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Chesterfield canal - mooring


BeckyJC

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Hi All,

 

Looking at exploring the Chesterfield canal shortly, but a quick glance at the BW boaters' guide seems to show only 24hr visitor moorings! Presumably there are also places I can moor (i.e. not "official" moorings") for up to 14 days?

 

Appreciate any tips on where to / where not to moor - was thinking of spending perhaps a month or so exploring at leisure - is this do-able?

 

Cheers,

Becky

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We were there 2 years ago (report clicky). It's a beautiful canal. There are a few places where you can moor for longer periods, but I can't remember the details (my logbook is on the boat and I'm in the house right now). As Phylis says it is generally very shallow at the edges and you have to work quite hard to find somehere that you can get the boat near enough to the bank for mooring.

 

The mooring conventions are very very odd on the Chesterfield. Because there are so few unofficial mooring spots, it seems to have become the accepted practice to moor on lock moorings and to accept that anyone wanting to use the lock will use you as a pontoon.

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We were there 2 years ago (report clicky). It's a beautiful canal. There are a few places where you can moor for longer periods, but I can't remember the details (my logbook is on the boat and I'm in the house right now). As Phylis says it is generally very shallow at the edges and you have to work quite hard to find somehere that you can get the boat near enough to the bank for mooring.

 

The mooring conventions are very very odd on the Chesterfield. Because there are so few unofficial mooring spots, it seems to have become the accepted practice to moor on lock moorings and to accept that anyone wanting to use the lock will use you as a pontoon.

 

Hi.

 

This is our neck of the woods and although we are "without boat", have spent many a happy hour at Stockwith basin (and the pubs!)

 

Have just spent the last hour reading and thoroughly enjoying "Keeping Up's" blog. We hope to emulate your lifestyle from this time next year. Cannot wait.

 

Cheers

 

John.

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Hi.

 

This is our neck of the woods and although we are "without boat", have spent many a happy hour at Stockwith basin (and the pubs!)

 

Have just spent the last hour reading and thoroughly enjoying "Keeping Up's" blog. We hope to emulate your lifestyle from this time next year. Cannot wait.

 

Cheers

 

John.

Us too Alans website is epic. The very short sound recording of greyhound is great.

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Thanks for all the replies!

 

As the mooring sounds "interesting" for more than a few hours, I think I'm going to skip the Chesterfield afterall this time around. Tide times aren't looking too bad, so I'm going to head straight down the Trent to Nottingham - just a slight change to the plan, eh?

 

Any recommendations for "safe" visitor moorings in/around Nottingham greatly received! Am I right in thinking that there are 14-day moorings somewhere near Sainsburys and the station in the centre? BW boaters guide says so, and I vaguely remember passing them before, but I no longer trust the guide - has let me down several times recently. On that note, if anyone knows of a good, reliable guide to visitor moorings (i.e. time limit, number of boats) it would be VERY gratefully received! I am trying to legitimately cruise the system, but do sometimes need to leave the boat for a few days and this is proving difficult in areas I don't know as a result of a complete lack of information. Nicholson guide doesn't usually give time limits / amount of space, BW boaters guides don't always reflect the actual situation.

 

Cheers,

Becky

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Have just spent the last hour reading and thoroughly enjoying "Keeping Up's" blog. We hope to emulate your lifestyle from this time next year. Cannot wait.

Thanks for the comment. It's the best possible lifestyle, I'll look forward to meeting you on our respective travels.

 

Us too Alans website is epic. The very short sound recording of greyhound is great.

Thanks for your comments also. It's always good to know that I'm pitching it about right on the website.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

 

As the mooring sounds "interesting" for more than a few hours, I think I'm going to skip the Chesterfield afterall this time around. Tide times aren't looking too bad, so I'm going to head straight down the Trent to Nottingham - just a slight change to the plan, eh?

 

Any recommendations for "safe" visitor moorings in/around Nottingham greatly received! Am I right in thinking that there are 14-day moorings somewhere near Sainsburys and the station in the centre? BW boaters guide says so, and I vaguely remember passing them before, but I no longer trust the guide - has let me down several times recently. On that note, if anyone knows of a good, reliable guide to visitor moorings (i.e. time limit, number of boats) it would be VERY gratefully received! I am trying to legitimately cruise the system, but do sometimes need to leave the boat for a few days and this is proving difficult in areas I don't know as a result of a complete lack of information. Nicholson guide doesn't usually give time limits / amount of space, BW boaters guides don't always reflect the actual situation.

 

Cheers,

Becky

It's a shame you can't include the Chesterfield, it really is beautiful. One place that I have remembered as being a good but unofficial mooring, where we stopped for a while, is immediately "downstream" of the Retford & Worksop boat club. There is some piling immediately before the boat club moorings as you approach from the Stockwith direction, where it is deep and there is no time limit. The Boat Club members were very friendly when we called in, and would probably keep an eye on the boat while you were away too.

 

In Nottingham the moorings near Sainsbury's are pretty good; there's plenty of room there and it seems reasonably safe (although nowhere is ever guaranteed of course).

 

I don't know of any guides that are reliable. I just use a 20-year-old Nicholsons and assume it's going to be wrong; I'm rarely disappointed.

 

(Edited for bad typing)

Edited by Keeping Up
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Thanks for all the replies!

 

As the mooring sounds "interesting" for more than a few hours, I think I'm going to skip the Chesterfield afterall this time around. Tide times aren't looking too bad, so I'm going to head straight down the Trent to Nottingham - just a slight change to the plan, eh?

 

Any recommendations for "safe" visitor moorings in/around Nottingham greatly received! Am I right in thinking that there are 14-day moorings somewhere near Sainsburys and the station in the centre? BW boaters guide says so, and I vaguely remember passing them before, but I no longer trust the guide - has let me down several times recently. On that note, if anyone knows of a good, reliable guide to visitor moorings (i.e. time limit, number of boats) it would be VERY gratefully received! I am trying to legitimately cruise the system, but do sometimes need to leave the boat for a few days and this is proving difficult in areas I don't know as a result of a complete lack of information. Nicholson guide doesn't usually give time limits / amount of space, BW boaters guides don't always reflect the actual situation.

 

Cheers,

Becky

 

We spent a couple of evenings on the Nottingham moorings by the Sainsburys, once on our way up and then again on the way back down. They seem fairly safe but as ever just be careful and leave the boat secure if you go anywhere for any length of time. There is also a mooring just after the lock by the pub. We spent a couple of hours there before heading to the Sainsburys mooring. There are also moorings on the river if you lock down onto the river. Im not sure of the time limits on these moorings but there seemed to be a few boats that where there both times we came by so maybe they are 7 or 14 days. Anyway its a nice spot.

 

DSC00447.jpg

 

Theres Cal looking very out of place!!!

 

DSC00433.jpg

 

Theres the OH taking a dip in the canal after flipping dinghy!!!!

 

DSC00434.jpg

 

And theres the washing line deployed again!!!

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No!! Don't skip the Chesterfield. It's a wonderful canal, well worth the effort. We went up there last year and had no problems finding moorings. Didn't even give it a thought (and Warrior is pretty deep drafted). I think one night we stopped on a lock mooring but there are so few boats around, at least past Shireoaks, that it really doesn't matter. And there are plenty of lock moorings :lol:

 

In the morning the water was perfectly clear and I fished out two beautiful, enormous, freshwater mussel shells.

 

Don't be put off, do do it.

 

(Worksop is horrible, but that's the only bad bit)

 

When you get to the top there's a great mooring, and it is absolutely magical. Do it!

Edited by Chertsey
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No!! Don't skip the Chesterfield. It's a wonderful canal, well worth the effort.

 

Agreed completely. Miss the Chesterfield out and you miss one of the highlights of the trip. I think the little hamlet of Turnerwood is one of the most attractive spots anywhere.

 

 

(Worksop is horrible, but that's the only bad bit)

 

Aww, poor Worksop, I used to like it when I lived nearby years ago. Maybe it has gone downhill since. The market used to be good. The old Pickford's warehouse which straddles the canal just before Town lock is an interesting landmark though.

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Aww, poor Worksop, I used to like it when I lived nearby years ago. Maybe it has gone downhill since. The market used to be good. The old Pickford's warehouse which straddles the canal just before Town lock is an interesting landmark though.

 

Well, Worksop lock was very nasty (Although the dead pigeons may be gone by now). I shouldn't have maligned the rest of the town because I didn't see it; it seems to be one of the few places that still turns its back to the canal.

 

Mind you, the Erewash is well worth visiting too, in a completely different way.

Edited by Chertsey
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You'll not have trouble mooring on the Chesterfield, there's plenty of piled bits where it is deep enoug to get at least one end of the boat in. The club has spare moorings in the summer, though they do charge a little for there use, There are a couple of pubs with short term moorings. It is really pretty too, and the food at the Brewers in Clayworth is ace.

 

Lee

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We were there 2 years ago (report clicky). It's a beautiful canal. There are a few places where you can moor for longer periods, but I can't remember the details (my logbook is on the boat and I'm in the house right now). As Phylis says it is generally very shallow at the edges and you have to work quite hard to find somehere that you can get the boat near enough to the bank for mooring.

 

The mooring conventions are very very odd on the Chesterfield. Because there are so few unofficial mooring spots, it seems to have become the accepted practice to moor on lock moorings and to accept that anyone wanting to use the lock will use you as a pontoon.

 

Thanks for that Keeping Up - we off on the Chesterfield in June (Chesterfield Canal Boat Co) will let Him Indoors read your blog so he'll know what to expect. Our neck of the woods too. We only live up the road and decided to "do" the Chesterfield this year seeing as its so close. We often walk the dogs there sometimes driving up to Shireoaks and walking in either direction or parking the car at West Stockwith and having a glass of Black Sheep after our walk.

Lovely photos!

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You'll not have trouble mooring on the Chesterfield, there's plenty of piled bits where it is deep enoug to get at least one end of the boat in. The club has spare moorings in the summer, though they do charge a little for there use, There are a couple of pubs with short term moorings. It is really pretty too, and the food at the Brewers in Clayworth is ace.

 

Lee

 

I've twice left Cygnet for a week at Clayworth (Retford & Worksop Boat Club). They are very welcoming and don't charge if you are an AWCC member.

 

I loved the Chesterfield, and got to know it very well when I was stuck there for a month a few years back by the flooded Trent. Don't miss it (unfortunately, as others hqave said, you can't miss Worksop).

 

Mac

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi All,

 

Looking at exploring the Chesterfield canal shortly, but a quick glance at the BW boaters' guide seems to show only 24hr visitor moorings! Presumably there are also places I can moor (i.e. not "official" moorings") for up to 14 days?

 

Appreciate any tips on where to / where not to moor - was thinking of spending perhaps a month or so exploring at leisure - is this do-able?

 

Cheers,

Becky

I love the Chesterfield as a boy i was taken fishing there by bus from Sheffield, so when i got my 57Ft Wilson built boat i had to take her up the Chesterfield!! what a big dissapointment so shallow anything more than tickover and we were on the bottom ,we made it as far as the winding hole above Retford and called it a day sorry to say its a very beutiful canal but hard to cruise.As for Nottingham moorings yes outside Sainsburys is ok but we have had bottles thrown from the roadside, the entire length of moored boats untied at night, our friends had the roof of their boat stripped while shopping and i mean everything in daylight.We chain our boat to the mooring if we every stay there these days and never leave it unattended,always strikes me as strange the moorings outside the Castle marina are pay moorings something like £5 a night and if you are on there nothing happens to your boat?????

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  • 7 years later...
1 hour ago, HBROK said:

Can anyone give any info on permanent mooring at Stockwith Basin ie security and general feel for the place? 

It is perfectly safe there. You do not have to worry about security. Although I have only moored there as a visitor I have done so regularly and there is a nice community among the folks there who welcome visitors.

The boat club has regular stuff going on and is good for inexpensive drinks, The White Hart down the road has a micro brewery which produces some great ales and they do very good food too. There is a touring caravan park behind The Navigation and there are always plenty of expensive looking campers etc there too.

You would need to go to Misterton for your nearest shops (great butchers and a well stocked Co-op) and Gainsborough for a larger town with supermarkets. 

 

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40 minutes ago, bigray said:

I echo Cheshire Rose's points and just add i've never heard of any security issues etc. there.

I once had a fire extinguisher (stolen from another boat) let off down my chimney as I was lighting the stove while moored in West Stockwith basin.  Took me a couple of weeks to clear up the residue.  It was kids being stupid, and the fact that everyone was so amazed showed how unheard of such a thing was.  I would happily take a mooring at West Stockwith.

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24 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

I once had a fire extinguisher (stolen from another boat) let off down my chimney as I was lighting the stove while moored in West Stockwith basin.  Took me a couple of weeks to clear up the residue.  It was kids being stupid, and the fact that everyone was so amazed showed how unheard of such a thing was.  I would happily take a mooring at West Stockwith.

Good heavens! How horrid! 

How long ago was that please? 

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Another vote for the Chesterfield. Fabulous scenery. A bit shallow so don't plan at doing much more than 2.5 mph

We found moorings were fine, though you do need to plan ahead a bit. It's not the sort of canal where you can just say "I want to stop NOW", you need to start looking an hour or so beforehand. Here we are overlapping a lock landing by about 9 inches at Gringley-on-the-Hill. 

https://nbsg.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/summer-trip-2015-1-fossdyke-trent-and-chesterfield/

dscf5912.jpg

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2 hours ago, cheshire~rose said:

Good heavens! How horrid! 

How long ago was that please? 

Quite a long time ago! Tuesday 31 August 2010, I find.

I'd just lit the stove, and the door was still open, when there was a muffled explosion and everything inside and out was covered in a fine grey powder.  I had no idea what had happened until I found the extinguisher lying in the hedge next morning - it was identified by the owner of a boat being worked on out of the water, who had seen a couple of kids hanging around the previous evening.  I told Sue, the lockie at that time, and she was astounded, and offered to call the police, but I didn't see the point.  It could have been much more serious of course, but the kids almost certainly didn't realise that.   

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1 hour ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Another vote for the Chesterfield. Fabulous scenery. A bit shallow so don't plan at doing much more than 2.5 mph

We found moorings were fine, though you do need to plan ahead a bit. It's not the sort of canal where you can just say "I want to stop NOW", you need to start looking an hour or so beforehand. Here we are overlapping a lock landing by about 9 inches at Gringley-on-the-Hill. 

https://nbsg.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/summer-trip-2015-1-fossdyke-trent-and-chesterfield/

dscf5912.jpg

Gringley Lock, my second ever lock :)

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