New Weekly Serial

[Moonraker]

With your memory, you might forget that you aren't reading this thread until October.

What thread - and what's happening in October?

[Courtenay]

[Rob Houghton]

- and what's happening in October?

That was when you promised to give each of us £100 Nigel...

[Moonraker]

Oh right. You might need to remind me nearer the time.

Maybe we should get back on-topic now, before Tony gets angry. This is a serious topic, after all.

[Nicko]

I have just read the first chapter and must join in the congratulations to Rob. You have certainly captured Enid's style very well.

I must say that I chuckled at Anne's line about a narrowboat key being called a windlass. Kids were certainly more knowledgable back in the 40s!

[Courtenay]

Oh right. You might need to remind me nearer the time.

Don't worry, we will.

Maybe we should get back on-topic now, before Tony gets angry. This is a serious topic, after all.

Oh, but you promised to give Tony £200, didn't you??

Seriously, yes, back on topic — I was also impressed with Anne's knowledge of locks and windlasses! Rob's done a good job of introducing some technical information in a natural way, which Enid herself was expert at doing. If I were reading this story as a child in Australia, I would have had no knowledge at all of canals and locks and so on, so they would certainly need explanation. I remember learning quite a few important things through Enid's stories as a child — most memorably, the first Find-Outers book teaching me what insurance fraud was!

Looking forward to the next instalment tomorrow!

[Rob Houghton]

I have just read the first chapter and must join in the congratulations to Rob. You have certainly captured Enid's style very well.

I must say that I chuckled at Anne's line about a narrowboat key being called a windlass. Kids were certainly more knowledgable back in the 40s!

Of course!

I've often noticed that Enid inserted information this way, without ceremony, so what's good for her is good for me, lol!

Pleased you enjoyed the first chapter and hope you enjoy the rest! .

Although I've lived by a canal all my life and I know a bit about locks and windlasses and towpaths etc I'm no expert, so there aren't too many facts and explanations! Hopefully they aren't really needed, as they don't come into the story that much, and I didn't want the book to be laiden down with too many facts!

[Tony Summerfield]

I have actually been on the Grand Union Canal on a narrowboat holiday and although they are great fun they can also involve a lot of hard work, especially if you come to a 'ladder' of locks (probably not the correct technical description!). It can take all day to get through particularly if there are barges coming in the opposite direction.

Although I went through Birmingham, I did not have the pleasure of seeing a little Rob playing on the towpath, as when I did so he hadn't even been born!

[Rob Houghton]

I used to fish for sticklebacks with a net on the canal towpath near to my house from around 1977/78, aged about 7...

The canal that comes past my house is the Worcester & Birmingham canal, which branches off and becomes the Stratford canal just a few hundred yards away from where I live. The Worcester and Birmingham has one of the longest canal tunnels in the country - 2726 feet long, which starts about 200 yards from where I live.

A ladder of locks is simply called 'a flight'.

There is a famous flight near to where I live - called the Tardebigge Flight - but that has 'only' nine locks in a row!



Here's the some information about the canal that comes past my house -

http://www.canalguide.co.uk/canals/brit ... cester.htm

[Julie2owlsdene]

Another great chapter, Robert. When I saw the title, I immediately thought, I bet that could be gipsy girl Jo again, how wonderful.

But I wasn't completely wrong, was I?

[Rob Houghton]

I really did intend to include gypsy girl Jo...but had to make up a similar character because by then gypsy girl Jo was too 'tame' - lol! . That's why she's very similar! .

[Moonraker]

Caen Hill Locks, near Devizes is a flight of 16 locks. We could always take a look one day, Tony, if you're interested!

[pete9012S]

Just read the second chapter.Most enjoyable.
How did the boats turn around? Did they have special places to turn?

[Rob Houghton]

Thank you, Pete!

Not sure about these days, but I guess when the canals were used by working boats they only turned around at their destinations, at wharfs and turnings etc.

I've witnessed boats on the canal near me attempting to turn. Skilled boaters can just about manage it if their boat isn't too long - others get stuck, wedged across the canal!

[Nick]

Great second chapter, definitely echoes of Jo in there!!