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Mark Rawlinson

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Everything posted by Mark Rawlinson

  1. I've just returned from a holiday on that section of the L+L, hiring from Shire Cruisers at Barnoldswick for a return trip to Skipton. Although my wife and I are fairly experienced hirers, I had read about previous accidents at Bank Newton, particularly the saga of 'accident waiting to happen' lock 40, so we were exceptionally careful on that flight of locks, although it didn't help that we went down them last Tuesday morning in monsoon conditions, with water overflowing the lock sides as well as the gates! Regarding the paddle gear on the bottom gates, I found that the 'friction' varied significantly from lock to lock - around 50% had to be wound down manually but the rest could be 'dropped' and would drift down smoothly (the top gate paddles are all ungeared so cannot be dropped without causing damage) While it wasn't a factor on this occasion, a big problem on the L+L is that a lot of the hire boaters are first timers, hiring from Silsden/Snaygill/Skipton with no lock tuition beyond a DVD and/or model of a lock; in contrast, Shire cruisers insist on accompanying all hirers, first timers or not, through the three Greenberfield locks, pointing out potential dangers, which I think is a great idea.
  2. Funnily enough, I was talking to a couple on a private boat at Bank Newton locks last week (we are hirers) and she said that they had visited the Llangollen in August - boater friends had begged them to reconsider with dire warnings about interminable waits for locks and a chronic lack of moorings, but they said that it was the quietest they had ever known it; virtually no private boats moving, and hire boaters doing 'long days', so moorings were plentiful before 5pm. So is September the new August?!
  3. They have a couple of boats 'outbased' at Etruria these days. It enables them to offer regular customers variety with the Four Counties Ring/Caldon etc, similar to Napton Narrowboats having a secondary base at Autherley Junction and Shire Cruisers operating from Barnoldswick in the summer months. Gives 'picky' hirers like me more choice! MARK
  4. While it's certainly correct to point out that these things can and do happen all over the system, especially in school holidays, I think that they just seem more shocking when they occur in a supposedly quiet/safe town like Skipton, although interestingly a bit of Googling suggests that there was a similar problem with vandalism seven years ago to the extent that the local paper was declaring Skipton a "no go area" for boaters: http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/4861723.Thugs_make_canal_a__no_go__area/ “Canal boat owners obviously talk to each other and their message is, ‘Don’t stop in Skipton, you’ll get trouble from local kids,’” said Mrs Clarke. “It’s sad, but Skipton is getting a really bad reputation. Instead of stopping, people are passing through and it’s a big loss for the town Perhaps the above was hyperbole, but the Mrs Clarke quoted is one of the owners of Pennine Cruisers, so she presumably saw what was going on first hand? The reason for my interest in this thread is that we are hiring on the L+L in September, and was planning an overnight at the location in question (i.e. between the swing bridges), but hopefully with the 'little darlings' being back at school by then, things should have quietened down by then? MARK
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