MartinClark

The boats that are no longer trading are shown in grey so that it can be seen that they are no longer trading and not just forgotten to be included! For example, someone looking for 'Bargus' will find the information that 'Halsall' covers the area. I have, however, moved all the boats no longer trading to the foot of the page. I hope you find that more helpful. As for a map, many of the traders change where they operate from time to time so it would quickly become out of date. It's easier to change the text of an entry when someone lets me know rather than to modify a map. But if you would like to create a map, David, I would be happy to include it.

Even more of the North to shut! Following the worsening situation with falling reservoir levels, the locks on the east side of the Leeds and Liverpool are to be closed from Friday 17th August. The navigation closure affects all locks between Skipton and Leeds. The main lock flights, i.e. Bingley Five Rise, Bingley Three Rise, Field Locks, Newlay Locks and Forge Locks will be padlocked closed, with the gates ashed to prevent leakage. The Canal and River Trust says that "measures will be taken to make all locks inoperable" to prevent unauthorised use (e.g. by someone breaking the padlocks). The Canal and River Trust says that it is not known how long the closure will last for but that it’s likely to be throughout August and potentially beyond if there is no significant, sustained rainfall. The towpath will remain open.

You'll never leave...

Rochdale Canal - urgent update: Because of the serious shortfall in water supply, the closures on the Rochdale Canal have been brought forward and go into immediate effect. This involves the closure of all locks between Sowerby Bridge (Lock 1) and Littleborough (Lock 48). This includes the section between Locks 7 and 19, which it had been hoped to keep open on restricted opening times. The Canal and River Trust will liaise with boaters on this section so that they can access vital services when possible, offering restricted, controlled passage. Other than this all locks will be secured and out of use.

The Forget-me-not on the Ashton Canal is definitely a motor rather than a horse-drawn boat. It is the same boat as in the second photo on the cutting posted by Neil40 in post #9.

Really? Mind you, I'm not that surprised.

Forget-me-not is now in Ashton. Photo from the Wooden Canal Boat Society website. See http://wcbs.org.uk/boats/forget-me-not/

Over the last 5 years a great many gates have been replaced, doing a lot to address the leaky gate issue. Some of the stiffer paddle gear has now gone. (A few years ago I broke a windlass on Lock 23e in Slaithwaite, but 2 weeks ago it had new gates and was easy to use.) I can only recall around 3 or 4 paddles not working on the entire canal 2 weeks ago. Earlier this year the Huddersfield Canal Society carried out an inspection of all the anti-vandal devices on the canal and over the 74 locks there were just 6 anti-vandal devices that were fitted but not working. There are offside visitor moorings for 2 boats above Lock 4w in Stalybridge, for 1 or 2 boats above Lock 5w, for around 4 above Lock 6w and a further 2 or 3 opposite Tesco. All are on re-built pounds with vertical wash walls. There are offside moorings for 3 boats above Lock 21w in Uppermill which are deeper than the towpath side moorings there. There are visitor moorings for 3 boats below Lock 24w where we got into the side even with water levels down. There are a number of deep moorings, some with rings, on the approach to Standedge Tunnel at Diggle.

Hebden Bridge is between Todmorden and Mytholmroyd.

Somebody must have been doing one. It's raining in Mossley and Stalybridge.

I know. I wrote that page.

That is an old document created by British Waterways (and originally on the Waterscape website) which had always incorrectly shown the maximum length for the Calder & Hebble as 54ft 9 ins. I eventually gave up trying to get BW to correct it.

It was filled in at Sowerby Bridge and a road built on the line (above what is now the tunnel into Tuel Lane lock), It was filled in near Rochdale and a motorway link road was built across it. It was filled in at Castleton and a motorway was built across it. It was filled in at Failsworth and a supermarket was built across it.

And a failure to deal with the problem with Lock 11 at Marple, which they knew about last year, at the same time as the work at Lock 15?

I must have missed the stoppage notice which said that Marple Lock 11 has been closed again. I only came through it on Thursday.

The continuing dry and warm weather will result in restrictions and lock closures on the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals. Marple Locks are closed again because of continuing movement at Lock 11 and will remain closed now until the lock walls can be rebuilt. Access to Bugsworth Basin will be closed from Monday 13th August. Passage through Bosley Locks is being restricted to between 8.00 am and 2.00 pm from today. Bosley Locks will be closed completely from Monday 13th August. The Canal and River Trust says that it has reluctantly taken these decisions due to the low levels of the reservoirs because of prolonged low rainfall and with the forecast for further dry weather. The Canal and River Trust says that it is not known how long these closures will last for but that it's likely to be until the end of August and potentially beyond if there is no significant, sustained rainfall. The towpath will remain open. These restrictions follow a difficult time for boaters on these canals with long stoppages on the Marple flight, a recent stoppage because of a leak at Bollington and several stoppages at Bosley Locks. Some boaters may have difficulty returning to their home moorings before the closure at Bosley.

The continuing dry and warm weather will result in the closure of large parts of the Rochdale and Huddersfield Narrow Canals from Monday 6th August. The sections of canal to be closed with locks padlocked are - Huddersfield Narrow Canal: Lock 1e (Huddersfield) to Lock 24w (Wool Road). Rochdale Canal: Lock 1 (Sowerby Bridge) to Lock 48 (Littleborough). The section of the Rochdale Canal from Hebden Bridge to Todmorden (between Locks 6 and 19) will remain open but with navigation restricted to between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm under a local booking system. Although the canal will remain open between Manchester and Littleborough it is unlikely that many boaters would decide to travel beyond New Islington Marina. The Rochdale Nine lock flight in Manchester will remain open, linking the Ashton and Bridgewater Canals. On the closed sections, the canal and River Trust says that "measures will be taken to make the locks inoperable" to prevent unauthorised use (e.g. by someone breaking the padlocks). These closures will come into effect a week after the closure of the central section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from 30th July, meaning that all three trans-Pennine routes will be closed. The Canal and River Trust says that it has reluctantly taken this decision due to the low levels of the reservoirs because of prolonged low rainfall and with the forecast for further dry weather. The Canal and River Trust says that it is not known how long these closures will last for but that it's likely to be throughout August and potentially beyond if there is no significant, sustained rainfall. The towpath will remain open.

Lack of rainfall over a period of weeks is leading to a shortage of water on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. This has now resulted in restricted opening hours at several lock flights. On the Wigan flight, the top and bottom locks (65 and 85) will be padlocked shut except for the following times: • 8:30 am to 9:30 am to allow entry onto the flight • 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm to allow exit from the flight Overnight mooring on the flight is only allowed at Rose Bridge, between Locks 77 and 78. Assistance for single handed boaters is available on Thursday mornings at 8:30 am. Contact the Wigan Lock keepers on 01942 405774. (These reduced opening times replace the previous experimental times of 8.00 - 9.00 am, 12.00 - 1.00 pm and 5.00 - 6.00 pm.) Restrictions are already in place on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal between Gargrave and Barrowford, where locks are only open to navigation from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm daily at : • Barrowford Locks (45 to 51). Last passage at 4:30 pm. • Greenberfield Locks (42 to 44). Last passage at 5.00 pm. • Bank Newton Locks (36 to 41). Last passage at 5.00 pm. • Gargrave (Holme Bridge Lock 30). Last passage at 5.00 pm. These lock flights will be padlocked at 6.00 pm. Boaters should make sure they enter the lock flight with sufficient time to get through, noting the last passage start times. Moorings are available at the top and bottom of these flights.

Indeed. They need to be reminded about this. ?

This is meant to be a temporary fix to enable most boats to be able to pass through over the summer. CRT have said they will carry out a more permanent repair in the winter. I presume they will restore the lock to its previous dimensions.

Marple Lock 11 update from CRT, 29th June: - Marple Locks will remain closed for a further week. A large number of the stones have moved and are now at 6ft 11in, the minimum required to allow 6’10’’ boats to pass through the lock. Some stones have not moved back to allow sufficient clearance, so it has been decided that some masonry should be planed to achieve the require width within the lock. The stoppage will be reassessed at the end of next week.

All the fat people would just stay in Wigan to get their hands on all the pies.

What about an Inclined Plane for the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to take some of the misery out of the Wigan flight? The top 13 locks could be replaced by an inclined plane boat lift similar to some that are in operation in Europe. Such a scheme could bring visitors flocking to Wigan, but would it be welcomed by boaters? Follow this link for more information. The photo below shows an inclined plane boat lift in Poland. [Photo: Wsombeck at de.wikipedia]

Droylsden Marina is pretty full these days and it may not be possible to get onto a (paid-for) secure pontoon and, as others have said, it is not a good idea to moor outside the marina. I would suggest pressing on to Ashton, turning right onto the Peak Forest and then, either mooring alongside the grassed area before the lift bridge, as Dave suggests (which should be fine if other boats are moored there), or going through the lift bridge and mooring about 150 yards further on, which is a quieter spot (fewer people walking along that bit of towpath) and there are often other boats there. Some have commented on the Rochdale Nine. Going up the flight, you may find the bottom gates hard to open if there is a lot of water pouring over the top gates. One solution is to open a paddle at the top end as well and allow some water to run through the lock. When the pound above has lowered a little, close the top paddle and get the bottom gates open before the water starts over-topping the top gate again.

It all depends on how your journey coincides with boats heading to or from booked passages of Standedge Tunnel. On one of my transits of the canal, we passed 5 boats going the other way between Stalybridge and Mossley, several of them at locks.