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Any full timers on the Anglian waterways?


paul68

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I'm there at the moment. It has some very attractive stretches of rivers and some nice towns.

One thing to be aware of if you're continuously cruising is that there are few places suitable for a narrowboat to stop on much of the river, other than official moorings which are 48hr, so you really will be moving a lot. :) 

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11 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

I'm there at the moment. It has some very attractive stretches of rivers and some nice towns.

One thing to be aware of if you're continuously cruising is that there are few places suitable for a narrowboat to stop on much of the river, other than official moorings which are 48hr, so you really will be moving a lot. :) 

I'm from that part of the country and we know the area quite well, I kept a cruiser at Prickwillow a few years ago but that wasn't full time cruising. We found the beauty of that area is a lot of it is more remote and quieter than a lot of the canal system. Are you continuous cruising? I wanted to ask about the licence for that area.

Edited by paul68
additional question.
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couple of  reasons why being a ccer on anglian waters is not easy.

1 In the winter there is a very high chance that you will not be able to move, certainly the Nene has been in flood from October to March for the last two years and the Bedford part of the Ouse wasn't far behind it.

2 Alll the moorings are 48hr only and you will become very unpopular very quickly if you overstay.

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1 minute ago, Loddon said:

couple of  reasons why being a ccer on anglian waters is not easy.

1 In the winter there is a very high chance that you will not be able to move, certainly the Nene has been in flood from October to March for the last two years and the Bedford part of the Ouse wasn't far behind it.

2 Alll the moorings are 48hr only and you will become very unpopular very quickly if you overstay.

All are 48hr only? I was unaware of that, in that case I will look for a 12 month mooring as a base. thanks for that.

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3 hours ago, paul68 said:

All are 48hr only? I was unaware of that, in that case I will look for a 12 month mooring as a base. thanks for that.

They are mixture of EA, GOBA and Local Authority but all 48 hours with some like Ely, strictly enforced.

 

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5 hours ago, paul68 said:

All are 48hr only? I was unaware of that, in that case I will look for a 12 month mooring as a base. thanks for that.

Try Little Ouse Moorings, not sure if they allow livaboards but very nice helpful people.

Not all are 48hrs,  the moorings on Well Creek on the Middle Level are 36hrs max ;)

 

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7 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Try Little Ouse Moorings, not sure if they allow livaboards but very nice helpful people.

Not all are 48hrs,  the moorings on Well Creek on the Middle Level are 36hrs max ;)

 

I moored there for a year, they also had the cheapest diesel and free range eggs.

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What's a full timer? Presumably you mean full time CCers rather than full time liveaboards? As Julian said, you won't find many CCers on rivers in winter because you need a safe flood proof mooring, but there are still plenty of people with moorings living aboard.

 

If you're living or cruising on rivers you need to get out of that ditch dweller canal mindset where you can just tie up anywhere and if something goes wrong you can just chuck a rope to someone on the towpath. You need to be more aware of weather forecasts, currents and other river traffic. There's a bit more to boating and living aboard boats on rivers than on canals.

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2 minutes ago, blackrose said:

There's a bit more to boating and living aboard boats on rivers than on canals.

 

I was always a more aware, apprehensive and careful when on the Rivers than I ever am on the open sea - when it does go wrong (and it sometime will) you have neither the time or space to resolve the problem that you have on the sea.

If you are 10 miles offshore  and drifting, then you have hours before worrying about hitting land, on the Rivers you may be 100 yards away from going over a weir and have seconds to deploy the anchor.

 

A totally different mindset is needed compared to canal cruising where, in an emergency, you could even get off and walk to the side.

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13 minutes ago, blackrose said:

What's a full timer? Presumably you mean full time CCers rather than full time liveaboards? As Julian said, you won't find many CCers on rivers in winter because you need a safe flood proof mooring, but there are still plenty of people with moorings living aboard.

 

If you're living or cruising on rivers you need to get out of that ditch dweller canal mindset where you can just tie up anywhere and if something goes wrong you can just chuck a rope to someone on the towpath. You need to be more aware of weather forecasts, currents and other river traffic. There's a bit more to boating and living aboard boats on rivers than on canals.

For me it would be full time liveaboard and if we do the Anglian waterways(for the first year) we will definately be looking for a 12 month mooring as a base. I'm new to the liveaboard thing so if I use the wrong terminology I trust you will cut me a bit of slack..

Edited by paul68
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55 minutes ago, paul68 said:

For me it would be full time liveaboard and if we do the Anglian waterways(for the first year) we will definately be looking for a 12 month mooring as a base. I'm new to the liveaboard thing so if I use the wrong terminology I trust you will cut me a bit of slack..

 

Apologies, I wasn't having a go at you. In fact my comments were more about the mindset of the vast majority of canal boat owners, some of whom have owned boats for decades yet who've never ventured off the canals and have a rather blinkered view of boats and boating.

 

So I was having a go at everyone else! ?

Edited by blackrose
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38 minutes ago, Loddon said:

There is a fairly large livaboard community at Stretham on the Old West River
https://maps.app.goo.gl/v7sDRwXnyYoyoTeW8

Moorings both sides of the river, don't know who owns or runs the moorings if anyone, you would have to go down there and ask, I suspect its different both sides of the river.

Thanks, will do. I have 2 or 3 places to check out, I might add a couple of days to our Crick weekend in August and check some other places out too.

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8 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Apologies, I wasn't having a go at you. In fact my comments were more about the mindset of the vast majority of canal boat owners, some of whom have owned boats for decades yet who've never ventured off the canals and have a rather blinkered view of boats and boating.

 

So I was having a go at everyone else! ?

No apology needed but thanks anyway. I understand where you are coming from. From my own personal plans, we will be buying a narrowboat in the next few months to live on. As I know the Anglian waterways, having lived in that part of the country, I thought it might be a good place to start to cut our teeth in narrowboating so to speak, at least for a few months or a year then go onto the CRT canal system. I would welcome anyone's thoughts or advice.

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26 minutes ago, paul68 said:

No apology needed but thanks anyway. I understand where you are coming from. From my own personal plans, we will be buying a narrowboat in the next few months to live on. As I know the Anglian waterways, having lived in that part of the country, I thought it might be a good place to start to cut our teeth in narrowboating so to speak, at least for a few months or a year then go onto the CRT canal system. I would welcome anyone's thoughts or advice.

Its a different world in East Anglia than on the Canals. I love both.

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