Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Television reporter Robert Reid takes a journey on the British Waterways tug Primrose from Avonmouth Docks to Worcester calling at Sharpness and Gloucester Docks in a film made to promote the commercial use of waterways before the age of the container.
My thanks to Hans-Christian Rieck for spotting this one.
Jantje on the Veenvaart canal system
Last weekend see the opening of the Veenvaart, a new canal complex in Holland for use by pleasure boats that includes an important new section built for the purpose.
I think it’s an important example of what can be achieved when vision, imagination and enthusiasm are brought to bear, and frequent Intheboatshed contributor Hans-Christian Riecke has written to tell us about it.
The revitalised canal system is situated between the villages of Ter Apel and Erica in the Dutch province of Drenthe – you can read about the new canal at http://veenvaart.nl if you can manage the Dutch language – but many of us will find the English language brochure helpful.
It took just five years to plan an dig the waterway. Originally the plan was to reactivate the old Scholtenskanaal, but this was not possible because of a new motorway – so project manager Wim Paas and colleagues decided instead to reopen parts of the Osterdiep Canal, dig a new canal to connect it with the Scholtenskanaal, reopen parts of this as well and call the whole thing Veenvaart. The name means ‘bog way’, and the canal route is so named because it cuts through old swamps and bogs in north west Europe.
The idea of the canal is to provide a recreational experience that extends beyond boating: there are foothpaths and cycleways, campsites and pubs, and one stretch of the canal passes through the Veenpark open air museum.
Intheboatshed contributor Hans-Christian Riecke described it this way: ‘It is a fantastic experience. The Graf Ship Association’s sailing barge Jantje was one of the stars of the opening, as it was the second boat passing through the canal and the new locks.’
‘We had a lot of guests on board and meet a lot of great people. There was brilliant sunshine and the inhabitants of the area were celebrating wholeheartedly.’
Graf Ship campaigns to open the canals in North-Western Germany for leisure and other purposes.
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The Oxford Canal at Hillmorton on the eastern edge of Rugby in Warwickshire –
image from the Wikipedia, photographed by G-Man
Ordinary people in the UK are already prevented from using the large majority of our rivers, streams and lakes. And now there’s apparently a threat of the canal system being sold to private owners which will likely mean we’ll have even less access, for unlike many states in Europe and the Americas, ours is a small, crowded country where privately owned also means ‘Keep Out!’.
Needless to say, this must not happen and a new petition on the Prime Minister’s website has given us an important opportunity to show the level of support that exists for our wonderful canal system.
I think this is an important petition – please help protect and extend our inland waters for public use. So please sign here!
PS Read what the British Marine Federation has to say on the subject!