PBbear

Www.allseasonscovers.co.uk Run by Gary who was part owner of Coverit. Covert did our covers seven years ago so saw local announcement of change and contacted Gary when needed some restitching. Great service and they didn 't even charge because it was only a few minutes of a job. No connection except as satisfied customer

It is more usually visiting CaRT boats who are the speeders. See a nice broad canal and off they go....

Just a couple of points :- 1.The Olde Number 3 is closed and to let ( again) so no point stopping there 2. You cannot do the stretch between Saltersford and Preston Brook tunnels in less than an hour so always have to wait up to 30-35 minutes at one or other of them. Just something to bear in mind for that very long final day.

Just because there are rings in one or two places that doesn't mean that mooring for more than 24 hours is allowed. Never considered them visitor moorings in the BW/CaRT sense - more a pub or the NT making it easier for customers to moor.

You need to contact Mike Webb mwebb@peel.co.uk for a short term licence. He may be able to advise on short term marina moorings, otherwise non Bridgewater boats are allowed a maximum of 7 days in which to transit the canal en route from one CaRT waterway to another Elsewhere on Bridgewater there is a maximum of 24 hours mooring ( except for Lymm 48 hours max.)This applies equally to Bridgewater licensed boats also. There are no long term moorings at Castlefield. 72 hours max is now being enforced. All non Bridgewater boats should be aware that there is no '14 days in one place ' allowance for anyone. There are no towpath moorings - only overnight stops are allowed

"Lymm is a nice quick stop with a visit to the sweet shop". What sweet shop?? The bakery perhaps.........

As a boater who does this 'run' very frequently some of the suggestions seem over optimistic to me. Preston Brook to Castlefield to Worsley and back in four days on what is meant to be a holiday? Even making Lymm on the first evening (3 hours cruise from Preston Brook) is rushing it. Why not take it easy? Have a carvery meal the first night at Walton Arms - restaurant area quite separate from bar, with stroll round Walton Gardens before or after. If you want a quiet mooring and an idyllic village to look round stop for the night at Grappenhall. Dares bury though a lovely village is a fair walk from the canal up a hill and across very busy A56 dual carriageway so not feasible on such a short trip. Walk in Lymm village and up through the Dell to Lymm Dam and the walks there. And Dunham Masey Hall, Gardens and Park could take most of one day If relatives want to know when 'civilisation' will be reached you can always promise the delights of Altrinchsm or Sale ! For someone new to this stretch of canal Walton Gardens, Grappenhall, Lymm, Dunham Massey and the walks/ eating possibilities in those places could fill four days easily. I wouldn't venture beyond Waters Meet on a 4 day there and back trip such as this. It depends what you want - to clock up the cruising hours or to see and enjoy the places through which the canal passes.

Right of way is just that, the right to walk through or by the land not the right to help yourself to anything en route.There is very little common land in UK where you can pick plants without technically stealing from the farmer or landowner. And, believe me, it is not unknown for people to come for a sunday afternoon walk along the towpath all prepared with trowels to dig up primrose planted outside houses or to start filling large bags from overhanlging fruit tree branches and then come into gardens for better pickings

"..do you people not forage..." Please, don´t forget that all the land beside canals belongs to someone and any wood, fruit, trees growing there is the property of someone who may well want to use them for themselves. Not nice when passing boaters or walkers think your apples, flowers, branches of trees are anyone´s for the taking ... even to the extent of coming armed with saws, spades and large bags to take away the spoils.

We wouldn´t be without ours. It was one of our essential requirements for our purpose built boat (our third so we knew what we wanted and what worked - or didn´t- for us). The front board is glazed and we have transparent ´windows ´on both sides, so all round views and no shortage of light. In the winter it is like a greenhouse so quite pleasantly warm to sit in. It also means we can keep the front doors open, for air or for a sense of more space, without freezing or getting soaked even in inclement weather. In summer , simply roll up the sides and sit out enjoying the sun.

If coming from the Bridgewater then you could get through the tunnel but no further as Dutton Stop Lock is closed off. Coming from the South you cannot come north of Middlewich- though by Christmas, hopefully, you will be able to come as far as Anderton, or a little beyond depending on your length for winding

OP, to come back to mooring in or near Chester.... This same question was asked recently (can´t remember the thread, sorry). You will not find a residential mooring closer than Tattenhall Marina and in case you did not realise, you cannot just moor for extended periods of time anywhere you fancy. It would be perfect for you if you could moor up right by the University but unfortunately that is not the case. Being in Tattenhall or Whixall will almost certainly mean that you will need a car of sorts unless you are going to spend hours each day getting to Uni, so that would be a further expense. You have had lots of good advice so far. We may all seem rather negative, but we prefer to call it realistic. Canal boating is wonderful and most of us on here are fanatical about it but it is not the cheap, carefree option it may seem from the towpath.

As has already been said Tattenhall Marina is your only hope of residential mooring within reasonable reach of Chester. There is certainly nowhere in the city where you can moor for more than a few days and if you do not want to move except for a couple of weeks a year thenyou have to be in a marina for water,fuel,toilet emptying facilities etc. You have also been advised that it will not be cheap. A residential mooring costs several thousand, the licence, insurance,boat safety certificate, maintenance can cost another couple of thousand, then there is fuel for heating etc.........

Latest news is that Croxton will take several weeks at least and Dutton Hollow considerably longer. Looking like a complete winter closure in all likelihood. Boaters at Anderton had better start organising their Certificate of Seaworthiness for MSC!