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katie_hannah

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Hello,

 

We will soon be moving our boat from Ely, through the middle level to join the CRT canals at Northampton.  We will only be on the rivers and middle level for between 1 week and 10 days. 

 

We will be buying a CRT license as that is where we will be living.  What other licenses do we need? I thought we would need one for the EA rivers but I've read about registering/licensing and I'm now confused!

 

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks in advance ?

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You will need an EA licence. If you've just bought the boat it may have an unexpired licence on it as the EA don't do refunds so check.

 

Otherwise you may be able to buy an EA visitor licence but they do have some strange rules.

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A gold licence would allow you to use CART and EA waters. valid january to january and if you intend moving around and popping on the Thames etc it may be worth considering. Unlike CART licences they stay with the boat if you sell it and cannot be refunded iirc.

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I did almost exactly the same route with my boat two months ago, as its license was transferred to the owner's new boat when the sale was competed, so I needed the license from the day I moved aboard.

 

If I remember correctly you can buy either a week's EA visitor license at about £70, or a  month for a couple of hundred. 

 

Their customer services were quick to answer and were very helpful in explaining the options- and they will email you an A4 sized PDF that you can print and stick in your window whilst you are on EA waters- and there were staff at a couple of locks who seemed to be paying attention to this document. 

 

Its a great journey to make, with amazing scenery along the Great Ouse, the middle levels and the Nene, but the moorings are very limited. 

There is no continuous towpath as such, and often the places to moor are 5 or more miles apart, and there are only a few mooring spots, but that said it may be quieter now, so you may have no problem finding mooring spots. 

 

If its late and the spots are all taken, and its 5 miles to the next moorings, you can consider asking one of those moored if you can moor up onto their boat overnight, rather than cruise on in darkness. 

 

Friends of the river Nene (FOTRN) costs about £12 to join for a year, and opens up a lot more mooring places on the route, making life less stressful in general. I really wish I had joined. 

But their website says it takes several days to process your application, so do join them as soon as possible. Its the best tenner you will spend on the river, certainly in summer/autumn anyway. 

 

There are people here who know these waterways far better than I ever will, but a big issue now approaching, as someone mentioned above, is the closures and flooding- which I heard in conversation closed the Nene for a couple of months last year. So do get all the info you can on that, because I think that time of year is upon us.

 

 

Edited by Tony1
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58 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

There are people here who know these waterways far better than I ever will, but a big issue now approaching, as someone mentioned above, is the closures and flooding- which I heard in conversation closed the Nene for a couple of months last year. So do get all the info you can on that, because I think that time of year is upon us.

Nene is open at present, last year it was on SSA from October to March so more than a couple of months!

Think of the Nene as a sometimes navigable flood control system and you wont go far wrong.

When we moved Loddon from Earith to the GU we went by road as we didn't have the time (due to work) to go by water. Lifted at 8am from the Ouse dropped in midday at Winkwell on the GU,  made life very easy.

 

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1 hour ago, Tim Lewis said:

Do you not now need a license to transit the Middle levels, I thought that these were being bought in on September 1st!

 

We transited twice in September, no mention made of it. 

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18 hours ago, Loddon said:

We transited twice in September, no mention made of it. 

  The licensing department is in chaos, Transit licence should have been charged from the 1st Sept, Yet the lock keepers have not be supplied with either forms or licences. The whole thing is a mess, The head of licensing is no longer answering emails or the phone, word is that he has quit. Wrong payments have been taken, licences not sent out.

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Once on the Nene, facilities are very limited. As some have said, moorings are scarce and even the friends of the Nene ones are more suited to small cruisers as the bankside is jagged. Another big problem is sourcing food, drinks, etc., as nearby shops are rare to say the least. 

 Rolling stoppages made last year from the beginning of November impossible to reach Northampton until spring and not all were advertised on the dates they actually started (i had to get the boat craned out due to the earlier than advertised start of closures).

 The flooding has to be seen to be believed...

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1 minute ago, katie_hannah said:

Thank you everyone for your advice!

 

Unfortunately, 3 of the locks we will need to go through are closing on the 1st of November so we will have to hire a lorry to transport the boat, which is a shame, we were so excited to cruise this journey 

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Moving our boat early in our ownership, across the country over a 2 month winter period whilst honing our timings to allow for imminent navigation closures and reopenings, was one of the best trips we've ever done. I felt I really got to know the boat and her systems during that voyage. 

 

Maybe just move her to somewhere you can get her to her new home from? Or maybe just sail straight away and cruise her for the time you'd set aside for the delivery cruise?  Whatever, I hope enjoy your new boat. :)

 

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1 minute ago, Sea Dog said:

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Moving our boat early in our ownership, across the country over a 2 month winter period whilst honing our timings to allow for imminent navigation closures and reopenings, was one of the best trips we've ever done. I felt I really got to know the boat and her systems during that voyage. 

 

Maybe just move her to somewhere you can get her to her new home from? Or maybe just sail straight away and cruise her for the time you'd set aside for the delivery cruise?  Whatever, I hope enjoy your new boat. :)

 

 

I had planned nearly everything out but missed the Nene closures, we were really looking forward to it!

 

Once we are past the closures we would only be a day away from the final mooring so we figured we'll move all the way then go for day or two out.  We don't have our BSC just yet and that will be another week which doesn't leave enough time to make it through the closures.

 

Thank you, I appreciate you trying to help, we can't wait to be living on board after what feels like forever fitting out! ?

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