Chris T

A tree is blocking the arm between bridges 7 and 8. CRT have viewed and said it has been logged as a priority.

How did I not know about BT / Sky pub finder?! I now have a choice of pubs in Kidlington, thank you! From the Pearson's it looks like Thrupp will be the nicest for mooring. So, we have a plan. Best get going. Thanks all for comments.

Thanks for the replies. I can see the Great Western and Nell Bridge in the Pearson's but will hopefully be further along than that by Saturday night. Perhaps as far as / no further than Kidlington. Ish.... Will definitely try calling the Bell. Thank you.

Hello, we are on the Oxford canal near to Banbury headed towards Oxford and hoping to find a pub to watch the Champions League final on Saturday. Any suggestions please? Thank you.

I've noticed that Phil Speight has some courses at Bollington Wharf, in case that's of any interest Sarah.

Looks to be between Oakgrove and Bosley Locks: CRT closure notice

That's not the story they gave me when I rang, but sounds more likely. We are pottering around the Macc this week as we can't delay taking the holiday from work any more, it's strangely quiet, one boat on the Macc pontoon moorings and none at all at Gurnett. The weather probably hasn't helped, lots of rain, naturally. We were limited also by lack of elsan and rubbish facilities at that end, it would have been nice if CRT could have put a skip next to the Macc water point as we can't use the facilites at Bosley.

The stoppage notice has been updated today: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/12878/bridge-14a-burgess-arm-towpath-bridge-near-higher-poynton-macclesfield-canal Still no change to the notice for Bosley that CRT told me would be updated last week to reflect the partial re-opening, so no idea whether or not that is happening any time soon.

Having (optimistically) re-booked my week holiday at work for September, I just tried CRT's live chat to ask if there was any update on the Bosley closure as the notice was from 23 July. I was told that Bosley was in fact open with restricted passage, but then realised she was just reading the start of the stoppage notice, and hadn't read the later part saying that it was closed from 13 August. Anyway, I have just had a call back, saying that they can't give a definite date, but in the next few weeks are planning to open the locks at restricted times to allow boats to get to where they need to. He is going to update the stoppage notice.

I hadn't actually considered which bridge it was, I'd just looked at the red line on the map and which winding holes the notice told you to use, but I went past today and you're right, it can only be the bit under the bridge at the Trading Post which I'd assumed was mostly privately land. Fingers crossed then!

Just realised Bosley winter closure starts at the same time, so unless I've misunderstood, we will just have those 10 miles for that period.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/12878/bridge-14a-burgess-arm-towpath-bridge-near-higher-poynton-macclesfield-canal This one. Obviously hoping Bosley will be open by then for proper trips, but for weekend pottering about we won't be able to get very far.

And from November to mid December, it will only be 10 miles.....

I think that's pretty much dashed my remaining hopes and I'll get the holiday cancellation form filled in. Thank you, it's good to get something more up to date than the CRT stoppages update from 23 July.

We are currently moored / trapped between Marple Locks and Bosley Locks and have a holiday booked from Friday for a long awaited trip. I've been hoping that the recent rain might be enough for the locks to re-open in time (clutching at straws I know). I'll have to cancel my holiday at work but knowing my luck, they will re-open the locks the minute I do that. I've just noticed that the CRT site says that they are now carrying out repair work on some of the Bosley locks while they are closed. Has anyone walked nearby to see what's happening? Just thought this might confirm that there's really no chance at all of them reopening in the next week and I will give up hope.....

It's moored just outside New Mills on the Upper Peak Forest, so yes, you will have passed it last year! Chris

Very pleased with the service we have just had from Bollington Wharf where James fitted a new gearbox coupling for us. At the same time, we had our rusty integral water tank cleaned out and blacked, for what we thought was a reasonable price for such a horrible job. All was done when they said it would be, and Amy kept us updated by email. We will definitely be using them again (hopefully not too soon!).

At Castlefield Basin in Manchester yesterday, a Claymoore boat was stuck, having seemingly ignored at least 3 signs saying "shallow water do not navigate". They tried poles and were attempting to rock the boat, but it was going nowhere. Wonder if they are still there or have been towed off.

Hello, We have received a stoppage notice for Bugsworth. It says the middle basin arm is closed, but the big red line on the map suggests the whole Bugsworth Arm, and thus the basin too. Does anyone know if this is what it means, or is it (hopefully) just part of the basin? https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/11145/bugsworth-basin-middle-basin-arm-peak-forest-canal- Thank you

Thanks everyone for replies, although I'm not sure I'm any closer to a decision! Meanderingviking - what do you use to paint over the interdeck?

Hello, we want to paint the roof of our 11 year old Liverpool boat. It is cream, in reasonable condition, not flaking and only small specks of surface rust. The existing paint looks matt, and doesn't appear to have any grit or other non-slip additive, so I was hoping to find something similar. I have looked at Midland Chandlers purely because our local chandlers will get stock in from there for us to pick up, but I can only see gloss or else Interdeck or Teamac Suregrip. I am guessing that they are more "gritty" and so will be harder to keep clean, being cream (which we want to stick with). If so, then the next idea is to use Dulux Metalshield which I have just read a post about or Weathershield. Having things delivered isn't really possible which limits our options. Is my assumption about the deck paints correct? And if so, does the Dulux paint seem a reasonable suggestion for an amateur job and done outdoors at the mercy of the weather? Thank you for any help.

Friday's Manchester Evening News letters' page includes one suggestion that they lay nets on the bottom of the canal to make it easer to lift out the rubbish next time, and another suggests a net above the canal.......

Another vote for Edstone being more terrifying, particularly in strong wind. And particularly when hubby says "you're doing fine, we're half way across now" ONLY HALF WAY???!!!! Being stuck scraping against the side is the worst thing, visions of crashing through the side with boat and water still makes me shudder.

We moored at Christleton when there was some sort of medieval festival on and it was a really nice atmosphere in the village (although it was a surprise to see men in chainmail wandering about until we found out about the festival). The moorings were busy then and had we not squeezed in, I think we would have continued to Chester as there didn't look anywhere very appealing after the locks. We really enjoyed our first trip to Ellesmere Port (and still remember getting the cheapest bottle of gas ever on the way) but we didn't make it on our second trip. After 4 stops in about half a mile to clear the weed hatch of plastic bags etc. in we decided to turn back. This was just after the zoo where we had a lovely overnight mooring.