sandgrown

We came down from Lancashire for the 2013 Trailboat festival and enjoyed our time on the River, our boat is 6 foot 6inch air draught and I don't remember any tight bridges. The castle was great to visit and a lovely Steam train ride to Tenterden on the Kent and East Sussex Railway though how all thats effected at the moment I don't know, I seem to remember that we launched on a Slipway just outside Rye..

Hi Nik Nak, Sadly the Caraboat /Caracruiser website has gone, but if your on FB the Retro Caravan club have a page for amphibious caravans and I noticed on there one chap had converted a Caracruiser to electric power and been on the Gloucester and Sharpness canal, and they have a fair bit of History on both. your boat is looking good, having met a few at Trailboat Rallies with my Caraboat I can see your windows have been improved. Keep in Touch.

That's right, could I have a pint of what the cats had..

On this day 2018 Early morning at Ambleside.

On the day in 2018 we visited the rag and stick lads at Bowness..

We Launched at Herons Rest Marina Llangattock when we visited the Mon&Brec, its a good Slipway with provision to store your car and trailer while on the Canal, worth the cost IMO. I must say its a stunner but does have some low bridges and shallow bits..

We have a 9.9 Honda on our Caraboat, and we do about 1.5 litres an hour. with no locks we cover about 3 miles an hour. The engine is an older one so a new model may be a bit more economical, heavy weed and shallow water can slow you down a bit too.

We have done that stretch a couple of times with our Caraboat, I remember we used a Slipway in Welshpool and it was accessed in a supermarket car park in the town, there were some services by the slipway too like water and Elsan which were under some metal covers so not too apparent. I don't remember weed being a problem though there is some low bridges at some of the locks, a very pretty stretch to cruise.

I was sad to read about the problems on the F&C, we came up with Helterskelter in 2011 to join in with a ten year celebration of the restoration and met lots of friendly boaters up there, sailing between Glasgow and Edinburgh was one of the most memorable trips we have ever done, it does seem things have gone downhill for boaters since that time, such a shame as we were hoping to do it again one day..

It was the other way round for us, we had a boat for 10 years on the Lancaster which is a lovely canal, but being of working age you can only keep going up and down the same stretch. We have had our Caraboat for 11 years now and have been all over the place with it, meeting Haggis at a few places like the Scottish canals, it been fantastic, though it won't be for everyone though as to be trailable you have to compromise on boat size and be happy to tow and launch your boat which again isn't everybodies cup of tea, I know a lot of people with Wilderness boats and would say they are probably the easiest to launch and recover on a trailer due to there flat bottom design many of them have explored canals in France and Ireland by taking them over on the Ferry, not sure there is much of a cost saving though if you have to buy a 4x4 to tow though..

I'm afraid Nu way has been sold for housing so I don't think you would get in there, there is a VM at Carnforth though.

I was at Staveley with Helterskelter for the TBF last year, and was very impressed with the number of volunteers putting in countless hours for the restoration of the Chesterfield, looks like you had another great event with lots of local support, lets hope things progress well in the future. keep us up to date with how its going.

Station Aquaduct was damaged in last years storms, Alway is right the feed for the Lancaster canal comes in on this top section above the three M6 blockages and allowing it to become a weedy ditch has caused water supply problems for the whole canal even though there has always been plenty of water in Killington lake. The other point is that its not only boaters who use this section, canoe groups, and trailboats use it along with many walkers on the towpath which has now reopened due to the work carried out, I.m sure the residents of Stainton would want it repairing in case of future flooding too.I heard CRT have just been awarded a grant of half a million from the flood relief fund to help which is a good thing..

Hi RD1 I have had a number of Honda outboards over the years and they have all had 8mm fittings on the tank and the fuel connector to the engine, Neil..