There's more than one thing you can do with an old boat

You can collect it, you can restore it, you can live on it, you can play with it, you can pose about with it.... Or of course you can use it for what it was built for, and you can work it.

I am rather ashamed to admit that when compiling the 'Old Boat' blogroll I focussed very much on the former categories and completely overlooked at least one blog about a working coal boat - Alton, operating on the Peak Forest Canal. In an strange coincidence, I stumbled across their blog yesterday afternoon, doing a sort of random flit down Granny's blogroll, as I sometimes do, and then came home to find that Brian of Alton (and Shirley) had left a comment here ... and only then did the penny drop.

So the omission has been recitifed, and I'm off to see whether any of the other coal boats have their own blogs or websites.

As a postscript to this, when Jim read Brian's comments on Sunday's post, he recognised him as Curly Wyrley who made Warrior's side fenders back in 2005 - which I must say have done sterling service. We've lost a couple I think; one for certain in Doncaster last year - but as we had six to start with and only ever use two at a time (and only after tying up of course), they should last a while longer yet.