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Leeds and Liverpool recommendations


hmallett

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Hi all,

I'm trying to plan a week's cruising for some time in 2012. One of our group wants to do the Leeds and Liverpool canal, but there are two areas where I could do with a little help:

 

- We have always hired from Black Prince in the past, but they don't have any bases on (or even near) the L&L.

- We normally hire for a week, and prefer to do rings if we can, but I think that would be a challenge on the L&L!

 

So the questions are: are there any recommended hire companies on the L&L? I'm aware of Silsden boats, but don't know anything about them, or about any others on the L&L. Secondly, where would you go if you only had a week? We're used to putting in reasonable days, and we're fairly able (done the Stourport Ring, the Cheshire Ring and the Four Counties Ring in a week each).

 

Thanks in advance,

H

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Hi all,

I'm trying to plan a week's cruising for some time in 2012. One of our group wants to do the Leeds and Liverpool canal, but there are two areas where I could do with a little help:

 

- We have always hired from Black Prince in the past, but they don't have any bases on (or even near) the L&L.

- We normally hire for a week, and prefer to do rings if we can, but I think that would be a challenge on the L&L!

 

So the questions are: are there any recommended hire companies on the L&L? I'm aware of Silsden boats, but don't know anything about them, or about any others on the L&L. Secondly, where would you go if you only had a week? We're used to putting in reasonable days, and we're fairly able (done the Stourport Ring, the Cheshire Ring and the Four Counties Ring in a week each).

 

Thanks in advance,

H

 

Having seen the boats that come through here in Skipton I would much prefer to use either of these two companies:

http://www.penninecruisers.com/

http://www.snaygillboats.co.uk/

 

Pennine is located right in the centre of Skipton. Snaygill is just to the east (walkable in 3/4 of an hour if you are so inclined).

My opinion of Silsden boats is that they are a 'little un-cared for' looking. The hulls are rarely blacked and so the boats always look scruffy. I can't comment on how well they are looked after inside but the outside appearance isn't encouraging.

From Skipton you have a choice of routes. West will take in the Bank Newton flight and some stunning scenery en-route to East Marton. East will take you towards Leeds and the famous heritage stuff of the Bingley 5 Rise etc.

Roger

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Having hired from both Silsden boats and Snaygill I would be inclined to recommend Snaygill.

 

Oh and don't forget these guys

 

http://www.canalboatescapes.co.uk/

 

run by a forum member....

 

You can do a 'ring' incorporating the L&L but would need longer than a week so out and back would be the best option.

 

We have hired on the L&L twice and both times done out and back from Skipton or Silsden. Out to just past Shipley turned, back to Nelson, turned then back to base.

Edited by MJG
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If you decide to go with Canal Boat Escapes then there's a good chance that I'll be doing your handover! After ten years of hiring, I've finally found the job I love...I can't wait for next season!

 

Janet

 

 

Having clicked on your link and rEad the details for 'Grace' I did find the following a little disconcerting :

 

"Flush macerator toilet to discrete tank and full size mixer shower"

 

Why would you connect the macerator to the shower ?

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I can recommend pennine cruisers from personal experience.

 

I would tend to agree with the previous poster about silsden boats, we've been singularly unimpressed with most silsden crews we've met and their training consists of sitting hirers in front of a dvd. They operate a big fleet so you tend to see them moving 'en masse' around turnaround days.

 

there is also Hapton Valley boats based out of Reedley Marina at burnley. This would give you the option of doing the Foulridge tunnel, easily getting to skipton and possibly the bingley 5 rise before coming back.

 

I don't know whether Leeds and back is viable in a week from Skipton ?

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To be fair, Silsden boats don't have the luxury of having nearby locks, so it's nigh on impossible for them to provide "hands on" lock tuition as we do...it does cause some problems for us on handover days though...I've had several occasions where their hirers thought that the locks were automatic!

 

Janet

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We have hired twice from Pennine Cruisers based in Skipton and always found them very helpful and the boats very clean and serviceable. Choice of going east towards Bingley Five Rise but with lots of swing bridges or west and over the top of the Pennines which we have done twice. Very hard work but the stunning scenery more than makes up for that.

 

Whichever you choose I;m sure you will enjoy it :)

 

 

 

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To be fair, Silsden boats don't have the luxury of having nearby locks, so it's nigh on impossible for them to provide "hands on" lock tuition as we do...it does cause some problems for us on handover days though...I've had several occasions where their hirers thought that the locks were automatic!Janet

I find that hard to believe when they will have already come through 12 locks before reaching your area so I would have thought they must have found out how to use them in that time.

Edited by Dalesman
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Looks like its lets knock Silsden Boats, pity that some people don't state the right facts,

They have a fleet of 20 boats, while Snaygill have only 4 boats and Pennine Cruisers only 3, and you will find Silsden Boats are a lot younger or even new this year than the other fleets.They all have a copy of the training video on board and can view it at any time before arriving at the locks at Gargrave. Some hirers even take 2 days to reach the first lock, also a few years ago the operated some of the Black Prince fleet from their yard. They are the only company in the area to offer wide beam boats with 2 double cabins with en-suite showers and toilet.

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Dalesman, I wasn't knocking Silsden Boats....far from it...they are a good company with some great boats. I don't see anywhere where anyone was knocking them...I was simply commenting on some of their hirers, from my own experience....

 

Janet

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Looks like its lets knock Silsden Boats, pity that some people don't state the right facts,

They have a fleet of 20 boats, while Snaygill have only 4 boats and Pennine Cruisers only 3,

 

No one as far as I can see has knocked Silsden Boats.

I must admit that the figures you quoted on the size of fleets surprised me as I thought they were all bigger. Relevant websites show Silsden Boats 22, Snaygill 6 and Pennine 4.

 

I did not realise that Canal Escapes had with 6 on the L&L plus one on the Lancaster but then their boats don't indentify themselves as hire boats .

 

Non specific comments have been made on the crews of Silsden boats, possibly due to the fact that they have ten Wide Beam boats accomodating eight or nine crew at a time.

Or it could be that Silsden has 6 more boats available at any one time than the other three companies put together

All four companies offer different benefits and facilities but as OP has a history of hiring I am sure

he is well able to chose, but it might well come down to the size of his group and and availability for him.

Edited by Offcumden
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Looks like its lets knock Silsden Boats, pity that some people don't state the right facts,

They have a fleet of 20 boats, while Snaygill have only 4 boats and Pennine Cruisers only 3, and you will find Silsden Boats are a lot younger or even new this year than the other fleets.

 

As it sounds like the OP is only looking for one (max two) boats for his group then I'm not sure that the size of the fleet is that relevant to be honest. Nobody is knocking Silsden, they are only making observations based on what they have seen. I see Silsden boats in Skipton all the time and, unless they are brand new, always looking scruffy because they never seem to black/touch up the hulls (in fact I was told that it was company policy not to touch up the hulls but have no idea whether this is actually true or not). This leaves an impression about the fleet that doesn't improve their marketing image. If I saw an immaculate boat on the web-site and then arrived to see my choice of hire boat looking very tired externally I would be very disappointed to be honest. I guess Silsden don't have to worry about their image if they can get enough hirers despite it but, as an outside observer, their image leaves a little to be desired IMO. If Silsden really cared about their marketing they might use some of the comments posted as valuable feedback just as the recent thread about Middlewich Narrowboats was for the new owner.

 

The issue of the Pennine boat numbers not matching the web-site might be explained by the fact that the wide beam Hetton has recently been sold but still, last time I looked, appears on the site.

Roger

 

Edited to add: I've just checked out Silsden's site and it is interesting to note that they don't have a single exterior shot of any of their hire boats on the 'Our boats' pages. Indeed there are very few exterior shots of any boats at all on the whole site so, I guess, they cannot be accused of misleading anyone via their web-pages.

Edited by Albion
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Yep, that's it, just after it had been sold and was being moved to its new location.

Roger

Oh, so they've sold it, she is a nice boat. I know Ian Clarke was saying the demand hadn't been as high as he had hoped for it, and he was aiming to add more dayboats to the fleet and needed the cash.

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Looks like its lets knock Silsden Boats, pity that some people don't state the right facts,

They have a fleet of 20 boats, while Snaygill have only 4 boats and Pennine Cruisers only 3, and you will find Silsden Boats are a lot younger or even new this year than the other fleets.They all have a copy of the training video on board and can view it at any time before arriving at the locks at Gargrave. Some hirers even take 2 days to reach the first lock, also a few years ago the operated some of the Black Prince fleet from their yard. They are the only company in the area to offer wide beam boats with 2 double cabins with en-suite showers and toilet.

 

Actually Hapton Valley boats have at least one wide beam hire boat too.

 

I guess having such a large fleet compared to the other hire boat operations, they perhpas unfairly recieve some criticism as they'r more likely to be noticed.

 

P.s i've no afflilation with any of these hire companies other than having used Pennine before buying our own craft.

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Oh, so they've sold it, she is a nice boat. I know Ian Clarke was saying the demand hadn't been as high as he had hoped for it, and he was aiming to add more dayboats to the fleet and needed the cash.

More day boats in Skipton..thought they were well covered already.

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  • 1 month later...

re. Silsden Boats. A bit late in the day for this thread but for what it's worth we had a short holiday with Silsden Boats last Spring (2011), going from Silsden to Foulridge and back. We were hard-pressed to find anything wrong with our narrow boat, which was only one year old, very clean, modern (they fit out their own boats) and comfortable. The only point of minor complaint was that the electrics weren't up to operating the microwave, but I thought trying to run a microwave on a canal boat did seem a bit ambitious !

 

Living only half an hour from Silsden and passing through there regularly we had chance to view the boat before booking it which helped -we just called in un-announced one Saturday during the winter and they were happy to show us round some boats. Lastly their prices, at least last year, seemed very reasonable.

 

Not having had a canal holiday in quite a few years we were happy having watched the pre-journey DVD on lock operation etc and any questions we had were answered. There was also a DVD on the boat and plenty of other safety and boat operating information. The boat hand-over was very thorough and overall I was very impressed with the company and would go with them again without hesitation if we had another canal holiday on the Leeds - Liverpool.

 

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re. Silsden Boats. A bit late in the day for this thread but for what it's worth we had a short holiday with Silsden Boats last Spring (2011), going from Silsden to Foulridge and back. We were hard-pressed to find anything wrong with our narrow boat, which was only one year old, very clean, modern (they fit out their own boats) and comfortable. The only point of minor complaint was that the electrics weren't up to operating the microwave, but I thought trying to run a microwave on a canal boat did seem a bit ambitious !

 

Living only half an hour from Silsden and passing through there regularly we had chance to view the boat before booking it which helped -we just called in un-announced one Saturday during the winter and they were happy to show us round some boats. Lastly their prices, at least last year, seemed very reasonable.

 

Not having had a canal holiday in quite a few years we were happy having watched the pre-journey DVD on lock operation etc and any questions we had were answered. There was also a DVD on the boat and plenty of other safety and boat operating information. The boat hand-over was very thorough and overall I was very impressed with the company and would go with them again without hesitation if we had another canal holiday on the Leeds - Liverpool.

 

 

 

Well said Silsden boats ;)

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Well said Silsden boats ;)

 

Why would Silsden say that their electrics aren't up to running the equipment they install

 

We have stopped putting microwaves on boats as no matter how much you emphasise it to guests they still call and complain when they can't microwave jacket potatoes for 10 minutes.....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can't comment on Silsden boats yet but I have booked to use one of theirs "Sams Drum" at the end of April so will gladly let you know my impression of them.

I have yet to plan which direction to take from there be it east or west so would appriciate any comments. I would like to get to Leeds if I can then try and get as far west afterwards. only got the boat for a week (which only gives you 6 days in practice), and would like to stop off at any interesting places on the way, not just go hell for leather just to see how far I can get.

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