Circe

I don't know about the latest incarnation, but we were advised very strongly not to use Supreme Marine when we moored locally.

Summer holidays and we usually did Standedge bookings with about a week's notice. You've had some great advice - fill your water tank before you go up the last set of locks. Lights on inside and curtains open. The pilots are brilliant; they will let you go at your pace, but we'd recommend above tickover as you need the steerage - normal cruising speed seems to do the trick. Hubby was similar times to Mac, but we've heard tales of people taking over 3 hours to get through with lots of bumping on the way.

We've done it a few times and never had any bother. It was busiest in the summer holidays, as you'd expect. The kids at Kirkstall were a bit 'oooh woman driver', but quickly got over it! We tended to do the run from Leeds to Rodley in one hop, if that helps.

I was quite impressed by their boat's ability to teleport round Leeds at random. That needs to be added as a feature on more boats Was really looking forward to it, but found it totally bland. How it could miss out the five rise and the beautiful scenery around Barnoldswick/East Marton, I'll never know. Still, it was good to see the lock at Barrowford again. Two summers ago, the cill washed out just as we got there, so we had to turn around and go back over the Pennines via the Hudd instead whilst C&RT closed it for a fortnight for repairs.

Maybe we should wait to sell...

Fantastic Well done!

It's on the Llangollen - pretty close to Hurleston. Rugby, ABNB - which others might be good? Sorry to hear you're moving on Martin. Have you got other things in the pipeline?

The head part of me knows it's the only sensible financial option. Hubby's been very ill and things are very different to how life was when we bought her. It gives us options in the future (including a possible other boat) that we wouldn't have if we kept her. Heart is howling big time about the unfairness of it all. I want to keep her! She really has been a lifeline to us. Good to know that brokers might help in getting her there. I don't think we can stretch to a boat mover, although if we deferred the selling to Easter, we could have a little longer aboard.

We've just got home from an amazing 2 weeks away but with a few life changing events lately, we're doing a head vs heart struggle and beginning to think rather reluctantly about parting with our lovely boat. We've pampered her quite a lot - John Sanderson paint job (Meg Gregory sign writing) and a brand new cratch cover less than 9 months ago, so externals are immaculate. The survey when we bought her showed the hull was in excellent condition. We're planning on getting the blacking done (it's due in the winter anyway) and a new BSS before maybe (argh!) putting her up for sale in Feb/March time. What's the best way to sell? Is it via a broker? If so, which are good. I know I've read about Dominic at Rugby boats before, but it's a little far for us to be able to get there easily in the much more limited time we have. We're at Swanley at the moment but (depending on winter stoppages) have up to a week's cruising from there time-wise. I really don't want to see her go, but it's expensive when the most we can manage is 3 weeks per year on her. Any advice would be very, very helpful, both things to do and to avoid. You were all brilliant when we bought her

We live beside the Museum Gardens and it's frequently packed. The main issue we had when we used to boat in York regularly were the lack of floating pontoons when the river rose. It happens very quickly, so you've got to be well on top of weather elsewhere. CYC don't have floating pontoons or additional mooring spots on their agenda, which is a shame, as it's a lovely place to live as well as visit. I haven't looked for the 48 hour mooring signs recently (our boat is on the Llan now) but there used to be small ones repeated along the length of the mooring. The Elsan allegedly does exist, but we've never found it either. The other thing to bear in mind with the Foss is that ther's no winding hole...

Thanks, Gareth - that's a great start. It'll be sooooo much easier when the kids are grown

We're on our summer boaty meanderings and would love to cruise the Weaver. It sounds brilliant. But, there are 5 of us on board, so we do really need a daily sani-station. Are there any/many on the Weaver? Hoping to get down on the boat lift tomorrow but we haven't booked, so...

I bake bread from scratch on the boat. Admittedly I'm cooking for 5, but I adjust the size of the loaf or quantity of rolls depending on what we're likely to be eating that day (plus a bit extra because someone always scoffs some when it's hot) We've got a wooden bread bin, but rarely store any for more than 12 hours.

We bought ours from Great Haywood. If the boat hadn't been perfect, we'd have walked away. The broker we dealt with was unhelpful, to say the least.

We had a very bad experience with them when we broke down shortly after buying our boat. The engine mounting bolts had sheered. They subcontracted it to a local yard, who said he could get it fixed same day. He subsequently charged us for loading and unloading his van - for travel time (several times a day to and from his yard to collect things - including his lunch!) and did jobs without authorisation (like changing the stern gland packing - done less than 3 weeks previously). The bill for the work was enormous. If that wasn't bad enough, because he'd taken a couple of parts away on the first visit, we were stranded. After 3 days, a full loo, no electricity (because we couldn't run the engine) and 3 kids on board (including a disabled one) - we gave up and got a friend to drive and collect us. This is all with silver cover. We still have RCR cover - albeit at a basic level - but I'd do pretty much anything to avoid having to call them out again.

I must buy a copy of her book. We met her in Granary Wharf (was it last year or the year before?) and indulged in a spot of shopping for us and the kids. I certainly have lifestyle envy, although I'm not sure I could manage without a loo!

The HNC is still my favourite - we've crossed on it now 4 times in the past 2 years and it's simply gorgeous. Some low pounds and a lot of locking, but well worth it. Never had issues with grounding on the cills there, but have been careful with low water levels in some pounds and made sure it's been safe. I drive, hubby and kids lock, so I suppose I have the benefit of plenty of ground crew. I'd do it again in a heartbeat but the boat may well be heading south for our daughter to live on at Uni. That's a totally other problem though!

Might be me not getting the terminology - I'd put nothing past me! The hopper hatch has a smooth cill at the bottom - there isn't a lip or anything to prevent the water from getting over that and into the boat. I'll take a pic next time I'm there to try and show you. There's a slight gap between the bottom of the hatch doors and this smooth cill. I think the water is draining down the sides of the hatch and into the boat that way. Then again, I might be talking complete nonsense

We booked last year, but haven't crossed this. We got the last slot for the day we transited. Worth giving them a call.

No baffles and no riser. Sounds like we need to take some serious action. Thank you very much for the pointers

Just had a lovely few days away collecting the boat and moving it back to Swanley. The paint job is stunning; I have to admit, I'm now worried about scratching it! Anyway, we have a hopper hatch on one side that's always been a bit leaky. We sealed it previously with some window sealing tape (the padded tape that comes in rolls?) which sort of did the trick, but didn't stay put too well when we opened and closed the hatch last summer. With having no tape on across the winter, it's let in quite a bit of water. Does anyone have any clever suggestions about a 'fix' we could try, please?

We've got a trad with steps to the left too. We looked at quite a few and it had never struck me that most went the other way.

We're reasonably new at Swanley but like it very much as a mooring. They've been incredibly helpful in the office there and have been great to deal with. The moorings have everything we need there.

It depends on the disability. For us, we don't need a wider space - we need it as close as possible to the door, so that I can get my son safely inside a building before he's hit by a car. He's now 6'3" and weighs about 14 stones. He also has no sense of safety and moving vehicles and can dart into a road with no warning. He has a blue badge to avoid us having to deal with traffic and means we can actually take him out of the house to places. Yes, it might discourage the able bodied from using disabled spaces if they're further from the places they're going to, but it also defeats the purpose of having a blue badge for some disabilities. BTW - I've just read back through the thread. My son (now 14) is doing nights beautifully in the boat now. We don't need and wouldn't use a disabled boating space. We're just thrilled he loves it as much as we do