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any tips on liverpool link

robdalej

By robdalej
in General Boating

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Idunhoe Community Regular

Idunhoe

Posted
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Did the trip in mid June and cannot speak too highly of the experience. The BW staff from bridge 9 onwards could not have been more helpful. I would recommend overnight mooring in the vicinity of bridge 10 the night before your assisted passage into Liverpool, a very quiet spot with a decent pub in the nearby village. Make sure you take advantage of the service block at Litherland as there are no Elsan disposal/Pump out facilities in Liverpool. Most of all Enjoy It

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davidb Collaborator

davidbDonate to Canal World

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Yes,

 

we really enjoyed it as well, The more people who use it, the better it gets.

 

Get your weed hatch ready for action, though.

 

Loads of stuff to see and do in Liverpool, the submarine exhibition in Birkenhead is fascinating as well.

 

cheers, David

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DHutch Veteran II

DHutchDonate to Canal World

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Take a camera. Its a good day out.

 

 

 

We moored directly above the bridge of choice (is it bridge 9, the first one thats locked) for two days with little issues* but where the only ones to do so, everyone else with there 'turn key' engines stopped a bit before.

 

The run down to the junction is very much like that upto bridge nine. The right turn under the arches into the locks can be missed if your not looking for it.

 

Locks down are cracking, and they mainly work them for you anyway. Well maintained and pretty.

 

The trip through the docks is fantastic, well up there on the top 100 canal moments, lovely.

 

Then you go through Albert dock to salthouse, where there are excellent moorings, and good facility a short walk away, lots to do, inc the mersey-tunnel tour. Most of the elec points will still have £4.80 left on them, and you only need about 20p of that to run a fridge for a bit anyway

 

 

 

*It was that nice, after talking to them during the day (we got there a day in hand and cleaned and repaired stuff) i invited a group of four young persons onboard (something i do fairly rairly, but maybe 5 times a year, mainly im sad to say its 60yo steam nuts who get the tour) and they where very nice onboard and said nice things, bar one quieter one i was trying to keep my eye on.

 

Anyway, shortly after they left it was clear they had taken my phone. Annoying because its almost always in my pocket and i had only taken it out minutes before as i was about to go grovelling in the bilges.

 

 

 

 

Daniel

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John R Explorer

John R

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We did it in 2009 over the May bank holiday and had no problems at all. All locals where pleased to see the canal being used at last. Even the fisherman were pleased we stirred it up somewhat. Echo all the comments so far, its a great trip. Salthouse Dock remains the only place on the network where I have looked out of our side hatch and seen a swarm of jellyfish around the boat.

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tosher Community Regular

tosher

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Take a camera. Its a good day out.

 

We moored directly above the bridge of choice (is it bridge 9, the first one thats locked) for two days with little issues* but where the only ones to do so, everyone else with there 'turn key' engines stopped a bit before.

 

 

Daniel

 

 

 

 

We also moored at bridge 9 overnight in July without any problems. It is very close to the "Canal Turn" on Aintree race course and there is a convenient hole in the fence where some folk sneak through to stand on the course. It was only later that we heard people saying it's safer to moor at bridge 10. tosher.

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gaggle Influencer

gaggle

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Do boats go through in one day now or do they still stop for the night at Eldonian/Litherland on the way?

N o stop overnight in eldonian .

Just reported in local echo that 52 yr old man walking his dog on towpath close to horse and jockey pub give the bifters to a couple of local scumbags who tried to rob / attack /mug him and they ran off scared by him.

The horse and jockey not that far from bridge nine , nothing much but best visitors are aware , police attended.

Edited by gaggle
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gaggle Influencer

gaggle

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And if anyone wants the complete virtual tour of the whole of the Liverpool Canal Link, you will find it here:

www.penninewaterways.co.uk/liverpoolcanallink

The bascule bridge is now reopened and clear of all scaffold that cluttered the way and the view of boaters leaving stanley dock , the bridge by the way will no longer lift and tilt , it last lifted to allow a sailing ship into stanley for filming , all freshly painted and ready to be photographed.

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MartinClark Experienced

MartinClark

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The bascule bridge is now reopened and clear of all scaffold that cluttered the way and the view of boaters leaving stanley dock , the bridge by the way will no longer lift and tilt , it last lifted to allow a sailing ship into stanley for filming , all freshly painted and ready to be photographed.

 

Glad to hear that the bridge is now open again and gleaming. Sad to hear that it will never open again, although I suppose there is no way for anything tall to reach it any more.

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Doorman Veteran

Doorman

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Have just got a permit for the Liverpool link booked in on 3 sept. Has anyone done the trip and has any advice on mooring safely en route? For anyone considering the journey the restrictions have now been lifted.

 

 

Hi,

 

we did the link on April 1st this year(No puns please)and although we encountered some strange debris in the canal, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

 

My advice would be to be conscious of the road traffic when operating the swing bridges through Maghull. The local motorists appear to have little patience for boaters who have the audacity to delay them on their 'me first' journeys. Next, you may notice an obstruction just prior to the M57 road bridge. There was a sunken car in the channel when we passed through, probably a soft top now after all of the boat traffic.

 

BW recommend mooring at bridge 9a in order to be early on the inward route when lock wheelers begin their assistance.

Having been brought up not too far from that area as a child, I don't think it's a suitable stop over place. Indeed, we met an innocent couple at the Albert Dock who had moored there and settled down for their evening meal, when a gang of youths passed by wielding a petrol can. They subsequently set fire to the grass verge further along the bank. I don't think they were preparing for a BBQ.

 

From that point onward we spotted an array of floating rubbish in the canal, not to mention the submerged obstacles, one of which damaged a blade of our prop. When we met the lady member of BW staff who helps organize the Link, she seemed quite indifferent to our comments regarding possible future dredging schedules. One other boater asked whether she'd ever had any problems on her boat while traversing the link, her curt answer was "what boat"? The BW lads were a great help and always ready for a laugh.

 

Once in the Salt house Dock, the facilities were OK. It was a great experience form me especially, to cruise past the inspiring 'Three Graces' at the Pier Head. I used to play there as a kid.

 

The Albert Dock complex is worth a visit, although be wary of the high prices charged, for the benefit of tourists.

If you like a tipple, the Pump House pub is there for the taking. Decent meals but quite costly. Not like the Big Lock near you in Middlewich. The Maritime Museum is a must. It's years since I've been there and although quite shocking, the Slavery section is a true revelation. We felt very ashamed after learning how dreadful our countrymen treated those poor African people. Particularly alarming was the fact that famous streets in Liverpool were named after some of the perpetrators of slavery.

 

All in all, it was a trip worth making, and an education too!

 

Good luck,

 

Mike

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CanalWalker Rising Star

CanalWalker

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The bascule bridge is now reopened and clear of all scaffold that cluttered the way and the view of boaters leaving stanley dock , the bridge by the way will no longer lift and tilt , it last lifted to allow a sailing ship into stanley for filming , all freshly painted and ready to be photographed.

 

 

what made them change their minds about replacing it?

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CanalWalker Rising Star

CanalWalker

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Posted (edited)

Done in one hop, takes about 4 hours. Will take longer of you stop at Litherland services or Tesco's.

 

That makes much more sense, we felt it was a waste of our time hanging around all day at Eldonian. Good to see BW listening to its patrons.

 

theres a few new photos on my page about the link: http://www.towpathtreks.co.uk/llc/liverpool_dock_link.html

Edited by CanalWalker
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starman Experienced

starman

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If you don't know Liverpool, there's a guy just outside the Salthouse Dock who does walking tours -- I'd thoroughly recommend one. They're fascinating and you get to know your way around the city as well. They take about two hours.

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cotswoldsman Veteran II

cotswoldsman

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No, it wasn't. It was debated vigorously at User Forums and BW was very aware of what boaters were saying about the original arrangements.

 

Sorry to disagree I can only go by what I was told by BW being one of two boats that were the first to go all the way in one at the end of November last year and the same coming back in December I was told that under the new system of three days down and three days up and one left for slack the only way they could work this system with any certainty was to do the complete trip in one go. With a staff of six they could not have some doing bridges and some doing locks they had to work as a group working four days on and four days off.. I am only repeating what I was told by the Manager of BW at Salthouse. Now if BW sold it as listening to a user group that sounds like good PR to me!!

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gaggle Influencer

gaggle

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what made them change their minds about replacing it?

It says in the echo that after talks with the council peel holdings decided it would be the start of the regeneration of the north docks , liverpool waters.

 

Sorry to disagree I can only go by what I was told by BW being one of two boats that were the first to go all the way in one at the end of November last year and the same coming back in December I was told that under the new system of three days down and three days up and one left for slack the only way they could work this system with any certainty was to do the complete trip in one go. With a staff of six they could not have some doing bridges and some doing locks they had to work as a group working four days on and four days off.. I am only repeating what I was told by the Manager of BW at Salthouse. Now if BW sold it as listening to a user group that sounds like good PR to me!!

Whatever the reason for the changes it is 100% improvement on previous routine.

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MartinClark Experienced

MartinClark

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Posted (edited)

Sorry to disagree I can only go by what I was told by BW being one of two boats that were the first to go all the way in one at the end of November last year and the same coming back in December I was told that under the new system of three days down and three days up and one left for slack the only way they could work this system with any certainty was to do the complete trip in one go. With a staff of six they could not have some doing bridges and some doing locks they had to work as a group working four days on and four days off.. I am only repeating what I was told by the Manager of BW at Salthouse. Now if BW sold it as listening to a user group that sounds like good PR to me!!

I think you're being too cynical! Of course cost was one one the factors, but not the only one. BW made it clear that they were going to review the operation and that they would take boaters' views into account. BW can be a brainless dinosaur at times, but they deserve a little credit occasionally! The whole operation is much more efficient now than how it was done in the first year, although I guess we could have told them that at the outset.

One change in recent years was for boaters to work the first 5 swing bridges from Maghull themselves, which is only what they have been doing all the way along the canal. They still feel that Wango Lane and Netherton have to be BW operated. These carry busy roads, but so do some of the other boater-operated bridges around the system. Maybe one day they'll fit a timer on them so that they cannot be operated in peak traffic periods, like at Aldermaston.

 

And another thing - I have never understood why it required more than one BW employee to turn up to operate these bridges anyway! Or the locks. BW doesn't need to do all the lock operation - it could be done by the boats' own crews under the supervision of a BW lockie. Did you say a staff of six? They could manage with one!

Edited by MartinClark
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Timleech Veteran II

Timleech

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I drove over the bridge just now, it looks very smart. The police were on the dock road catching speeding motorists so dont be tempted to use it as a very fast short cut!

 

It's always surprised me how people seem to disregard speed limits on the Dock Road despite its incredibly bad surface!

 

Tim

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