Narrowboats turn Ice Breakers on the cut..

Cruising Shropshire Union and Staffs and Worcs Canals

It’s all over, it’s cold.. from Gypsy Rover on the Grand Union..

“At times we were pushing sheets of ice as big as the boat ahead of us and other times we were unable to steer as the ice just pushed us sideways unless we hit it head on and smashed it.”

and Moore2Life breaking ice on the Oxford North..

“During breakfast a few swans were breaking the ice by trying to walk up on to it. We threw out some bread to encourage them. Then later a couple of boats came crunching by. We set off following the path of broken ice.”

And us too on the Shroppie, we pulled the pins this morning amid a white scene, but the canal remained unfrozen as it had done over the last few days ..

This is one of those pics that you often see in ‘what is this?’ competitions..

Well it is the top of a yule log!..It should last ‘till Christmas as long as the weather doesn’t get any colder!

The tops of the logs on No Problem’s roof were an amazing sight this morning.. nature sure does do a wonderful job.

But we hadn’t gone far when we met ice, and No Problem turned into an ice breaker just like others all over the country.  I would not have moved today through that lot, but we have a meeting on Thursday of next week on the Staffs and Worcs canal, and that means cruising for the next few days.

Although we were lucky today filling out tank for the last time this year at just 51.9p a litre, I have noticed the price of red diesel creeping up and up over the last six months, and see that Chas of NB Moore2Life has had to fork out a hefty 63p a litre recently.  Chas has evidence of red diesel retailers actually thinking of pulling out of selling to boats too ..

“..we stopped to fill up with diesel. T. F. Yates was charging 63 p a litre which is less than Rose Narrowboats but more than the supply boat Gosty Hill. Seems that if you can get it for less than 60 p you are lucky these days. Mr Yates was thinking about packing up next year when diesel is set to jump up to ‘road prices’. Claiming that many boaters will get their fuel from the likes of Tesco in containers and pour it into their tanks. I do not want to think about the environmental damage that could occur when it spills into the waterways.”

I have to agree with Chas, and where, anyway, would people store these containers I wonder? Lucky for us today then Chas .. 51.9p is around the same price as we paid in December 2006, and even December 2005 was only a few pence cheaper at 47p.  I doubt we will get our diesel at 51.9 ever again!