Enforcement on the Bridgewater

[DeanS]

Well...at the beginning of May I decided I'd take my boat out the marina and go down to the Bridgewater. (You get 7 consecutive days).

 

I spent 7 days in Castlefield basin, not moored on the official 72hr moorings, but opposite the toilet block...where you have to tie up to the walking bridge etc...so definately not taking up any mooring spaces, although the place wasn't that full. Faced with returning to our marina by cruising all the way back up the Rochdale 11, (and the fact that most boats in Castlefield have been there for years) we thought we'd cruise down to Trafford centre to try and open a CostCo account. 2nd day outside Trafford centre, knock on the boat, saying we had been noticed as overstaying on the BW. I immediately sent an email to Peel Holdings to try and get a meeting with them to discuss arranging some sort of solution. (There are all sorts of rumours going around about moorings becoming available etc).

Couldn't get a meeting at the time, so left the Bridgewater for a week. After a week decided to travel down to Stretford marina and get some diesel/coal etc, and in the process spend 2 days under a tree at Trafford. Knock knock....told we're not allowed on the BW. Fair enough....off we went....back off the Bridgewater.....7 days have gone by, and we popped down to fill up our water tank yesterday....planning a 1hr trip down, fill up, and be gone. Knock knock...told we have been caught 3 times abusing the system.

 

So in a total of 35 days away from our marina, we have spent 12days in total on the BW. 7 days are free, so we have "overstayed" by 5 days, and in that period have had 3 knocks on the window.

 

I'm not complaining...I've contacted Peel, and trying to "work out something" I can afford...

 

but just a warning that they've gotten much stricter now than in previous years. Looks like I may be doomed to sit in the marina forever unless I leave CRT waters for good.....but wife doesn't want to chance a winter without elec and a water point next to the boat, and an elsan point that works. (Bridgewater have sealed their's off to stop people staying in Castlefield).

Again..not a complaint against anyone...just sharing my experience thus far. Some will say I need to bite the bullet and keep buying "short term licences" from Peel if I wan't to cruise the BW ..but their short term licences equate to 4 times the normal rate, and if I add that to my marina and CRT fees, I can't afford it.

Catch 22 me thinks. I have mailed Peel again, trying to arrange some sort of licence. If you have a BW licence you can get a discount on your CRT licence, but that doesn't apply to short term licences.

 

Again...just sharing my experiences....while trying to decide what the future holds for us in terms of being able to cruise affordably. Just waiting for CRT to also tell me I haven't cruised far enough from my marina....that will just be the cherry on the top

 

 

 

 

[Timleech]

You had me thoroughly confused for a while with all the references to BW...

 

Tim

[mrsmelly]

Dean

 

Not having a stab at you but maybe living aboard is not realy for you? My old girl and I have done it for yonks and yonks and very much in fact nearly all including during the several winters without leccy hook up or nearby water point. Living full time aboard is a huge commitment and you realy realy do need to love it for it to last. We are again without hook up or water point and its fab. Boats are not meant to be like houses and it is a very very different way of life. We have met countless peeps over the years who come for a while and then go back to bricks and mortar, thats fine I believe trying it is better than not having a go but long term I have a hunch its not realy going to be for you. And as an aside in 26 years never had a notice or knock on the door, we go into " Stealth mode " lol.

 

Tim

[Paul C]

How about obtaining a cheap leisure mooring on the Bridgewater while holding the residential one on CRT waters? That would get round the restriction that you need a mooring on the Bridgewater to hold a Bridgewater licence....then buy that licence. Then you're not hitting the limits of the reciprocal agreement all the time....?

[DeanS]

Dean

 

Not having a stab at you but maybe living aboard is not realy for you?

Tim

 

hysterical laughter on this end....so funny.

 

eta. I have an extra water tank, 10batteries...920Watts solar....and just busy building a generator silencer box...do I sound like someone who want's to live in a marina

 

How about obtaining a cheap leisure mooring on the Bridgewater while holding the residential one on CRT waters? That would get round the restriction that you need a mooring on the Bridgewater to hold a Bridgewater licence....then buy that licence. Then you're not hitting the limits of the reciprocal agreement all the time....?

 

I didn't know "cheap" leisure moorings existed?

I'm trying to find one...

I can afford a 12mth Bridgewater licence (only £40/mth) if I can find a cheap leisure mooring that permits it. (good idea..will look into it more)

Edited June 4, 2015 by DeanS

[Naughty Cal]

 

hysterical laughter on this end....so funny.

 

eta. I have an extra water tank, 10batteries...920Watts solar....and just busy building a generator silencer box...do I sound like someone who want's to live in a marina

 

No you sound like someone who wants to live in a house with all of the extra luxuries that that lifestyle brings.

[mrsmelly]

 

hysterical laughter on this end....so funny.

 

eta. I have an extra water tank, 10batteries...920Watts solar....and just busy building a generator silencer box...do I sound like someone who want's to live in a marina

 

 

I didn't know "cheap" leisure moorings existed?

I'm trying to find one...

I can afford a 12mth Bridgewater licence (only £40/mth) if I can find a cheap leisure mooring that permits it. (good idea..will look into it more)

 

mmmm I will ask you again in twenty years, doubt if you will still be aboard. You said you didnt want to chance another winter without a water point and hook up, not me!! IWe dont give too hoots about such stuff.

 

Tim

No you sound like someone who wants to live in a house with all of the extra luxuries that that lifestyle brings.

 

Completely agree.

 

Tim

[DeanS]

 

mmmm I will ask you again in twenty years, doubt if you will still be aboard. You said you didnt want to chance another winter without a water point and hook up, not me!! IWe dont give too hoots about such stuff.

 

Tim

 

Completely agree.

 

Tim

 

I'll still be aboard if I have somewhere to cruise.

 

Doubt you would still be aboard if you had to cruise the same 100metre stretch or return to a pontoon for 20yrs. I've got a local job, and that's the only reason I'm staying in one place for now....but thanks for your vote of confidence Personally all the elec is not for me, but the kids do enjoy a PS4 once in a while. ;-)

[DeanS]

No you sound like someone who wants to live in a house with all of the extra luxuries that that lifestyle brings.

 

Do you live aboard permanently with an entire family, dog, cat, wife, 3kids ? yes/no? If not, you're talking about something you know nothing about (in my humble opinion)

[Naughty Cal]

 

Do you live aboard permanently with an entire family, dog, cat, wife, 3kids ? yes/no? If not, you're talking about something you know nothing about (in my humble opinion)

Ah that old chestnut.

 

Have you been to the same school as Kriss 88?

[Guest]

 

Do you live aboard permanently with an entire family, dog, cat, wife, 3kids ? yes/no? If not, you're talking about something you know nothing about (in my humble opinion)

 

Wasn't it you who once said every bodies opinion on here mattered, no matter what your status as a boater is? (or something very very similar).

 

The thing is Dean (if I as someone selling a boat may proffer a comment) I read a lot of your recent posts as you have made a bad choice locating your boat where it is, perhaps it's time to think about upiing sticks and moving, Leeds perhaps?. I would have thought you and your wife would easily find work there.

[b0atman]

Dean what rights does the gold licence give you regards the bridgewater ?

I think we should all give Dean a vote of thanks for keeping the Rochdale 9 in use we seriously struggled with them.

[Guest]

Dean what rights does the gold licence give you regards the bridgewater ?

 

None as far as I know. The Bridgewater is not a CRT or EA waterway. Happy to be corrected though. It comes under Peel Holdings who Dean is in contact with.

[churchward]

 

I'll still be aboard if I have somewhere to cruise.

 

Doubt you would still be aboard if you had to cruise the same 100metre stretch or return to a pontoon for 20yrs. I've got a local job, and that's the only reason I'm staying in one place for now....but thanks for your vote of confidence Personally all the elec is not for me, but the kids do enjoy a PS4 once in a while. ;-)

I don't understand, why can't you cruise on CRT waters?

[b0atman]

interesting to know how many times it would be acceptable to go on the bridgewater in a boating year is it 7 days accumulative or periods of upto 7 days by one or more times.

[Richard10002]

You can't live on your boat on most of the Bridgewater and, apart from a few designated places, you can't spend more than one night in one spot on the towpath.

 

I have a mooring with The Watchouse Cruising Club where I pay about a thousand quid to Peel for mooring and licence, on top of which I pay the club about £150 plus 45 hours work, (rated at £10 per hour if you don't do enough).

[AndrewIC]

So have Peel said how long you have to be "off" before you can have another 7 days "on"? (Shades of "how far is far enough"!)

[DeanS]

I don't understand, why can't you cruise on CRT waters?

 

I have a local job in Manchester, so I have a residential mooring there. I have a widebeam, so can't cruise the Ashton out of Manchester. I could go up and down the Rochdale all year, but there is nothing but 10 locks up and down and up and down, with nothing much in between during this period except stone throwers, so I wouldn't feel able to leave the boat there confidently, which leaves me only the Bridgewater to consider.....this thread wasn't a pity party, it was simply to let people know that Peel are now taking a more hard line....I'm not judging them...

So have Peel said how long you have to be "off" before you can have another 7 days "on"? (Shades of "how far is far enough"!)

 

7 days on.

1 month off.

 

I read a lot of your recent posts as you have made a bad choice locating your boat where it is

 

This may be very true. Although, I love Manchester, it's a fantastic city...I really love much of it...so it's home. All I'm trying to achieve is a little bit of water I can cruise on when I leave the marina...which is becoming more and more difficult, as CRT and Peel both tighten all the screws.

[b0atman]

That seems a fair deal for us boaters who only visit the area once in a blue moon.

[Paul C]

I belive the reciprocal agreement is just that - an agreement, not a right cast in stone. I believe there was a thread suggesting it was to be reconsidered, or scrapped completely - I'll try find it later.

 

I think there's a bit of a mismatch between the marina location, the surrounding infrastructure/canal network (either lots of locks; or locks in an urban area + narrow canal) and/or the width of the boat. In theory, the Chester Canal is a broad canal, in practice there's 1 boat which is a widebeam, because its range is so limited due to the connection to narrow canals and a couple of narrow bridges at the Ellesmere Port end (which while technically is a junction, goes to MSC which is not really for leisure boats).

 

Dean has a choice to either work within the existing constraints, or change an aspect of those - for example go back to narrowboat, change jobs, sell kids, etc.

 

(Joking about the last one).

EDIT/ADD cross posted with Dean's post #14 - I've not heard the 1 month off mentioned before. I guess at least you have clarification now, and can make a firm decision on what to do based on that.

[b0atman]

Don't forget the Preston brook side of the Bridgewater is that not CRT before the narrow stop lock ? can you not commute from there ?

An alternative is a permanent spot in a narrow canal marina having boat lifted in .

[Naughty Cal]

 

I have a local job in Manchester, so I have a residential mooring there. I have a widebeam, so can't cruise the Ashton out of Manchester. I could go up and down the Rochdale all year, but there is nothing but 10 locks up and down and up and down, with nothing much in between during this period except stone throwers, so I wouldn't feel able to leave the boat there confidently, which leaves me only the Bridgewater to consider.....this thread wasn't a pity party, it was simply to let people know that Peel are now taking a more hard line....I'm not judging them...

 

7 days on.

1 month off.

 

This may be very true. Although, I love Manchester, it's a fantastic city...I really love much of it...so it's home. All I'm trying to achieve is a little bit of water I can cruise on when I leave the marina...which is becoming more and more difficult, as CRT and Peel both tighten all the screws.

Surely you were aware of this when you located yourself there?

 

If you find it so tiresome why not relocate the boat elsewhere and commute into Manchester? Plenty of places with good transport links into Manchester

[Timleech]

Don't forget the Preston brook side of the Bridgewater is that not CRT before the narrow stop lock ? can you not commute from there ?

An alternative is a permanent spot in a narrow canal marina having boat lifted in .

 

No, it's Bridgewater unless you mean the winding hole through the tunnel.

A wide boat tied there would attract loads of abuse.

 

Tim

[David Mack]

 

I have a local job in Manchester, so I have a residential mooring there. I have a widebeam, so can't cruise the Ashton out of Manchester. I could go up and down the Rochdale all year, but there is nothing but 10 locks up and down and up and down, with nothing much in between during this period except stone throwers, so I wouldn't feel able to leave the boat there confidently

Not so. There's a lot more than 10 locks on the Rochdale. A day's boating will get you to the Rose of Lancaster or Slattocks and from there on (apart from Rochdale itself) there's many places where you could leave the boat, and with good train services into Manchester.

 

Alternatively you could head beyond the Bridgewater and try commuting in from Leigh or Wigan or further afield.

[Ricco1]

 

I have a local job in Manchester, so I have a residential mooring there. I have a widebeam, so can't cruise the Ashton out of Manchester. I could go up and down the Rochdale all year, but there is nothing but 10 locks up and down and up and down, with nothing much in between during this period except stone throwers, so I wouldn't feel able to leave the boat there confidently, which leaves me only the Bridgewater to consider.....this thread wasn't a pity party, it was simply to let people know that Peel are now taking a more hard line....I'm not judging them...

 

7 days on.

1 month off.

 

This may be very true. Although, I love Manchester, it's a fantastic city...I really love much of it...so it's home. All I'm trying to achieve is a little bit of water I can cruise on when I leave the marina...which is becoming more and more difficult, as CRT and Peel both tighten all the screws.

 

Have to lived in Manchester for long? I ask because I'm wondering if you're still going through a 'honeymoon period'. Things are still quite new, interesting, exciting.

 

I was born in Manchester, I've lived much of my life in and around it. I feel sad to say this but it's only since I've spent a few years away that I'm realised what a desperate city it is. Yes there are many interesting buildings of heritage. There's thriving nightlife and diversity in terms of race and sexual orientation. But there are horrendous levels of crime. Violence is perfectly normal, you learn it at school. Poverty is everywhere.

 

It hurts to say this, I'd live almost anywhere else other than my city of birth.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Ricco1