Circe

Lovely to meet you too, Alan. Sorry it was such a flying visit! Not quite water-skiing behind the boat yet Give James a big pat from us. He's gorgeous!

Not there any more - heading for the Bingley 5 Rise. Did leave my phone no in case of positive updates, but nothing yet...

Will do Alan - we're topping up with water in Skipton now but should be passing you in a couple of hours, I'd guess. Keep an eye out for NB Honey

Back in Skipton and with the Standedge passage booked, it's looking more promising than it was earlier today. Saw the lovely Mrs H, and met some fab boaters (again!) on the way back down. Tomorrow may well be a shorter day depending on timings for the 5 rise - they were very busy the day we came up, so we're resigned to not getting down it tomorrow. Friday and we should be back where we started! Onwards!

We've got 2 weeks to get to Swanley. We know we can make it with long days across the HNC, but they don't think they'll get it dug out by Friday. Repairs they think will take next week, and then the concrete has to dry. C&RT don't have any info other than 'update on Fri'. Having to turn round simply because it's better knowing we can get there rather than getting stuck possibly for the full fortnight. We've got the tunnel booked and fingers crossed! Hope it all clears in time for you DJW Barrowford lock being the 'it' being dug out. It's been a long day already! Sorry for the incoherence

Wednesday - need to get a wriggle on. Some long days ahead. Sorry to be missing you again - hopefully catch up soon

Tunnel booked - here's hoping!

We're on our way back - are you around? Prepared to beg & plead with tunnel but they were shut before. There is JUST enough time to do it this way and no chance with the stoppage. Holidays, eh?

We're hoping to hear something concrete (pardon the pun!) about approx time later on today. If we wait for Fri then we can't make it via the Hudd either. Gah! Nice camaraderie with everyone else here though - good bunch of people!

We stopped in on the off-chance you were around on Sunday, Richard! It really is a lovely part of the waterways. The way things are going at the moment, we might be heading back! We've got 2 weeks and the boat has to get to Swanley... Think this is going to be interesting!

News on the ground is that it's likely to be about 3 weeks - we may have to turn around & go over the Hudd (is that clear yet?)

Having a great time - weather's been kind so far, but unfortunately caught in the Barrowford stoppage. Good chance to catch up on emails and play board games with the kids. Fingers crossed the stoppage is only a few days - or we'll be re-experiencing the L&L back the other way a bit sooner than we'd expected!

The issue is the lock cill on the 4th one down. There's a crack and it's letting water out faster than you can fill the lock. Should know more about how long soon. Then we either have the option of going back round the other way (if it's a long job) or sitting tight.

We're stuck here at the moment. They reckon 2 days. Will post when they've drained it and we know more.

Hurray! How are you all? How's Pollington? (Still my favourite lock on the system!) Sad to be leaving the beautiful Yorkshire waterways, but I have little doubt in my mind we'll be back! We will definitely do that! (Once we find our bearings!) Keep an eye out for NB Honey (repaint due in Sept and she definitely needs it!) in a couple of weeks! Looking forward to being there - it seems like a lovely place to moor.

Brilliant. Thanks, Darren - that's very useful info. I'll PM him

I don't think life comes better than being there We've only ever done that bit on a boat once but it's breathtaking. What's it like past Barnoldswick?

Phew! I was feeling like a bit of an interloper just there. You know it's been way too long when your user picture has disappeared! My favourite bit is the Skipton to Barnoldswick bit - that's just plain gorgeous - so we're planning a lot of dawdling. We've got 3 weeks to do a 2 week trip. After the year we've had, the sloooooow pace of life is definitely appealing. We've not done any of it between Barnoldswick and the Shroppie, so that's all completely new territory for us! Thanks for the recommendations I love the bridges where you can stop traffic. Can't imagine why I insist on doing those ones

I have no idea if anyone even remembers me, but thought I'd pop in for a quick wave. We're off on our annual longer hop (last year was a round trip York-Nottingham-Stratford-Tewkesbury-Worcester- Macclesfield and home) but this year takes our lovely boat to a new home mooring. We're leaving the Leeds area and heading over the L&L via the Bridgewater and down to Swanley on the Llan. I'm really looking forward to it. We've done a lot of the L&L before, but never the full length of it. It's been a difficult call (I LOVE the Hudd) but the lack of water lately has probably ruled that one out. Anything we really should be seeing on the way? All recommendations gratefully received as we have 3 kids (16 to 10 years old) on board too! Give us a wave if you see us

Just wanted to bob in with a 'thank you' to all the people who kindly gave me advice about Cowroast and mooring about a month ago. We dropped in to have a look and really liked it. Nice people, good location etc, and you've all been lovely but the price was right at the upper end of affordability and we didn't know if we wanted to stretch things quite so much financially. After a lot of pondering, we're going to head west rather than south for the next year or two, and we've booked a spot at Swanley on the Llangollen We're on the move during the Easter holidays and should be arriving there a week or two into April. Very excited about it (although sad to be leaving our current moorings - we're going to miss them loads). Plus it gives us good excuse to do the Hudd Narrow again at Easter. I'm certain we'll end up in Cowroast at some point in the next few years, but just not quite yet. Hopefully no one's going to tell me at this point that Swanley is terrible I liked it a lot when we popped in and it seems to be in a good cruising spot...

We have a 45 footer, and had 6 weeks on board this summer with 3 kids (15, 12 and 10). Our fit out is a good one and seems to work well for our needs as a family. We couldn't personally live on it, but I can see that it might be possible if you have the right sort of outlook and an adaptable family. We were ready to get home and stretch a bit after 6 weeks afloat. Our kids do get on very well with each other but it's harder in a small space.

Thank you! Our boat is a fraction less than 45ft, and used as a holiday boat, so the grade 2 moorings would be pretty spot on for what we need. It's also got the advantage of being a smaller boat so mooring costs aren't quite as prohibitive We tend to be out on the boat when we're on it, so the actual location of it doesn't matter a huge amount - BUT the parking really does. I'll PM you - curious about blue badge parking around Apsley, but had pretty much ruled it out because of the parking issues. I think from what's been said, that Cowroast may suit us best. Will see more next weekend

We're hopefully running down on Sunday next week to have a quick look at Cowroast and Winkwell. Suspect that won't be our last trip though! If anyone's around it'd be nice to wave and say hello

I have a cunning plan... I think the boat needs a figurehead. What better than a mini concrete cow to ward off the dragons?

This is really useful - thank you all It's sounding more and more like Cowroast is going to be the way forward - mostly because of the parking problem. The price is a fair bit more than we're currently paying, but we're tied down with accessibility issues. I think what we'll do is head down one weekend and have a proper look - if the boy is in respite it'll be easy enough. It's definitely worth trying the privately owned offside moorings (I can smile sweetly and persist! With not being in a mad hurry to move, this may increase our luck?) - if anyone happens to be passing by and can grab the phone numbers, that would be great, but can easily do that when we're down too. Marsworth sounds like a no-go, especially with things changing so much there with new houses etc. Will let you all know when we're heading down in case anyone fancies a quick pint. Thank you again