Stonker

Congratulations, it is very pretty in parts. Shire Cruisers are a good hire firm and one of the few that give training in lock use. That said some of their boats have air-cooled Lister engines, unbreakable, but very noisy. Lot's of tough locks on the Rochdale, my wife and I went to Todmorden on a Shire Cruisers boat in 1997 and my wife said she would not do it again unless there four of us. Shire Cruisers provide a windlass of their own design with a long handle that gives extra leverage but it can also be used on the hydraulic paddle gear. My wife swears by them. Make sure you spend some time in Hebden Bridge where you can get your chakra's re-aligned. It's the Glastonbury of West Yorkshire, with hot pork pies and mushy peas. If you don't fancy doing too much of the Rochdale then the Calder & Hebble is very pretty around there. Stewart

We went down to the Navigation at Calder Grove on Saturday on the boat. Pipistrelle is still on the towpath six months after the floods deposited her there. Sure it would be difficult to get a crane there by road, impossible probably because the bridge over the cut is only wide enough for a single car at a time. Maybe the answer would be to get some hydraulic rams and do a sideways launch. Stewart

John, I am merely voicing an opinion that differs from yours, I am not insisting that you or anyone else has to share mine, but I found your post one sided and wanted to voice a different opinion. I did not boast that I stopped anyone's benefit. Read the post again. You should be pleased to hear that as I don't have any children there will be no more of my "breed". Stewart

If you were not seeking work you should not have been signing on. I was formerly one "of these people" and ended up managing a Jobcentre (although in the days when the Benefit Office was separate from the jobseeking office). When you register at the Jobcentre you are registering as a "Jobseeker". Actively seeking work is one of the conditions that you agreed to when you signed on and every time you signed, whether it was once a week, once a day or once a month, you confirmed that you were seeking work. If you were not seeking work you should not have been signing on and you should not have been receiving any kind of benefit. I would have disallowed your benefit on the grounds that you were not seeking work but you would probably have still got National Insurance credits which I guess is the reason someone advised you to sign on. A gap in your National Insurance can effect the amount of pension you get. If you had explained this you would probably have had an easier time. Your statement "Don't expect any kind of civilised behaviour from these people" is absolute rubbish. Jobcentres are no different from any form of officialdom, they have a set of rules they are supposed to apply, although in DWP they are so labyrinthine that it's all too easy for both parties to get things wrong, which is one reason why there is an adjudication service that people can have their cases reviewed by which you seem to have used successfully. The people there are like people everywhere, some are good, some are bad, sometimes they will have an off day. Sometimes a "customer" will get up their nose and they will not be helpful. In fact they can make your life very difficult. Very few do that just because they can and there are no excuses for doing that, even though they do suffer from extreme provocation and physical assaults at times. It would be good if this did not happen but many of the people using the Jobcentre (unlike you) are desperate to get their benefits whilst out of work so that they can feed, house and clothe themselves and their family and their frustration with the system the staff have to apply gets out of hand. It can be very frustrating when you're trying to help people find a job if they are not genuinely looking for one. I remember sending a letter to one person when I worked in South Yorkshire asking him to contact me about a painting and decorating job that had been notified to us by a local firm. He turned up a couple of weeks later on his regular signing day. When I asked why he had taken so long to respond he said he was living in his caravan in Skeggy for the summer and only came home to sign on. He must have been decorating his caravan because I did notice he had paint all over his clothes and his hands. Yeah right. Stewart PS I now work for a company that does a lot of DWP's IT systems, if you think they were bad when you signed on you should see them now!

Marston Pool, Leeds and Liverpool. Stewart

It depends on the other possible means of entry to the boat. Why fit an expensive lock if the crim can just get in some other way, like breaking a window? The lock on our boat is sold by the Lockshop Warehouse at £12 and it will resist some heavy duty tools. We also have portholes that are too small to get anything but a toddler through but the houdini hatch and the double glazed windows at the front could be broken fairly easily with a wrecking bar or a lump hammer. Stewart

I just checked on Waterscape. They have watered down the "rules" to guidance. In the Fishing guide it says "10. Respect other waterway users. Try not to fish too close to marked winding holes or moorings which may need to be used by boaters." In the boaters handbook it says "And try to stay 50 feet (15m) away from established angling spots." So I guess it's a case of using your common sense. I would ask someone to move if they were fishing from a visitor mooring in the only space available but if the moorings were unmarked I would probably find somewhere else unless I knew there were no other alternative moorings. Stewart

It's a good time to buy I reckon. Just look at the number of boats that have been reduced in price here http://www.bluewatermarina.co.uk/sales/steelboats/index.htm With cash in your pocket you should be able to negotiate a good reduction on any boat you want. Stewart

Agreed, and there's even a hire boat base at Barlick. Weather might be a bit dodgy but I don't suppose that will bother newlyweds. Stewart

I would advise the owners to stay well away! I was chased down the cut near Gargrave on the Leeds & Liverpool by a swan whilst steering the boat on my own, I had to shut the back doors behind me to protect myself. It had already been chewing on the boot of one of the crew whilst he was standing on the gunnel at the stern. Stewart

My boat's water temperature increases when running fast on the tidal Trent, about 90 degrees was all I let it get to when it normally runs at 80 degrees on canals and wide navigations. I kept the temperature at 90 degrees maximum by running off some hot water at the kitchen tap every hour or so as that filled the calorifier with cold water which had the effect of cooling the engine water temperature. I think it's fairly normal to run hotter on rivers, partly to do with narrowboats being designed with canals in mind, builders putting in the minimum sized skin tank. It also seems to be connected with speed, it might sound daft but running fast seems to be be the issue. I won't put up a theory as it sounds silly even to me. Stewart

Hi Bob, the weather here is always changeable, we often get four seasons in one day, so it's tough to predict what the weather will be like in early July except to say that you might get some sunshine but you might equally get some rain. Bring some warm and waterproof clothing as well as the shorts and t-shirts. I don't know the area you plan to cruise in so I can't help there. Most pubs are OK with shorts and t-shirts. If you need to check in fairly early on Sunday in would probably be best to stay on or around the airport. There are lots of hotels around Manchester Airport, we always stay at the Radisson SAS which is actually on the airport, two minutes walk from Terminal 2 and there's a, I'm struggling to remember what you call it, people mover, moving walkway whatever, to take you to other terminals. It's a little more expensive that other hotels but you will need to get a taxi or courtesy bus from them to your terminal. Go to the Manchester Airport website for information on all hotels and the Radisson website for their hotel. It's advisable to book in advance. Enjoy your holiday. Stewart

I would say that it depends on how flexible you are in terms of where you want to moor your boat. If you are looking to moor in a small geographical area in the more populated (with boats) locations then it might be sensible to make sure you secure a mooring first. However it can take a long time to find your boat, it took us a year to find our first narrowboat, and you might not want to pay for a mooring you can't use. If you provide some idea of where in the country and what type and size of boat you intend to buy it might be easier for people to advise you. Good Luck Stewart

or Lemonroyd or Woodlesford (one on the morring tenders website.

I'm afraid you have very few options in and around Sheffield. Apart from Sheffield Basin there are moorings in the Tinsley Lock Flight, just behind the Carbrook Tram Stop. The next moorings are in Rotherham just off Northfield Road. Neither of these could be described as rural, or even quiet, railways, tramways and roads nearby. There are others further down the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Canal. Why not have a search on the Waterscape site? Finding a vacancy might be difficult. Also you need to remember that the SSYN is length restricted, maximum about 60ft if I remember correctly. Other possibilities could be the Chesterfield Canal but I don't know anything about that. The next nearest canal is the Calder & Hebble but that might be too much of a commute for you. Stewart

Just stay away from the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. We struggled last year and we only draw 24". Stewart

Have a look at this site, virtual cruises along all the canals I mentioned plus many others. Try the HNC and L&L first. http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/ Stewart

Could be the Huddersfield, the Rochdale, Leeds and Liverpool, Calder & Hebble. Any other clues? L&L number 1 for me as far a beautiful goes. Stewart

I'm not trying to cast nasturtiums but is there anyone answering this thread who has first-hand experience of any problems with people on the Ashton. I've been up or down there 4 times in the last five years in August. Yes, there have been problems with drained pounds and broken lock gear but I've never had problems with people. Maybe I've just been lucky. Stewart

I had some serviced a few years ago, it cost more than replacements would have cost. Basically they set them off and check that the mechanism works, replace any seals etc and re-fill them. Oh, and write on the side that they have been serviced. I could have done that myself and saved £40. Stewart

Sods law strikes again as the Ultimo switch (the electronics that replace the float switch) has broken again. Luckily I noticed straight away that I couldn't hear the sump pump as I was washing my hands so no water escaped into the bilges. The pump itself is OK, I just connect it directly and it was working fine, it's just the sensor. I'm going to wire a switch in for when this happens again but for the moment you can only take a shower if someone else is onboard to operate the pump. I wonder of I could fit a manual float switch to replace the ultima switch? Stewart

What about this, a bit over budget. http://www.abnb.co.uk/Boat_pages/fdr1388/1388abnb.php

The swing bridges will be the big issue with you being solo, especially the ones that are operated electrically as you will get a queue of very impatient drivers who will just sit in their cars, vans and buses looking daggers at you and even hurling abuse at times if you hold them up for 10 minutes. I would advise you to get the latest canal guide to identify these swing bridges and make sure you are travelling in convoy with someone when you get to them. Have plenty of beer on board as rewards for these people. There are other threads about how to tackle swing bridges single handed, have a search for them. We've never had trouble at Blackburn or Wigan, even in school holidays, but they do have a reputation. Whether that's justified, I don't know from personal experience, but we've travelled the Leeds and Liverpool in both directions every year for the last 4 years in the summer without any trouble. We do tend to try and do these flights early in the morning so maybe the troublesome people are still in bed then. Once again on flights like these it will be much easier if you can find someone to travel with, especially if they are prepared to breast up so you can work the locks while one of their crew steers both boats through the flight. Last year we met two single handers who were doing this and they took turns locking and steering, they were on their way back down Wigan having come up a couple of weeks previously. Going all the way to Leeds and back might be a bit ambitious for a single-hander. It's beautiful countryside up top on the L&L over as far as Bingley but Skipton and back might be more realistic and Skipton is always worth staying in for a day or two. I can recommend the hot pork pies from the shop above Bridge 3 on the Springs Branch in Skipton. Eating them without getting hot pie juice all over you is a challenge. You'll also avoid a lot of the difficult swing bridges if you go no further than Skipton. Stewart