Diesel Declaration

When boaters fill their boat with diesel they have to make a declaration about how much of the fuel will be used for propulsion, as that is taxed at a higher rate than fuel used for domestic use.

That is a legal declaration that says "I declare that [ ]% of the fuel purchased will be used for propelling a private pleasure craft"  Note that is a declaration about what the fuel being put into the tank then will be used for – and NOT what you used the last lot of fuel for.

The HMRC legal page explains what the law says and reading that may give you all the information you need.

Try our fuel duty page if you’d like further information and debate about what a reasonable estimated percentage might be.

It may be different from the advice your mate gives you down at the pub, or even different from what you see others doing, but it might make you better informed to make a more reasonable estimate.

Posted on Monday, 15 March 2010 at 21:14        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Apparent Copyright Theft

I produce DVDs of canals and waterways and sell these to produce a little income to help with my retirement.  It’s not a great income, but it helps.

A sideline, which comes from that hard work, is the production of maps.

These were initially drawn to put on my website and on the cover of the DVD boxes but now form an additional source of income by drawing maps for others for a small fee.

Occasionally I am asked if someone can use one of my maps and I usually grant permission for personal use in return for a link to show Waterway Routes as the source.

I record a continuous GPS trace as we cruise along the canals each day and theses are used as the basis for the maps I draw.  They are supplemented by research trips on foot or bike, also recording GPS traces. I do not take materials from maps produced by others without their permission as that would be copyright theft.

That’s fine, so far.

Look at the two maps shown here.  The first (red) map is the one I carefully produced for our BCN DVDs.  The base for this map was our own GPS traces from when we filmed the BCN and cruised all of the routes.  The map was then distorted slightly, so that the loops and routes of the BCN could be fitted into the small map.  That distortion means the map is no longer exactly to scale but it does show things more clearly and – most importantly – means the map is unique.

Now look at the second (blue) map which is taken from another canal blog.  If you click on the maps to enlarge them next to each other you will see the canals are identical.  The bloggers have taken the map from our website, or scanned it from the cover of a DVD, and coloured it blue.  That appears to be a clear theft of copyright material.

Just to make it worse they have added "(c) <Blogname> 2010" on top of my map and claimed it as theirs.  Elsewhere on the page there are links to other sources of information they have used in the post but no mention of Waterway Routes.

The bloggers appear to have used one of my maps without asking.  They have not provided any credit to Waterway Routes as the source and they have claimed the copyright themselves.  You cannot scan one of my maps, extract the BCN trace, re-colour it blue, add you own copyright notice and publish it by mistake.  It’s not like accidently clicking on the wrong button somewhere – it’s several deliberate acts.

The last time I dealt with a breach of copyright I agreed that the guilty party would stop using the copyright material and make a donation of several hundred pounds to a relevant charity.

I make the same offer to these bloggers and suggest the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society (BCNS) would be the best organisation to receive the money.  If these bloggers immediately remove all of my copyright material from their blog and website and make a substantial donation to the BCNS on behalf of Waterway Routes then I will not pursue this any further.

Why have they done this?  I don’t know why they have taken material I am using to supply a little income for my pension – I can only guess.

Perhaps they have no respect for the hard work of others and want to claim it themselves.  Or perhaps they are desperate to boost their hit rate on Tony Blews’ great UK Waterways Ranking Site.  If you browse around their site there are more images which appear to have come from other web sites and have also been claimed as (c) <Blogname>.  I hope they have permission for all those others from the copyright owners.

If anyone else wishes to use any of my copyright material for personal use then please ask and I am very likely to grant permission in return for a suitable mention and link to our website.  For commercial use we may charge a small, competitive fee.

Note:  Since the bloggers have now removed my copyright material from their blog I have edited this post since first publication to make them anonymous.  I hope they will also remove any other copyright material on their blog they have taken from others without permission.

Posted on Tuesday, 9 March 2010 at 22:10        Comments (4)

Category(s): News

The ups and downs of life

A little over 12 months ago, Tony Blews created the wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site (UKWRS) and it’s Tony’s hard work that has created the source data for this blog.  Tony has kindly granted me permission to use the data.  Thank you.

Any web site related to UK waterways can sign up and the visits to the web site are counted and the scores can be seen on the UKWRS site and the ranking displayed in a logo on the individual site.

You can see our own logo and ranking below the main menu on the left (above the comments).

I started logging the scores each day when I thought I might have a problem with my own web site towards the end of last year.

My own webstats were falling day after day and I couldn’t tell if I had a problem with my website and, perhaps, my ISP or if that was the normal seasonal fall towards the end of the year when there are less visitors.

Logging the scores from other websites soon put my mind at ease when I realised that my fall in scores was no different to all the other great sites which were falling in a similar way.

Graph 1 shows the top 15 sites and their scores on the UKWRS site for the last four months.  I’ve split these into groups of five to make them easier to see in the next three graphs.

Graph 2 shows the top 5 sites where their movements can be seen a little easier.

Jim Shead and Pennine Waterways (the blue and green lines) have a very similar shape, falling to a minimum around Christmas.  The Just Canals Forum had a great peak during the snow in January – perhaps a lot of people were "working at home" during the snow.

Graph 3 shows the sites ranked 6-10 and shows the time when Sue on No Problem seems to have had difficulties with changing web addresses (and I think there’s another change to come yet).

Graph 4 includes our own Waterway Routes score, which seems to go up and down more than some others.  I think this is because our visitors often browse a lot of pages and a few extra (or a few less) visitors can make a big difference to the score.

Look at Alacrity’s score shooting up.  I wonder what caused that and if it can be sustained.

Graph 5 shows UKWRS own scores.  It may not be the highest scoring but it’s one of my favourites.  It’s great for a little friendly rivalry.  I hope nobody is taking this too seriously.

My records cover all sites on the UKWRS site since 8 November 2009 and I plan to keep recording them.  There’s lots of different ways to present the statistics and I hope to produce occasional blogs like this to show the information.  If you have any ideas, or requests so see your own statistics then please leave me a comment.

Posted on Sunday, 7 March 2010 at 11:42        Comments (0)

Category(s): UKWRS

Selly Oak Aqueduct

A new road is being constructed to relieve congestion in the centre of Selly Oak and this will pass under the canal at a new aqueduct.

To allow construction of the aqueduct the canal has been diverted into a new parallel channel a little to the west of the original alignment and very close to the railway.

The first picture shows the approach from the Birmingham side, then the start of the diversion channel offset to the right.

The channel is just one boat wide and takes a sharp turn to the left to rejoin the original alignment at the end of the diversion, before passing under a temporary contractors lifting bridge.

Looking back from the southern end the diversion is offset to the left and is preceded with warning signs for boaters.

Looking north, from the southern end, the approach starts with the temporary contractors lifting bridge before reaching the diversion.

Posted on Saturday, 6 March 2010 at 22:10        Comments (0)

Category(s): Worcester & Birmingham

Beat the Royal Mail postage increases

Postage prices are going up on 6th April 2010.

The increases are significant, with the cost of a stamp for posting a DVD rising to 96p (from 78p this time last year) within the UK and even more for posting to Europe and the Rest of the World.

The cost of a regular first class stamp goes up from 39p to 41p.

Order by 5th April from our full range of DVDs and you’ll benefit from the lower postage rates.

Posted on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 08:03        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

IWA Sales stock our Popular DVDs

Last week I dispatched a large box of DVDs to the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) Sales Office.

This week you can see them on their web pages ready for sale.

They have all our Popular range of Canal DVDs, including our very latest – the Cheshire Ring.

If you are looking for our DVDs then this is an alternative source, where you can also purchase lots of other canal related goodies.

Posted on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 at 18:03        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

New Blog Address

We have new address for our blog and feed.

When we first started blogging we used a temporary address, because our ISP did not support the blogging software at the main address.

Now, a recent change of ISP has allowed us to use more sensible addresses which are

Blog = www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/blog

Feed = www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/blog/feed

If you are using the old addresses including "balmeradsl" or "feedburner" then please change your bookmarks and any saved links to the new ones.

We will continue to run both in parallel for a while, but the old ones will eventually stop working so, when you get a quiet moment, please update your bookmarks.

Posted on Saturday, 20 February 2010 at 17:12        Comments (0)

Category(s): Blogging , News

Matilda Rose comes to Birmingham

I’ve been exchanging emails with Jill and Graham on Matilda Rose as they headed towards Birmingham.

With careful timing I was able to spend the night on board our own boat at Sherborne Wharf after helping Gypsy Rover and Uccello climb the Hatton flight the previous day.

Christine came up from Bristol on the train and we headed for Aston Station and the bottom lock of the Aston Flight.

It was great to meet Jill and Graham and help them work their way into Birmingham and they had hot soup and fresh bread waiting for us when we moored at the top after completing 27 lock miles in 3 hours.  We managed to gossip about all sorts as we made our way along.

After lunch we gave Jill and Graham a trip on our boat to enjoy the silence of electric cruising around the Icknield Port Loop.  Jill is smiling as she discovers how much easier it is to steer a boat when you can see the front – and that’s not just because it’s a few feet shorter.

We used our journey to ferry four bags of coal from Sherborne Wharf to their boat at the same time.

Hopefully they will enjoy Birmingham and have time to sample at least some of the delights of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) and to see the rest on our BCN DVDs.

Posted on Sunday, 7 February 2010 at 15:19        Comments (1)

Category(s): BCN , Birmingham & Fazeley , Bloggers , Blogging

Hatton again

Thursday was another Hatton day.  This time to help Derek & Dot on Gypsy Rover and Derek & Carrie on Uccello climb the locks.  Arriving at Warwick Parkway station at 09:20 it was just a few minutes walk to the waiting cup of coffee on Gypsy Rover.

It was still raining, so we decided to wait and I spent the time updating Dot & Derek on where to go around the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

By 11:30 the rain had stopped and we were heading up the flight.  Gypsy Rover leading the way most of the time, with Uccello close behind.

I think I’ve more photos of Dot steering other peoples boats than steering Gypsy Rover.

A quick fill up with water at the top, then on to Hatton to moor close to the station.

I was plied with sticky buns and carrot cake from the two boats, with plenty of coffee.

I spent the following night on our own boat in Birmingham before more locks the following day.

Posted on Saturday, 6 February 2010 at 13:27        Comments (2)

Category(s): Birmingham Section , Blog Readers , Bloggers , Blogging , Grand Union

Helpless Caxton

Sitting at home during the winter months I sometimes watch the progress of other Bloggers, then appear with a windlass to help them through the longer flights of locks..

I left a comment on Caxton’s blog to offer my help with the Aston and Farmers Bridge locks when they said they were coming to Birmingham.  But they cheated and sneaked round the edge without doing Birmingham properly to head south on the Grand Union Canal.

Then they blogged to say they were "knackered of Knowle" having done just the first five broad locks.

They also blogged that they would be doing Hatton on Friday so I hopped onto a train on Friday and walked up the flight, expecting to meet them near the top as they came down.

There was no sign of them at the top, so I had a coffee in the cafe, then left a comment on their blog, the only way I had to contact them, to ask where they were.  Lesley phoned a few minutes later to say they had given up near Bridge 63.

Later I walked past their boat and, as they weren’t on board, I lifted the corner of the rear cover to leave a copy of our BCN DVD on the seat so they can see what they missed.

I had a great day out with lots of exercise and I don’t mind them changing their plans – they didn’t know I was coming – but that makes them "very kkkkknackered of Hatton" with no extra help.

Posted on Sunday, 31 January 2010 at 10:53        Comments (1)

Category(s): Bloggers

Moving Hosts

We are moving our main website, www.waterwayroutes.co.uk between hosting companies.  This should be a seamless transfer with no down time – but we all know what the real world is like.

We have already moved the alternative address www.waterwaywalks.co.uk to the new hosts so please use that if you have problems.

They both access the same content and the page structure is exactly the same so you can edit the address bar in your browser to change "routes" to
"walks" if you get desperate.

Otherwise, please be patient and try again later.

Posted on Tuesday, 26 January 2010 at 14:17        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Cheshire Ring

Another great pair of canal DVDs are released from Waterway Routes covering the Cheshire Ring.

We travel clockwise from Hardings Wood Junction, first passing under the Poole Aqueduct as we descend the locks of Heartbreak Hill to reach Middlewich Junction.

We meet our first broad lock as we leave Middlewich before our long, lock-free section to Manchester, interrupted only by the stop lock at Dutton.  We divert to visit Runcorn and again to cross the Barton Swing Aqueduct to visit Leigh.

The Rochdale Nine Locks start our climb, which continues with the eighteen of the Ashton Canal and the sixteen of the Marple Flight to reach the upper Peak Forest Canal where we continue to Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth Basins to take in the splendid views.

Our return is along the Macclesfield Canal, descending the Bosley Locks

These are 1 hour DVDs retailing at £12.95 for the Popular version (rather like a television programme) and £7.95 for the Bowcam version (a speeded up forward facing camera for a little fun).

There’s also a Combined version at £19.90, with both Popular and Bowcam in one box saving £1 on the separate prices (and at least 75p postage).

They are in stock now, just waiting for you to order them, or any from our great range of canal DVDs.

Posted on Friday, 22 January 2010 at 12:24        Comments (2)

Category(s): Ashton , Bridgewater , Cheshire , Macclesfield , Peak Forest , Rochdale , Trent & Mersey

Ice Breaker

With the snow and ice melting almost everywhere these scenes will soon be a thing of the past.

With many of the canals completely frozen, and some of them several inches thick there haven’t been many places with boats moving anywhere.

The centre of Birmingham has been no different, with just one exception.  One of the trip boats has been making daily excursions from its base on the Oozells Street Loop to Gas Street Basin and back.  But why?

George, the Floating Coffee Shop, is run by Sherborne Wharf and it need to be supplied with water from time to time, and to visit Sherborne Wharf occasionally for diesel and pump out.

The only way to be sure of access is to break the ice daily with a return journey by the trip boat.  If they missed any day it would soon freeze too thick to get through when you needed to.  The trip boats are being lifted out for blacking in the next few days so ice damage to them isn’t a worry.

Posted on Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 19:24        Comments (2)

Category(s): BCN

Let sleeping geese lie

With the canal frozen, what can the Canada Geese do?

With most of the canal through Birmingham (and much of the country) frozen over there’s not much you can do if you’re a Canada Goose.

Around here it’s 2 inches (5 cm) thick and there are a few silly humans who have tried walking on it but the Canada Geese just slide around like we do and don’s seem to enjoy it.

There are a few thin bits where the ice has been kept thin by one of the Sherborne Wharf trip boats moving each day to ensure they can still reach George, the floating coffee shop, with supplies.

So, this morning the geese were unusually quiet, with their heads tucked under their wings and just sitting on the ice.

They must have a good layer of insulation in their feathers.  I don’t think I’d like to sleep like that for very long.

Posted on Friday, 8 January 2010 at 16:06        Comments (0)

Category(s): BCN

Snow on the canals

With snow all around the country we just have to follow everyone’s examples and post our own pictures of the snow, just in case you haven’t seen enough.  After all, our readers from New Zealand and Australia won’t be having weather like this at the moment.

The frozen Rochdale Canal in Manchester, and the BCN in Birmingham and at Sherborne Wharf.  There’s more pictures in the photo gallery for January 2010.

Posted on Thursday, 7 January 2010 at 11:11        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats 2010 Map

During the summer I produced the maps for Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats to include in their brochure, showing each individual cruise.  For printing these were limited to just two shades (plus the white background).

I knew it would be helpful to produce a version showing all their routes for 2010 on one map, but this would need careful work – and the use of colour.

Just before Christmas I used a couple of long train journeys to produce this map, which shows all their cruises.  It works well on the website, with hyperlinks to individual pages giving details of each cruise.

Click to see the full sized version, and try out the hyperlinks.

We can produce custom maps for your brochures or websites and we can tailor maps to suit your needs and to match your house style and colours.  Just ask us.

We passed Canal Voyagers boats, Snipe and Taurus, on the River Severn last summer as we headed upstream.  They were breasted up and heading downstream towards Tewkesbury.

They provide a great, friendly, service on their boats where you can help work the boats through the locks, or just sit back and watch the countryside pass by in style.  Email or call them (+44 (0) 7921 214 414) for further information.

Posted on Wednesday, 30 December 2009 at 20:05        Comments (1)

Category(s): Hotel Boats

Thank You

Thank you to all our customers, friends and family for your support throughout the year.

We’ve had lots of fun producing DVDs and posting them out before Christmas.  I do hope they’ve all arrived – nobody has said they haven’t.

We’ve enjoyed meeting you all too, while we’re out cruising and filming, at exhibitions, or elsewhere.

Posted on Thursday, 24 December 2009 at 08:52        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Epiphany goes up in the world

I’d arranged to help John and Fi on Epiphany climb the locks towards Birmingham and the BCN last week.

I stayed on our own boat at Sherborne Wharf the night before and caught the train to Stourbridge Town to meet then moored near the end of the Stourbridge Town Arm.

John was just opening the rear doors as I was approaching with the camera.

Unfortunately Fi wasn’t too well and was unable to help but John and I made good progress up the Stourbridge Sixteen and the Delph locks.

Twenty four locks in around five hours with two crew and help part way from Stephen it was exceptionally good going – some would say motorway mode.  Every lock was empty and I didn’t need to raise any of the bottom paddles so that saved a lot of time.

Unfortunately Fi didn’t see much of the journey but you can read more on their own blog.

Posted on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 at 22:41        Comments (3)

Category(s): Bloggers , Stourbridge

Christmas Presents (and holiday planning)

Christmas is not far away and if your stuck for a idea for a present then look no further than our great selection of DVDs.

There’s still time to order them for UK delivery and we post them first class so you get them quickly.

They are good for holiday planning too, ready for next summer’s cruise.

So, whether you are considering a gift for someone else, a treat for yourself, or planning next year’s holiday then look at our our full range of DVDs.

Posted on Monday, 14 December 2009 at 10:39        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Selly Oak Aqueduct

One reason the stop gates were being maintained in the last blog was probably because of the new work at Selly Oak, just a few hundred meters away.

A new bypass is being constructed and will pass under the canal and railway, requiring a new bridge for the railway and a new aqueduct for the canal.

The canal will be temporarily slued onto a new cut closer to the railway (where the diggers are) while the aqueduct is being constructed.

When it’s finished it will be put back onto its original alignment passing over the new aqueduct.

With the pound stretching to Tardebigge and Lapworth in one direction, and to Tipton and Parkhead in the other there’s an awful lot of water to flood Selly Oak with if something should go wrong so it’s a good idea to check the stop gates.

I’m puzzled by the carefully prepared towpath diversion around nothing – yet !  I wonder what’s going to be there.

Posted on Friday, 11 December 2009 at 21:29        Comments (0)

Category(s): Worcester & Birmingham

Stopgates

There are stopgates positioned under bridge 82 on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, between Edgbaston and Selly Oak.  Most of the time they are folded back, out of the way an nobody notices them as they steer through the bridge.

Most of the time they serve no purpose – they are there just in case.  In the event of a breach in the canal they can be closed very quickly to stop the flow of water and minimise the length of canal which is drained.

They work rather like lock gates, and look rather like them and, just like lock gates they need maintenance and occasional replacement.

Here, stop planks have been used to form a dam each side of the bridge and the water has been pumped out to allow full access to the gates.  Normally all we see, even if we are looking, is just the very top sticking out of the water.

These new gates have been made to measure as each set are unique to their location.

Unfortunately, drawings of what was built hundreds of years ago don’t always match what you find then you drain the water out and there’s a little head scratching going on here.  I’m sure it will all be fitting well before too long, but, unless there is a breach, nobody will even know they’ve been here in a few weeks time.

This is one of the longest pounds in the country, permitting one of the longest lock free cruises so there would be a lot of water to drain if it wasn’t controlled somehow.

The winter stoppage season is a good time to do these works and there’s a particular reason for working on these gates now and making sure they work – but you’ll have to wait until the next blog post for that.

Just alongside were the workboats used to bring the materials to site and to take away any scrap material and spoil afterwards.

By putting the stop planks close to the gates the digger can reach over to help when required.

Posted on Sunday, 6 December 2009 at 22:36        Comments (0)

Category(s): Worcester & Birmingham

Finding our DVDs

 

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Posted on Saturday, 28 November 2009 at 12:57        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Latest Ordering Dates for Christmas

It’s 25th November and Christmas is just one month away on 25th December.

More importantly the latest posting dates for Christmas are even less than one month away.

The latest ordering date for our customers in Australia and New Zealand is just one week away.

We have a great range of Canal DVDs for Christmas Presents and we have plenty of stock of them all.

The latest dates for ordering for delivery before Christmas are:-

Thursday 18th December for UK

Wednesday 10th December for Western Europe

Monday 8th December for Eastern Europe, Japan, USA and Canada

Wednesday 3rd December for everywhere else.

If you order later than these dates we will still dispatch promptly but it is unlikely the order will arrive in time for Christmas.

Posted on Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 10:20        Comments (0)

Category(s): News

Caldon Canal DVDs released

Another great pair of canal DVDs are released from Waterway Routes in time for Christmas.

The Caldon Canal, considered by some to be the most scenic of canals, is cruised from Etruria Junction to Froghall where you can see if our boat fitted through the low profile of Froghall Tunnel or if we had to complete our journey on foot.

We also cruise along the Leek Branch, something that’s temporarily impossible after the breach earlier this month.  It’s a good job we filmed in September while it was still open.

Now these DVDs are the only way you can reach the terminus of the Leek Branch with a boat.

These are 1/2 hour DVDs retailing at £9.95 for the Popular version (rather like a television programme) and £5.95 for the Bowcam version (a speeded up forward facing camera for a little fun).

There’s also a Combined version at £14.90, with both Popular and Bowcam in one box saving £1 on the separate prices (and at least 75p postage).

They are in stock now, just waiting for you to order them, or any from our great range of canal DVDs.

Posted on Sunday, 22 November 2009 at 23:00        Comments (0)

Category(s): Caldon , News

Small Bridge Signs

For some time the bridges around the centre of Birmingham have had temporary signs stuck on them.  Mostly encapsulated paper ones but large enough to read and adequate for a sign that wasn’t to last long.

It’s important that bridges and other landmarks are clearly identified so that boaters can easily report problems and they are logged with the emergency services so they can quickly identify the scene of an incident.

On my last trip to Birmingham I was pleased to see the temporary signs had been replaced by permanent ones, but very disappointed at how small they were.

They are far too small to be read by a boater needing to report a problem, and impossible to see there’s a sign there from the opposite towpath.

Just look at the lower picture, it’s not the sign on the bridge (which is the makers plate) nor the white sign at each end for walkers but set back on the right hand pillar.

Posted on Tuesday, 17 November 2009 at 12:41        Comments (0)

Category(s): BCN