JohnEW2912

Would that be The Waggoners at Platt Lane? I can remember going in there some time in the late 70s/early80s.

Linda - great to see you took my advice and posted on here as well as Trip Advisor! I don't think I can add much more to my post on there and the posts above. It's just possible our boat could be on the Llangollen at the same time - look out for us.

Why don't you use the hire boat business based at Bridgewater marina at Boothstown?

Devil's Garden is indeed lovely. Sitting on the front of the boat there now after another lovely day. And as you can see, with internet access too. Clearly the 4G aerial my son persuaded us to fit is working well.

I should add for info that because of the boats going to the Winsford Regatta this weekend there are no available places on the boat lift for tomorrow and Friday - my son got the last one for tomorrow this afternoon. It's also almost booked up for Sunday and Monday with boats returning.

Would prefer rings if possible but no hook-up needed. Pins would be OK. Would also be helpful to be not too far from a road.

On a related topic, are there moorings on the Weaver where we could leave our boat for 7 days?

I'd go for the Caldon route, mainly because I find it to be my favourite canal on the network. Just looking on canal planner it's 104 miles and 108 locks - quite a week's work but in the days when we hired we did similar distances. As has been said your only potential issue is making it through the tunnel at the right time.

This trip is easily doable in your timeframe if you're happy to put in a few longish days. Excluding any locks in Middlewich and the Liverpool Link locks there are only 9 each way, plus as has been mentioned a number of swing bridges after Wigan. We moor at Scarisbrick and can do from there to Lymm in less than 2 days. Of course it's good to spend some time in Liverpool and that would be difficult in a 9 day trip. Scarisbrick Marina won't really work for you as somewhere to leave the boat as it's too near Liverpool for you to get the boat either there or back in a weekend. You could think of taking the boat to Anderton or Acton Bridge in advance or maybe better having a fallback position of leaving it there if you don't have time to get back at the end.

I've seen and heard about boats mooring there although never done it myself. I think it's pretty safe these days but i don't think I'd moor overnight. I might also leave someone on the boat while other(s) do the shopping. In other news the Ye Older Pub has reopened - we were there Thursday.

I am just back home briefly after prepping my boat for craning out from Garstang to Lymm tomorrow. This is not CRT funded - our choice. It's a new boat that only went in the water 2 weeks ago. Unsurprisingly we had lots of plans for the boat for the remainder of the summer. We should have been on the link today but cancelled when the Rufford breach happened. Given it will be mid September at least before we can get through we wanted to get somewhere we could get to to use the boat as we have been without since selling our previous boat in February. we've had to change plans again since the Bridgewater closure but at least we will be moving tomorrow, hopefully.

Update on 23/07/2015: Please be advised that we are still awaiting the delivery of stop planks in order to start the repair works. We will continue to assist customers through Lock 1 between 10:00 am and 11:00 am daily. a further update will be give on Friday 25th July 2015

I hope it does. Our new boat is being built at Bridge House marina and we have time from Friday up till next Tuesday to see the Lancaster. After that we are in London for a few days and then back in time to do the link on 5th August.

The word I have is that they are hoping to have everything open by this weekend. The stoppage emails would back that up as they are talking about hoping to start re-watering from tomorrow.

I applied online for a licence for our new boat last Friday. I had a query so rang up, answered second ring and dealt with straight away. Online form completed and email received saying I would get my new number in 1 working day. Email received with number at 9.15am Monday morning. Now for the fun bit - boat going into the water on Thursday!

My recollection is that when we first registered our old boat in 2003 that the licence fee was calculated by BW in metres.

Where are the 2 locks above Wigan? And Cape locks on the Bridgewater?

Could it be Lynne Delaney? I had great service from Lynne last week. Our new boat will be ready in a couple of weeks. It's being built on the Lancaster so we wanted a couple of weeks to cruise the canal before returning across the link to the main network in early August. The normal process requires a licence number, certificate of conformity and insurance details, none of which we yet have, but she has reserved us a place on the assumption she will get this info before we travel. I guess the stoppage at the aqueduct will mean that we'll have to come back to complete the canal, but we moor at Scarisbrick Marina so not too difficult.

Reading to London is over 40 miles. What Dean is doing commuting short distances with Greater Manchester is not comparable. A peak return from Smithy Bridge to Manchester is £8.80. An off-peak one is £4.30 and from what I've read Dean seems to start work late.

I see that the video has been included on this week's CRT Boater's update under the headline "How Not To Open a Lock Gate - Shocking Video".

I'd agree with Philip that the Stourport Ring via the Netherton tunnel is easily done in a week's hiring. I can remember many years ago doing it in a week from Stourport and having a day and half off at the Black Country Museum and Birmingham.

It's all on here - http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/transport-and-streets/mooring-and-berthing-harbour It seems to be £2.87 a metre for 48 hours. There doesn't seem to be any differential between narrow and widebeam.

There is a mooring on the L&L between bridges 115 and 116 with arguably the best view on the network. Not what you might be expecting between Burnley and Blackburn and its spoilt as a perfect location by some noise from the M65 behind you but the view out across the Ribble valley to the Forest of Bowland is perfect.

I don't know whether you can do it online but you certainly can at any tube ticket office. You just need proof of age and a senior railcard will do.

Tony Robinson is taking a 3 day walk along the L&L from Liverpool to Wigan tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm. He's looking at the story of the canal's construction and the effect it had on the area. It looks like being much more focused on the canal than other recent travelogues.