john6767

I think it is expected that high time will be around Astland lamp, bepening on the strength of the tide. We were about half an hour up the Ribble before we felt the effect of the outgoing tide, and by the time we got to the turn 8th Savick brook we had slowed by a couple of miles per hour. We were first boat, but a long way, and we waited on the pontoon for well over an hour, which by that time the other boats had arrived, before we were allowed to proceed under the bridge and up Savick brook.

When we were there we did struggle a bit to find marina space, there are not many marinas on the Lancaster. We did get into Barton Grange in the end, but it is the only time anywhere on the system I have not easily found a short term mooring in a marina. I would enquire about the mooring as soon as you can. I think only you can make the decision on the crossing and the boats capability, but only being able to do 3mph on the Severn I would say puts very much at the low end, as you are pushing the tide for much of the trip with say 30 mins in the middle at slack water. Have you watched some of the YouTube videos on the Ribble link, here is a selection if you have not, there are many more. Bear in mind lots of the YouTube stuff is very sensationalist as that is good for views, and add revenue!

I think it would be a bit of a rush, but not impossible. You certainly could do the Lancaster end to end (of at least Ribble Link basin to Tewitfield) in 2 days, but it seems like a bit of a rush, however the locals do like speeding you can act like a local and gun it. Whilst the Glasson Branch is only 6 locks, they are not exactly the easiest to do, so it would be better to spend a night in the Glasson basin if you can. I believe they will try to do a cancelled passage the following day if possible, we were looking like having to do that for our up passage, but the wind dropped in the morning and we were able to go as planned. Your boat does not sound ideal, so you may be too slow on the up passage at least, which means a diversion to Preston and complete the crossing the next day, so again that would be an issue if you are pushed for time.

doubt it, but at least on the way out you get 7 days, so there is no harm in booking it early, and it only takes 2 days from Preston Brook to Leigh for example, so for example book it when you get to Middlewich for the next day and you will be good.

In our case it will be 30 days from the start of the outbound to the return, so it would not let us do it as one booking. So when we return I will make a new booking. It was a combination of 28 days and not a month, and the fact that the clock starts when you enter start the Bridgwater outbound 7 days, that had me confused to start with, as I was thinking our 30 days would count as one trip but it does not.

You could do Stratford upon Avon and return on the canal, and then depending on how much you like locks, on the return from Stratford divert off and go GU to Braunston. On the return when you get to Kingswood junction you could even carry on up the GU and get into the centre of Birmingham that way, before returning to base on the W&B. I am assuming you have 2 week is, which I think you have said but if not then probably just Stratford and back would be my suggestion.

You are confusing the Bridgewater canal with the Manchester Ship canal. You do not need anything for the Bridgewater you just book you visit on the usual CRT bootkong site. You get 7 days for and outward journey plus an optional additional 3 days for a return journey within 28 days from the first day of the out bound journey. The wording used does not make sense if you example you are using it like we just did for tansit from T&M to the Leeds Liverpool, but that is how it works.

We are going into Liverpool next week and the bit that I found was hard to understand was the Bridgewater booking. My guess is the framework is not really designed for that type of booking, andit took me a bit of time to get my head around how it worked.

My reading is Pershore and Nafford are closed, and Evesham is closed downstream due to the upstream lock landing being obstructed. The general notes say that navigation is not recommended, and to contact ANT if you absolutely need to travel. If I were the OP I would look for an alternative route that is all canal based.

Are you certain that the Avon is navigable for its full length at the moment. The ANT notices are here, https://www.avonnavigationtrust.org/notices/ and to me it looks like it is not yet all open following the winter.

You mean the one at Rowington? I was studying that when we came through there a couple of weeks ago, and that certainly has very steep sides, and I agree is a good candidate for a slip. If that happened, the River Soar is the only route North to South and good luck with that at the moment.

If you are still doing this on your original timeframe, then both of those will be a non issue by that time.

We came up Hatton on Sunday, no flies present

But he is not going to be able to go the Trent route in the next 2 to 3 weeks, so over the Pennines is really the only practical route. Or go the simple way and put it on a truck if time is short.

I also had a problem raising Upper Lode a couple of years ago, called on VHF, no response, called on telephone, no response. As we were going down and there is a pontoon, moored up and my wife walked to the lock, and eventually found the lock keeper, I think he was fixing his car or something!

Nah, more spreadsheet, better plan, less locks 😀

I too am rather disappointed that this in not a spreadsheet issue, been brushing up my skills updating my BCN Challenge spreadsheet.

Yes it is, and no it could not!

You are supposed to get the boat repainted after the challenge, not before! Anyway our entry is also in 🙂

Me neither! Glad you enjoyed it, and without wanting to just state the obvious, whilst the trip boats do get a rock on, if you are well tied to the bollards with your ropes tight then you should not move.