Great Canal Journeys

Giblets said:
I suspect either of them will be totally devastated when the other falls off the twig.

I was amazed in the Scottish episode that there were no other boats about whilst they were underway. I wonder if the crew had all other traffic halted during filming.
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That was a busy day around where we sail!! We like to keep it that way but with all this meeja attention may be a problem. Recently we've had Three Men in A Boat, Penelope Keith, someone from STV, Scotland Revealed (we were on that one) and now Tim and Pru.
 
Robert Wilson said:
Agreed, loads of continuity and editing mistakes, and of course the unforgivable heather/weed gaff,

BUT,

as a travelogue, a showcase for unbeatable scenery and a whimsical voyage through old age it should be forgiven for the errors.
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That's my view of it, I like it, I compare it to a pair of old slippers, comfortable and not too demanding.
 
Giblets said:
Both I and the good lady wife commented on that at the time. Still poor Pru does have a "slight condition" so we overlooked it.
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And he tells us at every opportunity . I dunno whether he is a miserable b*gger but he certainly looks it !
 
parsifal said:
Thanks a bundle!

I haven't watched it yet but now you've completely ruined my enjoyment of it :disgust:

Next you'll be telling us Turner's painting of The Fighting Temeraire shows her heading in the wrong direction!
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Nope sunset was in wrong direction
 
Aja said:
Ruined for me by poor editing. VIC 32 approaching Bellanoch Bride from Crinan then next shot heading back towards the basin. Next shot shows the puffer heading from lock 14 to Bellanoch. Very confusing and more mistakes before and after.

Donald
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I watched it last night and thought it looked like something cobbled together in a rather lazy exercise from bits of video without any consideration of continuity or context. There were many instances of dialog not matching video and navigation being all at sea. It may not have been as apparent to viewers who do not know the area, but given (for example) that maps were shown to clarify where they were and where they were going, having the crew pointing to "mainland" to port as they were supposed to be travelling north up the sound of Jura, was a bit of an obvious mistake.

Apart from that, I enjoyed it and wish that I had seen the earlier episodes in the series. No doubt they will be on some "on-demand" service but since my "smart" TV ceased to accept I-Player, I have not managed to access any of such new-fangled stuff.
 
pagoda said:
VIC 32 is not a "true canal puffer" but the sea going outside boat design. Exhaust from the low pressure cylinder goes to the condenser to recover fresh water, as the sea boats could not afford to dump exhaust steam up the funnel.
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As far as I am aware, most puffers, including canal boats, were condensing. It's not just a matter of fresh water supply - it's that extra 15psi across the piston which you get for nothing with a condenser.

What distinguished canal puffers was size: inside boats were shorter (66') so they could use the Forth and Clyde Canal while outside boats were 88' long which excluded them from the F&C but meant they could use the Crinan Canal. Some authors distinguish inside boats (F&C only) from shorehead boats (F&C plus Firths of F & C) but I don't think that's a universally agreed distinction.
 
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savageseadog said:
I find it sad that two elderly people who we knew when they were in their prime are playing out the end of their lives on TV
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I think it's nice that the BBC is not in this instance pretending that men (except Bruce Forsyth) vanish at 50 and that women (except Mary Berry) vanish at 35 or when they reach a dress size of 12, whichever comes first.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I think it's nice that the BBC is not in this instance pretending that men (except Bruce Forsyth) vanish at 50 and that women (except Mary Berry) vanish at 35 or when they reach a dress size of 12, whichever comes first.
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Certainly not.... the canal programme is on Channel 4.
 
The thread's a couple of months old but I've only just watched the Caledonian Canal and Crinan Canal episodes.

I enjoyed both ..... but what is the story behind this boat which was stranded just by Invergarry Castle. It featured in the Caledonian episode but nobody commented on its demise.

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Richard
 
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Looks like an old Scottish fishing boat. One like that used to lie on a mooring in Loch Lochy, just outside the locks at Laggan. Could be the same one.
 
NormanS said:
Looks like an old Scottish fishing boat. One like that used to lie on a mooring in Loch Lochy, just outside the locks at Laggan. Could be the same one.
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The red fishing boat on the Loch mooring was looking spruce and serviceable the last time I saw it, about 2015.
The other big Laggan boat was brought up via the Clyde to serve as an accommodation/hostel boat by the people who were running the 'Eagle?' pub at that time, or that was what they told me when they transited the Crinan, last time I went past she was still there, just behind the barge but quite decrepit.
The boat at Invergarry was afloat there for many years, about 12 years ago someone seemed to be working on it and it was shrouded in a mixture of covers which have gradually blown away before she eventually sank. The Cally is full of 'dream' boats like this particularly in the Lochs where there are no charges. One successful outcome seems to be the fishing boat with the big rig which was being worked at at Gairlochy lower, it was moved to Banavie looking seaworthy though I am not sure if she is entirely finished yet?
 
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