Unicorn Stampede

That's pretty much how I sit and steer

The one at Sowerby Bridge has a mooring at shire cruisers. That other one you mentioned has been lingering on the same stretch of the canal for over a year now. It turned up in Salterhebble around Nov/Dec 2019? And its gone from the middle lock to the bottom of Tuel Lane locks (next to Shire Cruisers...) In that time. According to canal planner that's 2 miles... Or an hour of time... In over 365 days. It hasn't gone up those particular locks for a reason I imagine. Covid certainly isn't the reason but somehow it's been allowed to hang around.

We've had the misfortune a couple of times - Easy enough to fix but I'm under no illusions the system is out dated (and I doubt they are investing in it) Just the nature of organisations who make pushes for people to use their website etc. without making it very stable. CRT aren't the first, they won't be the last, but I would expect stuff to go wrong - just unfortunate it happens to people who mean to cause a fuss (like the chap whose boat was taken away)

That seems pretty reasonable to me. Akin to CRT seeing it as 'back pay' - admittedly them having a creaking, IT system doesn't help their situation.

Personally, I prefer it when we enter (and leave) the locks one at a time, rather than together. We've had a number of issues (mostly from leaving, admittedly) where there wouldn't have been issue when going in/out one at a time. However I appreciate that some boaters want to be more efficient. We've no issue roping up first and getting ourselves pulled over to the side - it's what we do when soloing so makes little difference to us when doubling with another. In terms of Bingley 3/5 Rise, we've come up and down there a number of times now and I'd say our experience i

Last year we had the occasional annoyance, but nothing too staggering (our worst experience was someone driving head on into us in the dead of night!) However this year, as we've crawled up the Leeds & Liverpool we've encountered a whole range of hire boaters out in force. Unfortunately I'd say that the experience has been more negative than positive. I take more issue to the hire boat companies not training people, rather than placing the blame on the holiday goers, however they don't make it easy for themselves! We've watched two of them on full plough drive straight into a canal

Our first boat is 50ft - we specifically opted for that because we didn't want to worry about any lock issues etc. Ultimately we'd like an extra bit of length, as it meant we couldn't fit something like a washing machine in, but because we have a car that's less of a problem (always launderettes nearby) Personally I'd say we would rather aim for a 55ft-57ft in the future (the next boat, in however many years!) We have no desire to go bigger because we don't want to mess with angling into locks!!

I do most the lock work work, the girlfriend does most the steering. When we first moved the boat across the country and were doing it up, she clocked in more hours steering and I the same for working all the different locks. Also many of the locks we've come across have been hard going, which is simply where strength has been a factor! Thus she's just better at controlling the boat at me, especially in sticking situations!! We want to switch it around in the future so we're both experienced in both elements, but currently we feel 'safe' with the set up we have going.

This is one example of a lock we encountered on the way down. Note, the paddles are closed ... Not that you'd think it based on the amount of water spraying in.

We went down about a week ago, from summit and through Manchester and it was pretty appalling. I've sent an email onto CRT explaining the huge number of issues we found. Massive leaks in locks, pounds empty, certain paddles not working correctly, etc. We were coming down a lock and our boat got wedged by a trolley hidden in a lock. We had to stop and refill as it was threatening to capsize us. One of the scariest moments we've had. We pulled an absurd amount of rubbish out the canal and had to tug someone else along because the water was too low for them.

We came down from Lock 65 a few days ago - we moored up night before just before it (past the bridge) and it was nice and quiet. Also meant we were ready to descend right away. Would recommend that as a mooring point on your ascent. Worth noting it took us (and another boat we duoed with) the best part of 8 hours to do it the stretch. The canal is a bloody mess and you're going to have to clear your prop a fair few times. There's also lots of low water pounds to contend with. Also note there's a trolley currently hidden in one of the locks. Believe it was 67, that almos

They can barely maintain the current canals, can't see how they'd ever get around to installing electrical infrastructure. Even if they doubled the license I don't see them managing it.

I know that certain marinas like Shire Cruisers in Sowerby Bridge charge based on a percentage of propulsion. We've just found it easier to go to the local Red Diesel supplier and fill up the jetty cans. We filled up two weeks ago at 63p a litre. I'd assume that agricultural dealers aren't going anywhere even with this change. Be interesting to see how they manage to make zero emission boats in the future. Can't imagine they'll be affordable.

Aye it was around £300 Honestly we only use the Mag Atten in certain spots and it's really not required depending on where you moor/cruise. I work from the boat so I needed the extra security of being able to get internet 'on demand'. The router does a grand job however - we obviously use a 240v set up rather than faffing with 12v but that router CAN be used through 12V with the right connector. We had the choice to add it for free but we didn't need it. You're right however, Three sell a very similar Huawei router which I imagine works just as well. Th

Yep! Lister, that's it!