Towpath Talk Christmas Shopping

Christmas Gift Guide 49

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Start your Christmas shopping here Treat your boating buddy to a custom-made tiller pin LOOKING for a special something for your boating friend or partner this Christmas?

Why not treat them to a custom-made tiller pin? Ken of Miracle Leisure Products has been hand picking various sizes, shapes and designs of brass castings which have been found at curio and antique shops throughout the Midlands and making these into some great one-off tiller pins.

On the website www.tillerpins.co.uk you will find over 80 various styles

which will cater for every taste, from animals including otters, dogs, swans to teddy bears, miners, boots and boats – and the great thing is when they are shown off around the cut – you will know you are the only person to grace the waterways with your chosen design.

Just some of the range is pictured, with more to be seen on the website or call Ken or Carol Bailey to see if there is something suitable for you on 07767 206246.

Wear your boat on your sleeve – or wherever you want ALTHOUGH Go-Stitch.com only set up shop six months ago, it has already made quite an impression on those who have used its excellent service.

With individual boat owners wanting to recreate a design of their own boat in embroidery and over 200,000 garments available from the Go-Stitch.com website from which to choose, Go-Stitch.com has been able to re-create a digitised image ready for embroidery, often from as little as a photograph.

But it’s not just boat owners who can benefit from this type of service, Go-Stitch.com can create and recreate beautiful embroidered designs for anyone and for any occasion, whether it be for home, office or hobby and whether its associated with boating or not.

Just some of the tiller pin designs from Miracle Leisure Products.

You don't even have to have your clothes embroidered to take advantage of the prices that GoStitch.com can offer on over 100 brands, often at less than you would pay in the shops.

So if you’re looking for ideas for Christmas, looking at branding solutions for your business, club or just yourself personally, take a look at Go-Stitch.com Call Go-Stitch.com now on 01568 613323 or email info@go-stitch.com Go-Stitch.com will be happy to work with you, to bring your plans and designs to life and quote you prices that simply won’t break the bank.

Buy a Pop Pop boat for your bath WHERE else can you get a working steam engine at home for a fiver? Tinplate boats were one of the most popular boys’ toys in the world in the 1930s and 40s (they were 6d in Woolworths in 1938) and it’s great to see them still popular and making a comeback.

The original patent for the ‘water pulse jet engine’ was taken out in the 1890s and the inventor, one Thomas Piot, was a French refugee living in

London. Various other patents, mainly in the US, have led to the present configuration of two boiler feed pipes leading to a slim boiler with a thin diaphragm of brass shim which helps create the ‘pop pop’ sound.

There are 20+ designs plus replacement boilers, spare candles, etc at £5 for a basic model up to £8+ for larger models. Purchasers must be over 14.

A brilliant bathtime for old and young awaits.

W arw ick Top Lock , Low erCape, W arw ick CV34 5D P

Tel: 01 926 4 1 0588

Em ail: alan@ getk notted .co.u k

W eb : w w w .getk notted .co.u k

N o thing T o o B ig o rSm all Ro p e do o r sto p s, av ailable sm all, m edium and large fro m £19 .0 0

Fenderkit, inc luding bo o k £2 5

An ideal bo ating gift c o ntaining C o lin Jo nes’ guide to m aking fenders and all the ro p e yo u need to m ake yo urfirstside fender.

Pop Pop Boats, Homelea, Town Road, Fleggburgh, Norfolk NR29 3AB, tel. 01493 368131 or email for full e-catalogue to be sent to you at keithstrading@btinternet.com

50 Christmas Gift Guide

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Great Gift ideas

Make your model dream a reality HAVE you ever dreamt of owning a model of your own boat?

Whether it is a display model to sit on a shelf or a fully working radio controlled model to cruise on the water alongside your own full size boat, Bespoke Model Boats can make the dream a reality.

“I build models to commission and can replicate any boat from photographs and measurements. Most of my commissions are from private boat owners, although I have built a number of models for boat builders, hire companies and charities to use at exhibitions and fundraising events,” explains John Rawson.

All the models are handcrafted from photos and measurements and are unique in that John will only build a model of a boat once. He has built many models over the years including narrowboats, river and ocean cruisers, yachts, Norfolk wherries and bantam tugs, but can turn his hand to anything.

Customise your boat with a hand-made fender

All the radio controlled model boats are supplied with transmitter, batteries and battery chargers. Additional extras can be added such as tunnel and navigation lights, working horn, interior lights, bowthruster, smoking chimney, sound replication unit for a diesel engine and many more. Models can also be built with a complete or partial interior fit-out.

John’s customers come from all walks of life, from children commissioning a model for their parents, for birthday and Christmas presents for partners or friends to people wanting a working model to use it on the water during a cruise.

Some customers commission a model of their boat prior to selling it.

For further information visit www.bespokemodelboats.moonfruit.com or contact John Rawson on 01636 671010, email bespokemodelboats@msn.com

A knotty solution to those Christmas gift problems.

BOATERS who like to customise their vessels with hand-made touches and DIY fittings will enjoy this boating gift by rope and fender specialists, ‘Get Knotted’.

Their fender-making kit (RRP £25) comprises of a book which guides the reader step-by-step through the fender making process and a supply of rope for the user to make their first side fender.

This nautical gift is sure to please friends or family, enabling them to produce their own truly unique piece of boating equipment using traditional handcrafting methods.

‘Get Knotted’ is a family-run business with 15 years of experience in producing ropes and fendermaking equipment.

Owner Alan Ewins is accredited as a master craftsmen by the Waterways Craft Guild and a member of the Guild of Knot Tyers.

With a rapidly expanding product and knowledge base, a range of ropes and fenders can be supplied by ‘Get Knotted’. They can be produced using either hitched or crowned methods of knotting with either natural fibre or synthetic core.

For further information visit http://www.getknotted.co.uk/

e-canalmapps for all our inland waterways Need to tell the emergency services exactly where you are? ● Running out of fuel or need a pump out? ● Want to find a good pub or restaurant?

The new e-canal apps for smartphones and iPads will answer all these questions. The easy to use inland waterway maps also give you a wealth of additional information, such as moorings, local shops, bus stops, post offices, laundrettes, doctors, vets, accommodation, places to visit, and much more.

The apps don’t need permanent internet connection and are regularly updated – so are ideal for boaters, cyclists and walkers on the move.

You can search for thousands of ●

The radio controlled model boats can even come with a smoking chimney.

points of interest relative to your location and use the quick distance calculator to see how far away they are – so you won’t get fooled by the ‘Good pub, just a short walk’ sign !

The navigable waterways are divided into nine regions (Midlands, The Grand Ring, Norfolk Broads, Wales and the South, North West, North East, East and West of England).

At only £5.99 for each region, e-canalmapps are available from the iTunes app store (for iPhones and iPads) and Google Play (for compatible Android devices). For more information check out www.e-canalmapp.co

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Let ‘LockMaster’ take the strain THE hard work of opening and closing heavy or stiff lock paddles can be less of a back-breaking chore thanks to the ‘LockMaster’ windlass.

An ideal Christmas gift for the lock wheeler on your boat, this solution from Ringmain Technology Ltd fits all the English and Welsh canal locks.

With a ratchet feature which can be used either clockwise or anti-clockwise, the handle can be extended and locked in a straight configuration to give 470mm (18in) offering more purchase to pull or push against.

‘LockMaster’ can be converted to a conventional windlass configuration when lowering the paddle and offers full control.

For more information ring 01962 733766 or email jumel@tiscali.co.uk

New up to date maps from Waterway Routes WATERWAY Routes’ latest releases fill a large gap in the market for up to date maps. The latest three maps cover the River Nene, the Middle Levels and the River Great Ouse and tributaries. Recent research, including cruising along the full length of these

waterways with camera and notebook in hand, ensures these are up to date.

Enlargements for each of the river locks shows the channel and the position of the lock landing stages so there is no doubt about which way to go. Markers show which side of the lock the gate controls are so it’s clear which side to drop the crew off for speed operation.

As with all the Waterway Routes series of Cruising Maps these are available in pdf format for printing at home if you prefer the traditional paper format. Best of all is the Memory-Map (qct) format for use on computers, Android/iPhone/iPad devices which tracks in real-time on GPS enabled devices like sat-nav. The Droitwich Canals maps are still free to download so you can test both versions free of charge.

The maps are available for download from the website or on CD through the post. With Christmas coming the CD version makes an excellent gift idea, perhaps paired with a

DVD from the Popular, Bowcam or Combined range.

Each waterway or cruising ring is available individually, or as a set of England and Wales maps. The Pennine Waterways are being researched now and will be next for release in the series. There’s no need to worry about missing the latest maps by ordering now as cost price updates are available for 12 months after purchase. That’s free for downloads, and just £1 plus postage on CD. After 12 months there’s an 80% discount on upgrading to the latest version – which you won’t get with traditional printed guides.

Towpath Talk readers can claim

10% discount by quoting Code TT516, valid until January 31, 2013.

Have a cut on the cut A SENSATIONAL idea to combine a hair salon and a canalside pub was brewed up following a conversation with Penny, landlady of The Wharf Inn at Fenny Compton.

After many discussions the salon was confirmed and work started with the grand opening due to take place on Friday, December 2.

The event will see the launch of Fox Hair Trend @ The Wharf, a craft fair, prize giveaways, raffles and a ‘through the seasons’ fashion show which will showcase Fox Hair Trends commercial and Avant Garde work.

The day finishes with wreath making for the start of the festive season.

Fox Hair Trend started as a small mobile business in the North Oxfordshire area. “We are obviously now very excited to be going into a brand new salon to meet new clients as well as offering a new service to our existing clientele,” said proprietor Gemma Fox. “Widening not only our hair and beauty treatment availability and relaxation service, we are also expanding our wedding services, photoshoot work, fashion shows and pamper events.”

She continued: “Working with Wella products we pride ourselves on creating professional styles and looks.”

Gemma is hoping to offer canal holiday makers and residents a relaxing environment to come and enjoy a treatment following a day travelling the cut. Once feeling pampered, customers can enjoy a pint and some great pub grub at The Wharf.

For the male guests, the salon’s barber will be offering haircuts and wet shave treatments

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Curl up with a winter warmer from Geoffrey Lewis THERE’S little better on a cold winter’s night than to curl up in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate (or a glass of something stronger) and a good book. And if you are a canal enthusiast, what better than a heart-warming story set on the boats?

The name of Geoffrey Lewis is well known around the waterways for his accurate and sympathetic portrayal of the lives of the working boaters, and his characters have a way of gripping the reader and drawing them into that now-vanished world. So turn off the television for a change, pick up one of his books, and settle down for an evening in the company of Mikey Baker, Jess Carter, or Harry Turner.

The Michael Baker Trilogy is Mr Lewis’ most popular series of books to date, following the fortunes of the ‘Boy off the Bank’ through the Second World War and beyond. We first meet Michael at the age of 10, when he runs away from his dysfunctional family in the bitter weather of January 1940; the stories see him relearn trust and affection among the boaters as he grows up, to become a respected member of the boating community in his own right. And

now the series is threatening to become a real saga, with the publication of a fourth book, Cattle & Sheep & Boats, which covers the years from 1957 to 1987, telling of the gradual change on the canals from trade to leisure. Will Geoffrey Lewis’ trilogy match Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and eventually run to five volumes? We will have to wait and see.

The recent Jess Carter stories were intended for younger readers, focusing much more closely upon the younger characters – but they are proving just as popular among Mr Lewis’ established adult readership. What we might call the Harry Potter syndrome... Jess Carter, like Mikey, is a boy not born to the boats – but a half-caste lad who has suffered continual bullying until he is cast up upon the streets of Birmingham, living rough. The stories are set in the spring and summer of 1939, on the unique tanker narrowboats of Thomas Clayton: In the first book, Jess Carter & the Oil Boat, we gradually learn his story; the second, Jess Carter & the Bolinder, sees him travelling the Grand Union Canal with his new family’s brand-new

motor boat and meeting unexpected excitement along the way. A third title will be published early in 2013.

Starlight is a story all on its own – a novella, set by the Oxford Canal in the summer of 1955 when the Oxford-Banbury length was under real threat of closure, it tells of the growing friendship between an ex-townie boy, Harry, and the local lock-keeper’s son. Against the background of the campaign to keep the canal open, theirs is a friendship whose strength will be tested in dramatic fashion...

In lighter vein, L-Plate Boating offers a collection of amusing anecdotes and observations on the world of modern boating, in collaboration with Tom McManus, another well-known and popular figure around the waterways. And also available from the website at www.sgmpublishing.co.uk are Geoffrey Lewis’ popular DI David Russell crime novels, set in modern-day Northamptonshire.

And if you are an e-book reader, hope is at hand – the first of Geoffrey Lewis’ books will be available electronically very shortly. Check the website again for more information.

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Take a virtual journey along the Tidal Thames THE final part of a Thames trilogy, The Tidal Thames makes the challenging journey from Teddington lock to the Thames Barrier at Woolwich.

This programme on DVD from Cheshire-based VideoActive Ltd is presented by Chris Smith and runs for 65 minutes and would make a great Christmas gift for someone contemplating this trip by narrowboat.

It is full of advice and navigational hints for those who may find themselves out on the tideway for the first time.

There can be no more spectacular and rewarding way to see the capital city than from your own narrowboat on the Thames and the four-camera coverage really gives you the feeling that you’re there sharing the excitement of a trip that puts the crew close to the limit of what a narrowboat can safely do.

Being swept through Tower Bridge at eight knots into a metre high swell is the closest you’ll ever get to a white knuckle ride on a narrowboat.

The London waterfront is steeped in history and packed with sites of interest.

Everything has been researched in great detail in a programme that took just a few hours to film but six months to research and even longer to edit together.

The Tidal Thames from Videoactive’s cruising range of Canal DVDs costs £12.99, delivery free and can be bought online at www.canal-dvds.com, by email toni@videoactive.co.uk or call 01948 780564.

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Follow in the footsteps of The Water Boatman WHETHER you know someone planning a cruise around the Stourport Ring or who prefers to enjoy it from the comfort of their armchair, a four-DVD box set from Becks DVDs would make a welcome gift.

The Water Boatman is Alan Herd whose series of 20 episodes is covered in the four DVDs with a total run time of 439 minutes.

His 74-mile journey takes him through the cities of Birmingham, Worcester and Wolverhampton and on six waterways, including a stretch of the River Severn.

Along the way, Alan catches lifts on a variety of boats and visits boatyards, including one at Alvechurch Marina, and industrial heritage sites such as Bratch Pumping Station, a fine example of great British Victorian engineering.

Becks DVDs is a family run business selling specialist DVDS from a dairy farm on the Cheshire and North Wales border. Having started from humble beginnings in 2000, as trade rapidly grew, it became the basis for a full farm diversification project and has developed into a thriving business alongside the farming enterprise.

The DVD range, which includes 50 canal titles, is intended to provide a wide and varied range of interesting and informative titles and every order is despatched d within 24 hours.

The Water Boatman box set costs £19.99 including free postage and packing. To order call 01948 770665 or visit www.becksdvds.co.uk

To win a four-box set of The Water Boatman, enter our online competition at www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Christmas is coming

Strike the right note with a Cello Traveller TV FOR people who watch TV on the move, whether on board a boat, motorhome or caravan, one of the specialist units from acdctv would make a fantastic present.

The Cello Traveller (available in 19in, 22in and 24in sizes) has outstanding LED backlight technology, high definition picture quality, inbuilt freeview and is built in DVB-S2 tuner allowing you to enjoy HD satellite TV without an extra receiver.

It also incorporates a DVD player, all important HDMI input and SCART inputs, computer monitor in (VGA), audio and RF in, CI compatible slot and USB media centre with media player – allowing playback of your multimedia files.

Power consumption is very important when deciding what electrical equipment to use in a boat and these sets use less than 25 watts for TV and DVD on 12v DC when playing a DVD, this means extra life for your leisure battery.

Sets are supplied with remote control, both power supplies, full instructions, a 12 month manufacturer’s warranty including collection by courier, so no expensive postage costs for you should a problem arise. acdctv has been supplying caravan television and portable satellite systems for many years and has built a solid reputation in the leisure industry using the latest HD technology in all its 12v mobile TVs. It also prides itself on combining the best modern systems with traditional customer service values and offers a UK-based customer helpline and email facilities, backed by a ‘no quibble’ seven day returns policy Delivery is free, guaranteed next working day by Interlink couriers if payment for your 12v TV or accessory is received by 2pm. Visit www.acdctv.co.uk to view the full range, which starts at £229.99 or call 01594 888007.

The 22in screen is the most popular of the three sizes.

Made for taking out and about – the Cello Traveller TV.

Towpath Talk readers can claim

£10 off an acdctv Cello Traveller TV system by quoting TPTG1