Table of Contents
A Bit About Narrowboat Batteries
A Bit About Narrowboat Batteries
A Bit About Narrowboat Batteries
So, as I sit down to write this post about narrowboat batteries, the sun has just started to peep above the tree-lined horizon.
My home town (Mirfield) is just about in the centre of England, from east to west. Yorkshire is a great place to sell boat batteries because it is a web of canals and rivers that flow through our valleys.
Similar to the majority of canals, Irish immigrants worked in Yorkshire to construct them during the reign of Queen Victoria. Indeed, this is where the name given to them as “Navies” comes from. because they were employed to build the new UK “Navigation System”.
This was seen as a great way to ship goods across the length and breadth of the UK. However, the advancing railways quickly outperformed this strategy. Of course, trains go much faster than a “horse-drawn” canal boat.
First engines: A Bit About Narrowboat Batteries
Eventually, the boats were fitted with diesel engines towards the end of the century. However, this did not really help to salvage the demise of canal traffic. Steam trains and now road traffic in the form of trucks are quickly taking over the canals.
These engines were at first “hand-cranked,” but the canals were by then beginning to fall into disrepair at the hands of rail and road traffic.
Many canals required constant maintenance and, without the will or the way, were closed or indeed filled in because of the danger to the public.
Pleasure boats arrived
So, after the two “World Wars,” Britain needed re-building. The canals that were still open and working started to gain a second life. Coal was once again becoming the king of the second industrial revolution. The great coal fields of Yorkshire were moving coal from the pits to the newly built “PowerStation’s”.
These were large craft powered by diesel engines
with a commercial battery bank to start them and supply electricity to the boat’s crew. Many of the boat owners actually lived on board, as some journeys could take a long time. This made it essential for them to live on their boats.
Many inns and taverns were opened at the sides of canals to quench the thirst of these hard-working boatmen. Indeed, these can still be seen to this day. Our canal-side pub is indeed called “The navigation”. This is the time to serve drinks and food to the narrow boat communities and other pleasure boat communities.
Born after the War: A Bit About Narrowboat Batteries
I was born after the war, in 1948, to be precise. I am interested in everything to do with nature. The canals of my home town have always been an attraction to me. Birds and animals, as well as wild flowers, had built up good numbers on the smaller canals that were not used for carrying goods.
The canals were also a good way to walk from A to B to avoid the busy road traffic. Many a time, I have walked home to Mirfield from my garage business in Halifax. Following the canal on the Calder Navigation System for a total of 13 miles, and sometimes without seeing a sole!
Importantly, a significant increase in popularity was going to revive the canals.
People were becoming fascinated by the lure of the canals and rivers. People were using the canals for leisure. Boat yards and marinas were opening in every town and city that had a canal and river network.
In my town of Mirfield, we now have a boat repair yard and two marinas. Many of our canals pass right through the town centre. allowing boat owners to moor and go shopping or to the local pub or restaurant
Narrow boat hire is available
In tourist towns such as “Hebden Bridge” here in West Yorkshire, you can hire a canal boat for your holidays. This is very popular, and bookings have to be made well in advance.
Indeed, the whole of the UK has enjoyed a boom in the use of the country’s waterways. Old canals that were filled in or just closed have been reopened and rebuilt. One very famous one is the “Standedge tunnel” that goes from Marsden in Yorkshire to Diggle in Lancashire. Under the Pennines
Then you have access to the whole West of England canal system. A Bit About Narrowboat Batteries
My interest in all this is the massive increase in sales of narrow boats and pleasure craft batteries. You can see from many of my posts that I travel to many great places, delivering my narrowboat batteries to customers throughout the UK canal and river network.
Incredibly, I have had a lifetime of interest in the natural world, which also continues with me on my weekly travels, delivering my boat batteries to some wonderful people and places.
- Unlock Your Freedom-with Mobility Scooters and Electric Wheelchairs That Are Exempt from VAT
- The Future of Mobility- Say Goodbye to Lead-Acid Batteries in Electric Wheelchairs!
- Extended VAT relief: on adapted motor vehicles for disabled people and charities (VAT Notice 1002) – GOV.UK
- U.S. batteries to Whitby ship Builders
- Looking After Your Electric Wheelchair
- Unlock Your Freedom-with Mobility Scooters and Electric Wheelchairs That Are Exempt from VAT - December 2, 2024
- The Future of Mobility- Say Goodbye to Lead-Acid Batteries in Electric Wheelchairs! - December 1, 2024
- Extended VAT relief: on adapted motor vehicles for disabled people and charities (VAT Notice 1002) – GOV.UK - November 30, 2024
