JohnEW2912

Ostensibly they nipped off up the Leek branch to shop whilst the others looked round the flint mill at Cheddleton. Clearly ridiculous to have done all that from Cheddleton to the junction and up the Leek branch and back (including the long march in and out of Leek) in a couple of hours but I guess poetic licence to concoct the story. We got some fuel from Black Prince at Etruria last Tuesday and they were telling us they were going to be on the telly on Friday. The guy who was showing them how to steer at the beginning served us the diesel. He told us that one of the men was a complete gentleman and another a pain in the backside - I’ll leave you to decide which was which.

From Hilperton don’t forget you would still have the option of going to Bath and back and east of Hilperton as well if you find yourselves with both the time and the inclination.

Using the Ribble Link is not exactly easy for anyone with little boating experience. Can a widebeam even get up Savick Brook? I don't know but it's very narrow in places with some tight bends even for a narrowboat.

We had two teenage boys on board who wanted to spend some time in Leeds and we also had a lengthy stop at Saltaire. i remember Barry at the 5 rise telling us we were behind time for the one-way trip but we made it in plenty of time.

I remember us doing a one-way from Sowerby Bridge to the BW yard at Rose Grove in Burnley about 15/16 years ago - very enjoyable.

Are Shire not doing one way cruises from Barlick to Sowerby Bridge?

Unexpectedly the L&L is reopening from tomorrow between Gargrave & Wigan Top Lock, albeit with some time restrictions. The Wigan flight won't reopen until 22nd October and the repair works brought forward whilst the locks were closed are still ongoing.

And the Glasson branch on the Lancaster has also reopened on restricted hours.

Stourport was heaving last Friday with both private and hire boats and plenty of boats in Worcester too. You're probably just behind our boat with my son and daughter-in-law on it. We had a couple of weeks taking the boat from Scarisbrick to Chester in the last week of June and first of July the long way round (via Autherley). All the hire boat bases we passed were empty except for Anglo-Welsh at Gt Haywood which had a few boats in. Maybe people are avoiding the high peak season prices?

Presumably not, judging by the two posts above yours.

You can go as far as Maghull and up the Rufford branch if you want. The canal will be closed from Monday from Wigan east towards Leeds but not to the west.

I don't think you need any help at Plank Lane - it's certainly not worth someone coming just to do it for you. You can easily move the boat up almost to the bridge controls, get it opened and get through pretty quickly. You will create a traffic queue as it's a busy road but it won't take too much longer than if you have someone to open it for you. In any event there are often other boats around there so you might fine someone to help anyway.

It's on the towpath side since it became unmanned. I misunderstood your comment re Crooke Hall. I thought you just had help between Crooke Hall and Poolstock.

There are a huge number of stations within striking distance of canals, probably hundreds if you include catching a bus into the equation as the OP has. These are all an easy walk from from the Leeds & Liverpool: - James St Sandhills Bank Hall Bootle Oriel Road Bootel New Strand Seaforth & Litherland Old Road Maghull New Lane Burscough Bridge Burscough Junction Hoscar Parbold Appley Bridge Gathurst Wigan North Western Wigan Wallgate Adlington Chorley Pleasington Cherry Tree Mill Hill Blackburn Rishton Hapton Rose Grove Burnley Barracks Burnley Manchester Road Burnley Central Brierfield Skipton Cononley Crossflats Bingley Saltaire Shipley Kirkstall Forge Leeds Then there are some others a bit further to walk to, such as Gargrave and Steeton & Silsden. Of course for many of these you probably wouldn't want to leave your boat unattended.

You will have 5 swing bridges to wrangle before Crooke Hall, some of which still have the controls on the off-side. All manageable by yourself but some a bit fiddly.

Whilst your general point is fair enough Alan, there's a little fake news on the L&L breach. The closure is only from Melling into Liverpool i.e. about the last 11 miles. From Leigh to Melling is fine - i did most of it a few weeks ago.

There’s also another thread a bit lower down on General Boating with the same info I started on Thursday, which was when the stoppage was announced.

Of course a stop at the Anchor at High Offley is nigh on compulsory.

CRT have just announced the closure of the L&L between Wigan and Gargrave from Monday 30th July. In the meantime the locks either side of the summit will have their hours reduced to 10am to 4pm immediately.

CRT have just announced an immediate reduction in the hours of the locks either side of the summit to 10am to 4pm. Then, from Monday 30th July, there will be a complete closure between Wigan and Gargrave.

We were also away for the same two weeks, going from Scarisbrick to Chester (the long way round via Autherley junction!). We never had a problem at all with heat inside the boat and sleeping - having two side doors helped a lot. when we got home on Sunday we struggled to sleep that night!

We have just come from Scarisbrick to Chester the long way round via Autherley junction and I’ve seen 4 (or maybe 3, 2 of the spots were within a mile of each other, so it could have been the same one). One just coming into Wigan and the others on the Shroppie.

I'm more impressed with how Steve has managed to go north through Barnton Tunnel going towards Anderton.

The latest update on the Melling breach: - Update on 20/06/2018: Further to the update of 15 June 2018, our teams continue to install the trackway across the adjacent field, which will facilitate access to the site with the required machinery. Contract teams will be working through the weekend and we hope to be in a position to commence the installation of the first dam on Monday next week and the second by Thursday. We have been liaising with the Environment Agency who have granted permission to extract water from the River Alt. Once the dams are in place, we will start to feed water from the river to the Liverpool pound. We are limited to how much water can be abstracted and it will take time for the Liverpool section to recover. We are monitoring the water levels on a weekly basis and will keep you updated as to when boat movement can resume on the Liverpool side of the stoppage. If you have a Liverpool Canal Link booking and need some advice, please contact us on 03030 404040. An update will be issued on Wednesday 27 June 2018.

Plank Lane is just west of Leigh on the Leigh branch.