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Going on a long cruise - Yippee!


FluffyVal

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I am soon going for a trip on a hire boat which will be the first trip for a good number of years. I am of pensionable age  (☺️) but still active. I have various crew volunteers over the time I am on the boat and I am hoping to cruise the Huddersfield and Leeds and Liverpool.

Has anyone got any advice for someone who is going for a jolly many years after leaving life on the canals?

Edited by FluffyVal
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I picked up about Standedge  (and Harecastle) and have booked passage but not HNL 1E, I will get on with that, thanks.

 

My prep atm is going through the proposed route on the lockmaster maps, estimating timings, and then going through the stoppages in CRT.

I am writing it all in a small journal and hoping to get it typed before we go.

I am currently trying to find where I put my shocking pink lock gloves, I am sure I wouldn’t have thrown them.

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8 hours ago, FluffyVal said:

Has anyone got any advice for someone who is going for a jolly many years after leaving life on the canals?

Edited 7 hours ago by FluffyVal

 

Yes. CanalplanAC always exaggerates how quickly you'll get somewhere. Anywhere!

 

 

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53 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Really?  I find it so conservative on default settings that it's unusable without logging in to my adjusted profile.

 

 

Yep. With a deep drafted boat dragging its arse along the bottom and being single handed and frequently stopping for water, shopping, empty bog, use bog, cook bacon sandwiches, make tea, wait in lock queues etc etc, I too need to log in to my adjusted profile. 

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6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Yep. With a deep drafted boat dragging its arse along the bottom and being single handed and frequently stopping for water, shopping, empty bog, use bog, cook bacon sandwiches, make tea, wait in lock queues etc etc, I too need to log in to my adjusted profile. 

I too have a deep drafted boat dragging it's arse along the bottom and am often single handed, but I find Canalplan's times reasonably accurate. Of course it only calculates travelling time, which doesn't include time stopped for water, shopping, emptying the bog, using the bog, cooking bacon sandwiches, making tea, or extended waiting in lock queues. So I allow for these separately in working out how many hours travelling I expect to do each day.

Edited by David Mack
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5 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Yep. With a deep drafted boat dragging its arse along the bottom and being single handed and frequently stopping for water, shopping, empty bog, use bog, cook bacon sandwiches, make tea, wait in lock queues etc etc, I too need to log in to my adjusted profile. 

Yeah but hire botes float on a wet tea towel! Have you never moved Tawny Owl? 😊

14 hours ago, FluffyVal said:

I am soon going for a trip on a hire boat which will be the first trip for a good number of years. I am of pensionable age  (☺️) but still active. I have various crew volunteers over the time I am on the boat and I am hoping to cruise the Huddersfield and Leeds and Liverpool.

Has anyone got any advice for someone who is going for a jolly many years after leaving life on the canals?

Have fun, enjoy, milk every moment! I'm jealous. X

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13 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

How long a trip are you planning

I have the boat for 6 weeks, setting off from Stone, up the T&M, the Macc, Peak Forest, Huddersfield then L&L, Bridgewater to Worsley. I haven’t a plan from there.

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1 hour ago, FluffyVal said:

I have the boat for 6 weeks, setting off from Stone, up the T&M, the Macc, Peak Forest, Huddersfield then L&L, Bridgewater to Worsley. I haven’t a plan from there.

 

If time allows, I'd recommend going into Liverpool, which will also need booking.  The trip through the old docks is one of my favourite journeys on the canals.

 

The Bridgewater canal also needs booking for private boats, I don't know if hire boats are exempt from this so it's worth checking.

 

Anderton Boat Lift and the River Weaver is worth considering too if you go back that way.

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Just going through Stoppages for my trip, it seems the L&L has a navigation closure at ‘Lock 31, Eshton Road Lock - Leeds & Liverpool Canal’

This is a pretty major problem to me, and probably many others. Has anyone had any success at getting an assisted passage through this closure?

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23 minutes ago, FluffyVal said:

Just going through Stoppages for my trip, it seems the L&L has a navigation closure at ‘Lock 31, Eshton Road Lock - Leeds & Liverpool Canal’

This is a pretty major problem to me, and probably many others. Has anyone had any success at getting an assisted passage through this closure?

 

Nope, it's very very shut.

 

Reopening mid May.  Are you putting your starting date into the planners or notices filters?

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In my experience the Huddersfield Narrow has some maintenance issues- it is very shallow in places - with fewer places to moor on the eastern side. You need to ensure that your boat will fit through the Standedge Tunnel, there are details on the CRT website. However I do enjoy travelling this canal. The Rochdale canal is beautiful, cutting as it does through the Pennines. It’s less pleasant sections lie at the Manchester end, it is hard work getting into Manchester, though I believe that there are volunteer lockies available at times. I always recommend turning around on the outskirts of Manchester and doing the eastern part again! Having said that, it is all quite do-able, even as a single hander. I hope that you enjoy your trip.

 

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16 hours ago, PNB116 said:

In my experience the Huddersfield Narrow has some maintenance issues- it is very shallow in places - with fewer places to moor on the eastern side. You need to ensure that your boat will fit through the Standedge Tunnel, there are details on the CRT website. However I do enjoy travelling this canal. The Rochdale canal is beautiful, cutting as it does through the Pennines. It’s less pleasant sections lie at the Manchester end, it is hard work getting into Manchester, though I believe that there are volunteer lockies available at times. I always recommend turning around on the outskirts of Manchester and doing the eastern part again! Having said that, it is all quite do-able, even as a single hander. I hope that you enjoy your trip.

 

Thanks for this info 

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