NigelJ

I've got an excellent Numax starter battery (96 amps, I think, without removing covers to look at it) and was going to get a set of 3 Numax 110amp .. maybe I should think again? I've still got a couple of long-lasting 4-5 years 'Diamond' 110amp leisure batteries - green casing (unusual) - and wanted to find the same for replacements but one of our most popular, fair-priced and amenable chandlers (S in W.. A.. .... many will know who I mean) said the casing and label are no guarantee you're getting the same battery as before, in that the case/label you're looking for could have a quite different battery inside it. I dont quite understand how that works - seems to be flouting trade descriptions and all sorts - almost like fake designer labels on clothes (which I thoroughly approve of, paradoxically!)

Well, since BW have now replied by simply confirming the winter price I queried, without answering my point about comparison with longterm prices on the same towpath stretch, I've now asked them to explain how winter prices are calculated. Yes, in my examples, the 20% higher rate equates to dividing the longtem annual rate by 10 and then multiplying by 12. So let's see what they say. However, I wouldn't say that justifies the higher charge on its own, as - like has been pointed out here - the winter moorings are often no more than grassy stretches of towpath and may be nowhere near a water point. On the Macc several are identically priced but some of them are near water points and others are not. If BW quote that vague concept 'market forces' I'll ask them to explain that, too. So let's see eh? ... I'll let you know

Anyone else noticed that 2011/12 BW winter mooring prices are higher, in some instances at least, than BW longterm or permanent moorings? How can they justify commandeering a stretch of unmanaged towpath (free for up to 14 days April-October) to charge above the going rate? One of my local examples for my 70ft narrowboat: Higher Poynton (Macclesfield Canal): Current Price 1/4/2011 - 31/3/2012, on hard-standing towpath, with mooring rings, opposite Lord Vernon's Wharf at Bridge 15 : £1947 per year. Higher Poynton, other side (south) of Bridge 15 : grassy towpath - very muddy through much of winter - with rings or cleats (BW says but I've not seen them there): £973 November 2011 - March 2012 (5 months) ... 12-month equivalent pro rata = £2336 per year. Or £392 more than the longterm moorings (see above). Do they think (1) we won't notice or (2) we're idiots? Or do you think it's fair, reasonable, justifiable, etc, etc? I'm waiting for a reply from BW. I'll let you know.

For along boat (ours is 70ft) it definitely makes a lot of difference and I avoid mooring with ropes slanted 'inwards' if at all possible. Although the boat is theoretically fastened tight against any movement, in practice it can pivot about ropes slanted inwards but is almost entirely prevented from doing so whent the ropes are 45 degrees 'outwards'. A very obvious difference when boats are passing. Also, not everyone seems to realise the 'drag' on a moored boat is not initially created by a boat actually passing. The first, and quite noticeable, effect occurs when the passing boat is still 100 yards or more away. If it doesn't begin slowing down at that distance it will be too late to prevent moving a boat on its moorings.

Steve There really is no problem. You could probably grow a decent beard within a month; there are lots of dogs needing new homes; and you could start weaning yourself by ordering 'half 'n' half' (half Fosters, half real ale), then 'quarter 'n' three-quarters', etc till you get there. Of course, you'll still have the canal-ducking initiation and tied-to-a-tree-with-towrope sense of humour test to come, but you'll be feeling ready - nay, eager - for those by then. Look forward to meeting you. N

Sounds like a lot of bother to me. I just add up some miles and locks (3mp / 4 per hour) add a bit for luck and keep a day in hand for unexpected stoppages (like queues, long lunches, meeting friends, reading and other unhurried uses of time). Then if I fall behind schedule I start early (6-7am) and finish with daylight. I really don't see canalplan being a load of much use. How's it going to predict all that? Like satnav, which irritates me no end. And, no, I'm not a technophobe. I'm busy editing a very complicated video. I save computer technology for purposes only it can achieve. Beyond that, I'm with the ducks.

Loads of boaters will no doubt add - more accurately - to my comment but, basically, you can't do the Yorkshire canals and rivers in 70ft (mine's 70ft narrowboat). That means Leeds & Liverpool Canal east of Wigan, Aire & Calder, Huddersfield Broad and various links between Yorks and Loncolnshire. (I'll be corrected if I'm wrong). Or north up the Leeds & Liverpool to the Lancaster Canal. It's because the locks, though wide, are all no more than 60ft long. I think you'll find length (ie lock) restrictions on the BW Waterscape website, though it's a nightmare of a site to 'navigate' and I hate ever having to go to it for information. No doubt you already know there is no link between the wide canals (ie wide locks) of the north (the above-mentioned + Bridgewater and Rochdale canals) and those in the Midlands and South. Basically, you have to choose whether to be based north of Preston Brook tunnel (Trent & Mersey/Bridgewater) or south of Birmingham/Leicester, although the 70ft length will leave you far fewer fewer cruising options in the north than in the south, which seems to be where you are based anyway. Personally, I regret not being able to do the Leeds & Liverpool into Yorkshire but I do like the extra living space. All the best with it.

I stepped straight from the boat into the canal once because - while trying to read 'Towpath' at the same time - a quick glance told me (wrongly) that a thick layer of flotsam was the towpath (the real one). I surfaced a lifetime later, still clutching a very soggy 'Towpath'. I doubt I ever finished that edition.

I 'lost' a mushroom vent in Middlewich in January. And a watering can in Chester this month. First probably theft. Second probably prank. All very unpredictable, since I don't regard either town as dodgy. Nor Nantwich .. but I cruised out of the marina there yesterday, clutching a warning notice from the local police about recent thefts from narrowboats. Is it recession? During the notorious 1980s, crime - especially theft - was said to have risen .. the cheap way of getting things you can't afford and resent someone else having. David Cameron's 'broken society', which his coalition's policies are only going to make worse?

It's always worth giving these programmes a try .. I've also heard the 'new Fred Dibnah' tag - from a production assistant on the programme. Trouble is, typically BBC, the content sounds like a rehash of lots of well-worn TV subjects (pottery, iron and steel-making, etc, etc). Give it a try, eh? The evnings are getting lighter by then. Stuff the telly. .. unless it's really unmissable.

You probably didn't know this .. or did you? http://www.jaymedia.co.uk/blog.html

This is a devastating decision to have made. Remember, when this is talked-away and smoothed-over, no-one, but no-one, cancels an event of this magnitude, at such short notice and after so much hype, unless they are facing absolute disaster. And is it just the 'economic climate'? Who's been organising this festival? For such a major event, given such a high profile by everyone from Liverpool Ccity Council to British Waterways, has someone messed up? What other major public event is being cancelled this year? Well,ok, maybe more to come, but let's wait and see. And, let's face it, this is the same day that David Cameron has been loudly proclaiming the Big Society is where the community steps in. No connection? How long can this Big Society run away from its responsibilities?

Except when you fall in ... Rochdale Canal, Lock 91, October 2009. Remarkably clear under water, as it turned out. Sadly - for you all - there was a student video crew filming ... at Lock 90 ...

Hi All First short video clip from my filming at the BW Open Day, Northgate staircase, Chester, 29th Jan 2011. Cheers Nigel

Each to his/her own, I guess, but launderettes never seem to provide as good a wash as a domestic washing machine. We have a full size Zanussi washer/dryer on our 70' narrowboat, in the kitchen (sorry, galley), which is about 10' long so plenty of space. The washer cost me £150 secondhand about 6 years ago and is excellent. Mostly don't use the dryer, except in winter: clothes dry quickly hung out on a line strung around the bow deck. I run the machine off our 2.6kw generator (suitcase-style, cost £300, 2 years ago) on full power (surge to 2.8kw) and I reckon uses less petrol than the cost of an inferior launderette wash. I'd hate to be dependent on launderettes, BW or local towns. Timing, cost, wash-quality, access ... ugh. Onboard, I only take care to be not too far from a water point and try to top up soon after a wash, as I've no idea how much water it uses (the machine, that is, not my body)

Long weekend: 1. Trent & Mersey / Bridgewater Canal, from either Middlewich (about 12 hours each way) or from Preston Brook (about 7 hours each way), or somewhere unbetween .. part of the Cheshire Ring... to Manchester and back. You'd probably get Saturday night in Manchester (safely moored in Castlefield Basin), which can keep you up till 3am, with good pubs along the way at regular intervals - Broken Cross (Northwich), Anderton, Moore, Stockton Heath, Lymm, Sale. 0 - 5 locks each way, and 0-3 tunnels, depending where you start. Or 2. Nantwich to Chester. Saturday night in Chester (not bad for a small city) and country pubs strung out along the way. About 8-10 hours each way. About 11 locks (from memory) including the Bunbury staircase and - though you might be pushed to fit them in - the Northgate staircase in Chester (you can turn roun in the city centre before you reach them.

I have every admiration for those who make a living from their boat so I can't argue with any method of progress you've developed that makes it more efficient for you. Three cheers for your presence on the waterways! I don't usually have to hit deadlines (unless it's to catch a train via the boat!) so maybe I'm not calculating the value of every second saved like you do. I think there may be a difference between you band of brothers (and sisters) who ply canal trade and others who believe some 'short cuts' are saving more time than they really do, with the attendant risk of putting unnecessary stress on the fabric of the system.

Nah ... much too complicated. Boat 'finding its own way into the lock' while I ' take a line to strap before it reaches the cill'? In forward gear? Some of the locks in Cheshire (Trent & Mersey and Shroppie) have such a heavy upward draw when empty that I have to go into reverse to prevent banging up against the cill. Far too much fiddle to anticipate that, with all the attendant gunwhale-walking, line-fetching and so on. I'll stick to tying to bollards, where the boat does exactly as it's told, and I bet I do the locks just as quickly. Dear me ... all this nonsense to save a few seconds. And to what use, pray, do you put those seconds when you've added them up? Probably amounts to an extra half pint of beer every 50 miles (provided you drink quickly).

Precisely why I gave up my marina mooring after 15 months, during which time I and my boat were only there for about 4 months. That was an awful lot money spent on an empty berth while continuously cruising. Probably 15 square miles. That's 5 miles x 3 miles. Pretty typical parish size Ii should think.

Thanks Dave. Hey .. I've shot my mouth off and got things wrong on this forum but also learned things I didn't know. Trifick! Thank you all. Non je regrette rien.

Ok. I bow to your greater experience and , yes, I'm sure we've exchanged 'hello' on the Cheshire Ring and it's good to encounter familiar faces. Maybe it's a mixture of experience and preference. You're in business on the canal and need to operate in the way that's most efficient for you. On my own I do Rode Heath to Red Bull in about 2 + 1/2 hours, which is as quick as I need, tying up at locks. With my partner it takes just shie of 2 hours; she waits in the channel while I do the lock. You know what you're doing. But I've seen others try it and end up banging the gates. I'd suggest, for most, it would be better to tie up, or, with a crew, hover in the channel to wait for the lock. After all, why else are the bollards there?

If you can't get in at Lymm - it's very popular (be there by 3pm or you may not get moored) - carry on to Sale, about another 2+1/2 hours. Lymm is 4 hours from Manchester (Castlefield). No ring moorings at Sale but long stretch of grassy towpath between Brooklands Bridge and Sale Bridge (nearly a mile). Sale Bridge = good access to town and shops, with the Kings Ransom pub at its side. If you prefer ring moorings, continue to Stretford (another half-hour or so). After going under the M60 bridge you approach the Watch House (white low building on the left). Almost hidden on the towpath is a series of mooring rings before reaching the Watch House. It's now the base of a boaters' club. They're extremely welcoming although only open a couple of evenings (including Saturday I guess). At Castlefield, if there's anything amiss with the water point on the left just before the basin, turn sharp left under the railway bridge: there's another one on the left under the bridge before the end of that arm (100 yards). You'll have to back out to turn into the main mooring area but there's plenty of room. I'm sort of local and have moored there a lot.

I've done the Ashton Canal lots of times. From experience: do it in the morning (its 4-5 hours from Piccadilly to Ashton). Why? The scallies don't get up till lunchtime. Seriously, while I've had some good banter with local lads at those locks, they're far more likely to be there in the afternoon than morning - whichever direction you're going. There is permanently ungated access to Piccadilly Basin down a cobbled side street, accessed from steel stairs leading up from the nearest mooring to the basin itself. I've moored there half a dozen times. The towpath leads right around the basin, via a swing bridge (permanently over a small arm). 5 minutes and you're in Manchester nightlife!