the surface, packaging will also come under scrutiny, eventually outlawing the use of plastics, with the possibility of returning to paper carriers as an alternative.

Because the human population is set to rise to 9.8 billion by 2084, something has to be done; food sustainability will be a major issue, the more people on the planet, the more food and products will be needed to feed them.

Global standards will be established for organic farming and animal treatment, most produce will be grown and produced locally, cutting down the transportation costs.

Mobility: Travelling in a futuristic city could become more affordable, safer and more convenient due to the level of automated technology and high speed rail services; hopefully there will be fewer vehicles using the roads giving way to more pedestrians if the infrastructure is correct.

The thought of electric cars sounds like a good idea to improve air quality and lower the emissions produced by fossil fuel vehicles, but, and it’s a big but, the infrastructure MUST be perfect before we all ditch our petrol and diesel cars. The charging facilities have to be more widespread, which will reduce the time in waiting whilst the vehicle is charging. At present it takes around 45 minutes per car to be fully charged. If you pull into a station and there is only one charging point, and you are fourth in line, you are going to be there for quite a while, which is impractical.

In some experiments, the electric car amassed more emissions than the conventional cars.

Another aspect of the electric car is what to do with the discarded batteries as they also give off emissions. On a fossil vehicle there is only one battery, on an electric version there are around twelve.

The biggest stumbling block, apart from the charging and battery problems, is the cost of an electric car. A small hatchback can set you back around £ 26,000, which is out of reach for the normal person on the street, so the costs have to be reduced dramatically to attract more buyers.

Countries like Japan have been experimenting with hydrogen in their vehicles for a few years now. This has been achieved by lining all the fuel tanks with a substance called Kevlar, which keeps the hydrogen from igniting if impacted in a collision.

Glasgow Council also tried and tested hydrogen, when they commissioned 12 waste collection lorries in and around the town centre, which seemed to be a success.

“The greatest threat to human existence is our own lack of ability to control our own growth” - WHO

Culture: As technology and engineering becomes more advanced, recreation, arts, computer entertainment, music and virtual reality will be shared globally, bringing densely diverse populated nations and people together, historical heritage will be preserved and celebrated throughout the world amongst all.

Standard of Living: Because the cities will become more populated, the design for accessibility and safety technology will be paramount as more people converge into urban areas. Hopefully residents will have more streamlined access to nature, services and automated technology.

Building and Dwellings: The architectural advancements over the previous years has grown unbelievably, virtually everyday a new material is being used, replacing the more conventional bricks and mortar, take a look at the finished houses on the TV programme Grand Designs and you will see bigger, cleaner, diverse heating systems and glass boxes being built, so much so that the industrial commercial materials are now being used in residential construction, materials like steel is commonplace amongst house builders, albeit making the houses look like libraries, airport lounges or council offices is another matter.

The buildings in the city of the future will not only house residents, but they will pay for themselves by generating heat and storing it, for later use.

The designs will be more directed at pedestrians enjoying leisure time rather than vehicles, giving people more space to enjoy whilst walking.

There is also a delivery design system which is being tested in some buildings, where a drone delivery chute is placed on the top of the roof, with a direct link to the residents abode below, thus stopping deliveries being made at the base of the building, reducing carbon footing, which in todays online shopping trend, will mean less and less delivery vans on the road.

Economy: The economy of the futuristic city must work in tandem with policies that safeguard ecological sustainability; with people adapting to more flexible working hours as artificial intelligence and automation becomes more widespread, meaning more people working from home and the IT industry growing more than ever before.

Another area where constructors are looking at, apart from on the water, is to look underneath it, which will ease the pressure on the land above.

There are proposals to build aquatic cities beneath the waves, that could accommodate people into the latter part of the 21st century, designs like the Water Discus Hotel which is a proposed underwater design based in Dubai, UAE. If completed, the structure will be the largest of its type in the world.

Polish company Deep Ocean Technology (DOT), alongside researchers from the Gdansk University, developed the concept of the design, although not a city as such, the experiment could lead to residential accommodation in the future.

In May 2012, Dubai`s world shipbuilding subsidiary, Drydocks World, signed an agreement with the designers to begin construction of the project, however, drawings and plans have been delayed after a major contractor withdrew from the project due to the resignation of their chairman.

DOT, have also started searching for other potential sites across the globe including Oman, Maldives, Australia, Poland, and the Caribbean.

The designs for the Water Discus Hotel consists of two disc shaped structures, one above the surface of the water, with the other underneath, both resemble saucers and are connected together with a large vertical shaft and stairway.

The upper disc will have a usable area of 1,500 square metres, including a multifunctional lobby, and 3 large swimming pools, of which one will be a seawater pool with glass tunnels.

There are also spaces designated for restaurants, gardens, spa`s, and recreational areas.
The submerged disc, which will be underwater to the depth of 10 metre`s, will provide 21 rooms that can accommodate 2 people per room, and offer large windows that provide the guests with views of the underwater world, showing off the coral reef, sea creatures, flora, fauna and marine life that reside in the Persian Gulf.
Each room will be fitted with special lighting for macro photography and an external robot allowing people to interact with the marine life.
Hopefully several individual discs will be added to the original two, to develop an under/ over water hotel complex that will attract people by the millions.

“ Life Beyond the Stars- Science Fiction or soon to be Science Fact?”

Looking beyond our own planet, there are plans for the first astral hotel planned to open its doors to the rich and famous guests for the first time in 2027, named the Voyager Class Space Station, it will accommodate up to 400 paying guests, and will offer all the usual facilities that you would expect from a top class cruise ship, including restaurants, bars, cinemas, gyms, spa`s, libraries as well as live concert venues.
Guests will travel to the luxurious experience on board a rocket transportation system that is operated by the Space X company.
Similar journeys have and are regularly undertaken to and from the International Space Station,
supplying astronauts and supplies to the complex.
To stay at the hotel, paying guests will have to endure a 15-week training programme, and then succumb to 10 days of space conditions, before embarking on their adventure.
Whilst many of the stations 24 modules will be available to the public, others will be leased or sold to private investors or governments, a portion of the stations facilities will be set aside for staff, air, water and power sources.

Further afield, there are talks continuing about the relocation to Mars, which seems far fetched, but the plans are at an advanced stage with designs and drawings already being submitted by various contractors, one of which are the International Architecture Studio, who have released the first images of how the first city structure and human population will look on the red planet, the project is scheduled for construction in 2054.

The plans for Mars being discussed, include the accommodation for 250,000 inhabitants residing there, with designs to cover all aspects of modern living, including purpose built sports and leisure facilities alongside spectacular green domes that will act as parks for residents and will double up as places to grow experimental vegetation, with most of the food coming from the cultivation of crops that will make up the dietary needs.

With sustainability at the heart of the city, the plans show that the buildings will be vertically built instead of horizontally, limiting the effect of atmospheric pressure and radiation, the latter being deadly without the proper shelter.

Considering the hostile reputation that Mars has through Hollywood, this is certainly a different view of what could be an incredible adventure.

Whether this will be achieved in our lifetimes is another matter, but considering how engineering and technology have evolved on Earth, only a fool would have the courage to dismiss it.

Some of these cities sound like the perfect place to reside; the outer space destinations are an unknown quantity yet to be discovered.

If everyone is working less hours, walking more, using less energy with everything hunky dory, one thought that keeps coming to mind, with all these energy saving and less laboured devices being used due to the rise of artificial intelligence development, where does that leave the ordinary man on the street?

It's okay to have an ecosystem, where all the resources are taken care of, but how do we pay for them, if people are working less hours, or if at all, the better the technology the less there is to do for people to carry out menial tasks.

These cities are incredible visions of what life could be like, but unfortunately everything comes at a cost these days, are they going to be designed for everyone or just the people who can afford them?

Once you lose sight of the ordinary person in the street, you have a problem, no matter what city or metropolis you live in, there will always be a need for someone to carry out the manual tasks that run a city or town, whether you are on the Earth, the Moon or Mars if artificial intelligence removes all the manual labour tasks from the system, how do the people pay for their upkeep and run their households, because looking at the stars and dreaming will not cut it!

Be careful what you wish for!

I've been feeling wishy washy
On this narrow boat of mine
I'm an uneasy Widow Twanky
Cast in a personal pantomime

I have urgent laundry needs
The basket is very full,
But the weather's not looking too favourable
The skies are grey and dull

You can almost guarantee it
As the machine begins to drain
There'll be a few preliminary spots
Followed closely by biblical rain

There are hazards of drying inside
There'll be moisture in the air
But I need to get my washing on
Because I'm short of underwear

There'll be a lot of condensation
On windows, blinds and bungs
Misting up my plastic cratch covers
And settling on my lungs

With dripping knickers and socks
and damp clothing in my face
Every available surface gets used
But there's really not the space

I've a couple of collapsible airers
And folding spider creations
And radiators that I won't turn on
Not keen on steamy inhalations

Towels are a drying nightmare
They don't vaporise as they should
In Winter I put them by the fire
But then they stink of coal and wood

Drying bedding is most unwieldy
Ghostly sheets hang upon the doors
Pillow cases drape like wet bunting
And I can't cope with all the vapours

I could book for a service wash
If I can find a launderette
But I don't air my washing in public
Preferring my soils to stay private

Part of the joy of owning a canal boat is having a floating second home. It is here that you can really go to town with decor.

This is the space to get in touch with your inner eccentric.

A canal boat can be as unique as you are.

Bright colours, everything painted, not so much retro as nineteenth century, capturing the essence of the original boat traders.

Crafts are back as YouTube means that skills are easy to learn and the growth of knit and natter style crafting groups makes it easy to pick more experienced brains (and hands) for tips and advice.

Rag work is great. Charity shops are overflowing with fabric. Coffee shops sell (or even give away) hessian sacks. Rag rugs are easy to make, machine washable, apt for a canal boat and add that little touch of you, your own work, your own style, to your floating home.

With a little forethought you can co-ordinate fabric in patchwork and rugs. Scatter cushions are a good project as they are small enough to complete in a month of evenings.

Beginning a large project like a quilt is best left until you really do have the time to get to the end.

Rugs grow quickly and can be made in an hour here and an hour there.

Bunting is very in at the moment. It’s easy to make and adds a great touch to your boat. Just make a triangle pattern from any old paper. A4 is an ideal size to cut down. An afternoon with a sewing machine is ample to make enough bunting for a boat. After all, the whole point of messing about on a canal is to have fun. Bunting says party. This is what you chose your boat for isn’t it?

If you are interested in making your own rag rugs you may like to check out my YouTube video by clicking on the link below.

The disadvantage is that your friends will soon be asking you to make a rug for them too.

Rag work can also be addictive. You’ll soon find yourself trawling charity shops for interesting fabric. It’s great fun.

River Canal Rescue says a recent callout on the river Severn, where a vessel became grounded upstream after taking the wrong turn at a junction, underlines the importance of knowing what to do if a boat becomes stuck. And with low water levels, sand bank and silt build-ups, debris and weed-filled waterways increasing the risk of grounding, RCR managing director, Stephanie Horton, offers the following advice:

Grounding can occur anywhere if you stray from the middle of the water course, cut a corner to take the shortest route or fail to check water levels before setting off. It’s therefore really important to find out, where possible, the protocols and what’s happening in the area you plan to navigate. Situations will develop all the time, so be aware of the risks around you and be cautious while cruising.

If you run aground, put on a life jacket and put your boat in reverse to see if you can move away from the obstruction. If this doesn’t work, walk around the vessel testing the surrounding water depth with a boat pole. This will pinpoint where the water’s shallower and where the problem is. On rivers you can usually see it - rocks or gravel for example - as the water’s clearer.

If the front of the boat’s grounded, move some of the ballast that may be holding it down. The water tank is always at the front of a narrowboat so turn on the taps to empty it and move heavy items such as gas bottles, the anchor and any chains to the rear – this will give the boat more buoyancy at the front and potentially lift it a vital few inches which may be all it needs to clear itself. Half a ton of water can create a six inch difference. If it does clear, put the boat in reverse.

If the boat’s grounded on one side, it’s a similar scenario; move anything that’s weighing it down in this area to the opposite side. Do this in cautious stages - if you over-balance, the vessel will list and it could end up taking on water.

If there are people onboard, position yourself at the helm and ask the remainder to rock the boat gently; the momentum may move it. If the rear of the boat’s aground and the propeller’s lifted (which is a rare scenario), you’ll probably need a tow.

While it’s tempting to ask a passing boater for a tow, this should only be undertaken by an experienced boater. We’ve had cases where the person towing the vessel has got into trouble and we’ve ended up rescuing two boats. Also, anyone on a hire boat will invalidate their insurance if they try to tow you, so it’s better not to put them in that position in the first place.

If you‘re able to free your vessel, check it thoroughly at the first possible opportunity – particularly the hull – as this could have been damaged.

During the peak season, RCR regularly gives phone assistance to people who have become stuck, and although many callers are then able to move their boats, around 40% require support from a rescue team.

When you’re young and you run away from all that you know, you don’t really get time to think of anything much that is practical. You just go, often to be picked up by concerned and somewhat annoyed family members a few hours later. When I embarked on my waterways adventure I really was at least practical enough to get as many home comforts aboard as I could but I never thought about spring turning to summer and thence to autumn and colder weather.

Much as I love her, Mayfly is just fifteen feet and six inches long, made of rather thin wood, has no heating and very little space. Way back when I was a stroppy teenager though, this was my chosen home as we set off to prove that you could carry cargo (ours being a box of wristwatches) and to sort the situation that made me take the seemingly desperate measure of effectively stowing away on a boat belonging to someone I hardly knew. My parents were, out of necessity, in Spain so there wasn’t anybody around to repossess me as we set off on what a lot of people would see as a fool’s errand.

The weather was kind to us at first but time does move on and the almost imperceptible signs of a turn towards the autumnal started encroaching. Colder mornings, shorter nights, rain and drizzle making just about everything damp. Even my socks went mouldy one day, which could have put me off the lifestyle but didn’t. What I was becoming aware of was the fact that this part of the adventure was finite. I still loved where I was though and kept coming up with seemingly daft ideas, one of which was to keep the cabin warm at night with hot bricks in an old deed box. It worked a bit and we felt like we’d beaten the weather as we watched the leaves turn brown and then fall all over the place.

This may be very picturesque to the photographer or calendar maker but when you are trying to work a lock whilst walking on a surface that feels like it’s been treated with the best quality axle grease, the romance can fade a little. Actually, after the third time you land on your backside whilst working your way up a flight of narrow locks, I can assure you that it fades quite a lot! There’s always a but though and I remember so well the feeling of triumph over adversity as we sailed out of the top lock. We were both well plastered with mud and it was drizzling but it was another obstacle that I’d traversed without any injury, except to my pride!

Frost was a new thing which, when added to the leaves, made life really treacherous but we still plodded on with out little boat and its polished black outboard. If anything, the weather brought out a sort of house proudness that neither of us knew we had. Yes, of course, we were two youngsters travelling around in rather less regulated times, on waterways that the government would have loved to have filled in. We often travelled all day, or days even, without seeing another boat on the move or even a human being.

Mayfly could have been filthy and smelly but she wasn’t. Every bit that was made of brass was burnished until it was so bright it could have been mistaken for gold, the woodwork buffed up with the beeswax polish that I liberated from what had been my home before I was evicted by people that wrongly thought it was theirs. Finally that shiny black outboard was shone up with some very good car wax that we bought during the summer when our funds were in a bit better shape. If I felt any remorse for running away, or lack of enthusiasm for the next day, all I had to do was take a look at this beautiful little varnished clinker cabin cruiser that was little more than a day boat and I felt that all would be well.

We were clueless back then, even to the point of not being sure if the strip of water we were moving along was a canal, a remaindered waterway or (heaven forbid) a cruiseway! We achieved things almost by accident but still we progressed. To say that it changed my life would be understatement. It pretty much blew everything I knew clean out of the water. We were not supposed to be where we were and certainly doomed to failure according to pretty much all prevailing opinion. The fact is that we were both alive, well fed, mostly warm, and progressing. I was aware that the progression would eventually lead to us having to return to what was my home and face the music but that wasn’t for the moment we lived in. We were facing up to the ever worsening weather as well as the tasks we’d set ourselves and we appeared to be slowly winning.

Of course now I’m a lot older, and Mayfly is sitting as beautiful as ever on the water whilst the leaves slowly begin to match her beautifully varnished hull and cabin. I can’t help thinking how absolutely stupid I must have been to even think of setting off on a voyage with a stranger over half a century ago when I was still of school age. Back then though there was an atmosphere that anybody could do anything and big changes were afoot, so I went without a second thought. My reflective mood was set off by a radio program about diaries from various celebrities’ school years and what advice they’d give themselves from today’s standpoint if they could. What would I say to my young self if I was suddenly plonked back over fifty years
to that first day. My answer is nothing at all. I’d do the same again in a shot and I blooming well know it!

weather contributes to a quiet summer and electrical faults

Over the last seven months, River Canal Rescue (RCR) has responded to around 28% fewer callouts than previous years. In 2022, the breakdown and emergency assistance firm responded to 130 major incidents (involving submerged, partially sunken or grounded craft, plus salvage work) and 3411 general call-outs, such as electrical, fuel and engine issues, flat batteries, over-heating and gear box failures.

Managing director, Stephanie Horton, attributes the low numbers to the economic downturn, its impact on finances and the damp weather, which she believes is also behind electrical faults being the top reason for callouts.

“It’s been an odd year with a quiet summer, despite some peak days,” she comments, “and the weather has not helped.”

In general, RCR receives around 500 calls a month asking for help and advice, so below are tips on how to prevent a part failure and what to do if it does:

Electrical Faults

These are mainly caused by lack of attention to electrical connections. Wires coming away or
corroding is a common fault, so visually check and look for loose connections or disconnected wires before your journey, and use a water resistant spray or petroleum jelly to stop damp getting into electrical components like isolators and block connectors.

Overheating

When the cooling system fails, your engine overheats, and if not identified and remedied quickly, it can cause extensive engine damage.

Overheating is caused by a build-up of air in the marine cooling system which eventually causes the coolant flow to stop. To prevent this, periodically bleed the air from the system.

If your engine overheats, feel the top and bottom of the water tank; it should be hot at the top and cool at the bottom. If it isn’t, you have an air lock. To release the air, locate and loosen the bleed screw on your skin tank.

If you don’t have one, or you have a raw water cooled system, run the engine for up to an hour with the expansion tank cap off to allow the air to escape as it travels though the cooling system. If you do attempt this, keep topping up the water as the air creeps out, and do not leave the engine unattended.

If you find a leak on your cooling hose, check if the hose needs replacing as it can become hard or disfigured over time. If the hose is sound, repair the leak and top up the cooling system (bleed as above).

Morse control cables

There’s rarely much warning before this part fails, and when it does it can take you completely by surprise, often resulting in collisions with locks, banks or other vessels. However, there are a few actions you can take to help prevent a failure.

Inspect and ensure the cables are not touching hot surfaces, and are routed so there are no tight bends or kinks. Oil or grease the cable connections, especially if the controller’s exposed to the weather or left for a period of time. If the throttle controller becomes stiff or sticking, it may be a sign a cable failure is imminent.

Always carry a spare cable! The gear and throttle cables are interchangeable, so by having one on board you’ll save yourself time and money. Finally change your cables every five years as they don’t last forever.

Battery failure

The most common types of batteries on the inland waterways are lead acid batteries. With these, you need to regularly check their acid levels and top-up with distilled water when required.

To identify if a battery is deteriorating – which means it needs servicing or changing - look out for bulging on the battery walls and a white crust on the terminals (this indicates the batteries are gassing). You might also need to frequently charge them. Always replace the battery bank completely; it’s a false economy to replace one battery at a time, this will only compromise the new battery life.

So replace the starter bank (usually one battery), the domestic bank (typically three or four batteries) and the bow thruster bank (one or two batteries).

When checking batteries, always remove the lid from the battery box to allow any gases to disperse, and ensure they don’t come into contact with any bare wires, metal zips, watches etc as these can cause a spark and if gasses are present, result in an explosion.

To protect against damp and corrosion, spray the terminals and electrical connections with WD40 or a similar product.

Alternator belts

An alternator drive belt (also known as a fan belt) should be checked and replaced regularly. It has two distinct shapes; a V-belt has small ridge-like teeth and usually drives the starting system, alternator and water pump. A Flat belt is flat with a number of grooves encompassing it and drives the domestic alternator.

To check the belt’s tightness, pinch it between your finger and thumb (approximately half way up the longest point between the pulleys) and push against it. There should be about half an inch of play. Adjust via the tensioner bracket if there’s too much or too little movement.

To check its condition, while belt removal isn’t necessary, it will make the task easier. If checking in situ, pinch the belt between finger and thumb and twist 90 degrees until you can see the inside wall of the belt. If it’s shiny, cracked or has a groove, it’s ready to replace.

The belt size is usually printed on its top side where you should also find its dimensions. A sequence of numbers such as 10x1025, 10x900, 11.5x1000, 13x1200, 1100A, 950B, 1350C, relate to width and length. For example 10x1025, 10=width in mm and 1025=length in mm. The letters A, B and C relate to width, A=10mm B=11.5mm C=13mm.
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Once you’ve been show how, it’s easy to replace a belt.

Engine mounts

Engine mounts are easy to maintain if you know how to look after them. However, they can cause catastrophic damage if they’re adjusted incorrectly or not checked regularly. The engine mount is a rubber shock absorber, and the engine leg, a metal bracket.

It basically comprises a rubber base with a threaded bar through the centre, usually with two or three nuts for adjustment. The engine mount typically bolts to the engine bearer, with the threaded bar extending through a hole into the engine leg.

It’s common to find a single nut under the leg, and either one self-locking nut or two nuts above the leg. The bottom nut is used to set the adjustment height, and the one/two nuts above, lock the mount into place, once the correct adjustment has been set.

Once the mount is fitted, maintenance is easy; check once a month and ensure the bottom nut is tight up against the underside of the leg. If it isn’t, tighten the bottom nut up to the leg. Never touch the top bolt as this will affect the engine alignment. It’s also worth asking an engineer to take a look in the winter to see if they’re worn or if your engine’s out of alignment.

As always, River Canal Rescue engineers are on hand to help 24/7, for boaters requiring assistance.

Many of the places we’ve visited since living on the boat have been new to us, but being moored on the Peak Forest Canal allowed us to revisit somewhere we’ve been to many times when we were caravanners and even before that.

Many years ago, we were staying in a well known B&B in Castleton called the Ramblers Rest and we decided to climb Kinder Scout.

One minute we were following a long line of brightly coloured cagoules ascending the climb, when suddenly the weather ‘came in’ and there was literally no one around us. The rain was coming down so hard and the wind blowing so strongly that the Kinder Downfall waterfall was blowing upwards. The whole area was just a bog and we couldn’t see a thing.

We decided to head down to get our bearings and a Peak Forest Ranger in a Land Rover stopped to ask us where we were staying as we clearly looked lost! He was kind enough to take us back to Castleton where we tried to figure out why we’d got so lost.

Since then, we’ve been back to the Peak District many times and done lots of different walks in different areas. We’ve always loved walking hills and mountains and it felt so nostalgic to be back in Derbyshire after a few years away.

At one point, I said to Rob, ‘I feel really emotional being back here’. To which he replied with his usual empathy, ‘I’d save your energy for the climb if I were you’ 🙄

We caught the train from Strines to Edale and decided to walk up Mam Tor and around the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, when we came down from Mam Tor to continue our walk, Rob informed me we were going the wrong way and needed to go back up!

A couple who’d passed us going up as we were coming down said ‘you’re never going back up again’….words sometimes fail me 😉

All in all, we had a great day, a lovely walk and we’re hoping the CRT keep this canal open beyond July 31st so we can give our boots a few more ‘airings’ 😊