« Crowds at the Crick Boat Show

OverWater Marina stand at the Crick Boat Show »

We had another good day at the Crick Boat show today. We met lots of customers, and received great feedback from those who had already purchased DVDs from us previously.

We also met Adam and Adrian from Debdale and we met Halfie who was kind enough to introduce himself, or we might not have recognised him.

We’re looking forward to meeting even more people tomorrow, before packing up and travelling home for a late finish. Please say hello to us if you’re coming to the show.

« We are ready at the Crick Boat Show

Crick Boat Show »

Today was the first of the three days at the Crick Boat Show. We were very surprised to see how quickly the crowds built up in the morning, making it busier than the afternoon. It seems the rain didn’t put many people off coming.

Here’s a view of the crowds taken from our stand. The gentleman in the light coloured jacked, just left of centre, is Andrew Denny from Granny Buttons. Any suggestions as to what he might be saying.

« Warwickshire Ring DVD

Crowds at the Crick Boat Show »

We packed the car and set off after breakfast for the Crick Boat Show to set up our stand. We were able to park the car right outside the marquee to unload then move it to the exhibitors car park afterwards.

With a short break for a sandwich at lunch time we were almost finished by early afternoon with time to take these photos and look around to see what else was happening as the stands around us in the marquee.

There wasn’t much to see, although there was lots going on outside when everyone was pleased to see the fine weather. I hope that continues throughout the weekend to bring the visitors in.

If you are coming to Crick then please introduce yourselves. It’s nice to meet our mail order customers or blog readers face to face – but please remember to introduce yourselves – you may know us through reading the blog but we have no idea who you are - but we’d like to find out.

We’ll have our full range of DVDs on sale, including our new Warwickshire Ring DVD, with the first copy of that sold to an exhibitor already today.

« Moira Canal Festival

We are ready at the Crick Boat Show »

Our Warwickshire Ring DVDs are ready and we’ll have them on sale at Crick.

They are available in our usual Popular (£12.95), Bowcam (£7.95) and Combined (£19.90) formats.

The DVD follows a cruise clockwise around the ring from Braunston Turn, including visits to the Saltisford Arm and to Coventry.

They will be available mail order as soon as I get a quiet moment to add them to our website.

In the meantime we look forward to meeting our customers and friends at the Crick Boat show over the Bank Holiday weekend. Come and see us in the Kingfisher Marquee, stand KF127.

« We’re going to Crick

Warwickshire Ring DVD »

Saturday felt like the hottest day of the year, and almost too hot to venture out, but it was the weekend for the 10th annual Moira Canal Festival, an opportunity too good to be missed.

Lots of people thought the same too.

Moira is at the northern end of the Ashby Canal on the restored section which is still disconnected from the main canal network. One day it will be reconnected with a new link.

There were lots of activities for visitors during the day including the first person to walk across the Ashby Canal on a tightrope.

We saw the Ashby Canal Association stand and bought an excellent guide from them.

I hope we get good weather for the Crick boat show next weekend where we have a stand for the first time. Please come and say hello if you see us there.

« Rickmansworth Canal Festival

Moira Canal Festival »

One week from now we’ll be on our way to the Crick Boat Show and Waterways Festival, to use it’s full title. The show is held over the Bank Holiday weekend and the Friday is setting up day when we get everything ready.

This is the first time we’ve been to Crick and we’re looking forward to being there. Our stand will be much larger than the one we had at the IWA Festival last year, and shown in this photo.

The show is open on the Sat/Sun/Mon of the Bank Holiday Weekend (29/30/31 May). If you are coming to the festival then please come and say hello and introduce yourself. It will be nice to meet our blog readers and mail order customers in person.

« Bouncing Beginners

We’re going to Crick »

The annual Rickmansworth Canal Festival took place at Batchworth Lock on the Grand Union Canal over the weekend of 15/16 May 2010 with lovely sunshine on the Saturday, although not so good on the Sunday.

Lots of visiting boats were moored in the pound between Batchworth Lock and Stocker’s Lock with many moored three abreast. All were well polished with several adorned with flags and bunting.

There were trade stands set up along the towpath, with several more around Batchworth Locks where there’s an additional lock, to the west of the main lock, enabling access to the River Chess which is navigable (with permission) for a short distance.

« Cotswold Canals on Television

Rickmansworth Canal Festival »

Tony Blews’ wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site site provides lots of fun watching sites wander up and down the tables.

I’ve been logging movements to see what happens and there have been many newcomers to the rankings.

Two of those show typical scores for the first few months. There’s usually an initial peak when you add the code to the pages and you have to visit a few to make sure it works.

Then you have to get a few friends to try it too. And you may be spotted on the rankings by a few others who also visit. Then it gradually drops back to a normal level.

The Hollinwood Canal Society had a great start, probably visited by their members, before dropping back to a steady level.

Baddie the Pirate did very well and was just starting to drop back when, there were two peaks which I guess were caused by mentions on other web sites - perhaps Baddie knows where.

I have records for all the sites since November 2009 so let me know if you’d like to be shown