I did this walk a couple of weeks back ..its Beeston stone lock and its another lovely quiet spot on the Shropshire canal ..
we have the usual lock here with a cottage/house right on the lock side :-)





These are working boats and a lot of people make their living from them still ...



I love the way these guys paint their boats up and take care of them ..it all looks oldy worldy from the outside but most have showers, fitted kitchens and flat panel TVs with internet access ..they are kinda like the tardis when you step inside ..bigger than they look and you have full head room in them too :-)

 

Dammit Jules!!! More great pics that make me feel totally inadequate behind a camera. Thank you very very much!!!

What do one of those boats cost to own or rent? They seem to be like an RV only for the canals. How many interconnected canals are there? Could you conceivably motor around for a week and notpast the same scenery twice?

 

Nice pics. you reminded me, i was going to show you the cottage they are building right down the road and it sure does look out of place here.

 

^^ "Cottage" is an understatement.

 

i know right. The worst part is.... It's one block from the ghetto. LOL. I figure that's why then set it back off the road a little bit. 100's of druggies walk up and down this sidewalk everyday, haha.

 

Joe, that cottage is gorgeous and very similar to the ones all around here only ours are from the 16th and 17th centuries ..I will post them all up soon!! :-)

Thank you for showing me that :-)

Jules

 

Well I took those with an ancient Fuji 6900 3.0 Megapixel camera, one of my first digitals I put back into use since I trashed my Sony V3




Well it depends on new or seconhand or whether working boats like these or the all singing all dancing boat homes that some folk aspire to .. I know you can get a decent narrow boat for £10,000 or I have heard folk spend £50,000 - £90,000 decking out the boat of their dreams .. you can rent holiday boats for a few hundered a week :-) these "narrow boats" or "barges" are predominently for canals ..our country has a whole network of different canals .. I live on the Shropshire canal and you can spend a lovely 4-5 days pootling from Chester to Llangollen by boat .. these canals go for mile and miles, you never have to see the same scenery twice although I have seen the same scenery for years here and never tire of it all :-)

Jules

 

You say these are "working boats" Jules. What work exactly are they doing? Do they just haul passengers around to sight-see along the canals?