How often and how far will you home moorers cruise?

[Athy]

 

 

We will be leaving Croatia (in our new sailing boat) end of March and that's 2000 + miles, we will arrive back here early-mid May - however that won't be on C&RT waters as it has a 23 foot beam.

Wow, that does put some of our efforts in the shade. Sounds like an epic voyage, I hope you'll report back on your progress.

[RichardN]

Looking at some of these replies, one can tell which colleagues don't have any work commitments!

 

Yes work restricts us but we still manage reasonable distances. Our summer cruise will be at least 628 miles and 328 locks, some of the miles will be a bit quick.We need to go through London but don't fancy being triple moored so not sure what we will do - possibly avoid the Regents Canal ?

[alan_fincher]

Looking at some of these replies, one can tell which colleagues don't have any work commitments!

 

I really could not have justified the considerable expense of owning canal boats whilst doing the paid job. They simply would not have got enough use.

 

I was fortunate enough to take, (be told I was going to take!), retirement at a very early age, at which point it started to make sense.

 

Even so, Cath was still a full time teacher for many years thereafter, but we were able to fit in an awful lot around school holidays that we could not have done with just my former holidays.

 

It's probably also fair to point out that we don't take any "proper" holidays that don't involve boating, so whereas others we know in retirement jet all over the world, we are almost exclusively using the (considerable!) money spent on boats and boating for all our holidaying except the occasional weekend break elsewhere in the UK. I no longer even have a passport, so I'm not going far.

[Alan de Enfield]

Wow, that does put some of our efforts in the shade. Sounds like an epic voyage, I hope you'll report back on your progress.

 

The plan is 24 hours days, only two planned stops for water, fuel and provisions.

Crew of 3 (picking up 4th at Brighton) for the last leg up the East coast to Hull.

 

Cannot cross the Bay of Biscay prior to 1st April due to insurance stipulations, but then departure date is weather dependent anyway.

 

[colinwilks]

Looks like one of the hulls might be OK for narrow locks!

[peterboat]

this year I hope to do a lot of cruising as I retired early last year. so as I have a wide bummed boat it will on the wide waterways of the North. I have no idea where I am going but will report when I get there. My better half is still working so will see how it all works out

[Athy]

Hallelujah! What was the date of your lottery win?

I have a wide bummed boat.

Greeno for that description! Narrowbums and widebums...Just be careful about applying it to boats' crews.

[b0atman]

...and family commitments!

Family commitments then I put boat in a marina generally £10 a day including electric phone Enterprise car hire who pick me up and all sorted Did this twice last year at Huddersfield and Snaygill. Plus son came to boat for a week.

 

I go out in April and return in October/November depending on weather I like the winter comforts of bank power and get some use out of my car tend to do Cottage rental in none canal areas in the winter Did Heartbeat country this one.

This years plan is to do Llangollen ,Caldon & Ashby .all arms that I have passed but not explored.

Edited March 4, 2016 by b0atman

[Athy]

 

I really could not have justified the considerable expense of owning canal boats whilst doing the paid job. They simply would not have got enough use.

 

I was fortunate enough to take, (be told I was going to take!), retirement at a very early age, at which point it started to make sense.

 

Even so, Cath was still a full time teacher for many years thereafter, but we were able to fit in an awful lot around school holidays that we could not have done with just my former holidays.

 

It's probably also fair to point out that we don't take any "proper" holidays that don't involve boating, so whereas others we know in retirement jet all over the world, we are almost exclusively using the (considerable!) money spent on boats and boating for all our holidaying except the occasional weekend break elsewhere in the UK. I no longer even have a passport, so I'm not going far.

Yes, good points. I was also a full-time schoolmaster during our earlier boating years, and of course the holidays are extensive, but Mrs. Athy's job (at which she still toils) has a lesser holiday entitlement, so we still have restrictions on our boating time. And yes, we do go abroad - though in May we'll once again be combining the two types of holiday by hiring a pénichette from Agen.

[captain birdseye]

We are on the Peak Forest and during the winter only travel a few miles to one of the nearby pubs for a night out, either Bugsworth or Marple, or on a good weekend a bit further down the Macc.

The last two years we have travelled as far as the Severn and the Avon.

Last year we took part in the BCN marathon then went for a trip up the Llangollen.

This year the plan is to act as Missionarys to Yorkshire, doing the L&L to celebrate its bicentenary, the river navigations and coming back over the Rochdale as we have never done its whole length.

All done in school holidays as we have two young children

Edited March 4, 2016 by captain birdseye

[Alan de Enfield]

Looks like one of the hulls might be OK for narrow locks!

 

Good guess - the hulls are 7 foot beam, one side is the 'master' with double bed. bathroom and enormous, separate, shower, other side is 2 x doubles with bathroom & shower. Only down side is it is 'galley up' (ie in the saloon) but you cannot have everything.

 

Hallelujah! What was the date of your lottery win?

 

 

Was fortunate to have a well paid job, and made a bit on house purchase / sales so could take early retirement at age 47. Been boating ever since

[WarringtonWhite]

Being moored near Adlington on the L&L we have a nice stretch that we can run out on for a day and stay overnight somewhere to return the next day - great weekend cruising. The problem we have is that one way we have got to go through Wigan Flight and the weekend would involve - down the flight on Saturday, stay over in Wigan , then back up the flight on Sunday. If we want some locks we will go up through Johnson Fold locks up to (say) Riley Green for the night then back on Sunday.

 

In the last 12 months we have been to Skipton and back and we also had plans to go to Liverpool, but ended up going up the Rufford branch to Tarlton and back. We plan to go to Liverpool this year or maybe through to Manchester.

 

We try and use the boat as often as we are not working (weekends and holidays) and not just sit on it on the mooring. The thing moves, so we try to move it as often as possible.

[Proper Charlie]

In addition to some long weekends and maybe a week-long cruise, our plan for the year is to take 4 weeks off and go from our base on the Leicester line, up to Boston then across the Wash and home via the Nene and GU. Of course, family stuff may well wreck that plan. That'll be our longest ever trip, if it happens.

[Arthur Marshall]

For the past thirty years I've cruised at least six weeks in the summer and a couple of smaller cruses during the year. So from Chester (originally) and now Macclesfield, I've been to Oxford, Leeds, Stratford, Llangollen and almost as far south as London, though I could never really be bothered to go all the way. For some journeys I've lent the boat to friends to either get it further or bring it back. The default cruise is the 4 Counties ring - this year I've got a two week cruise, a trip to Llangollen with the wife and eight weeks in the summer on my own (assuming I can finally get the damn engine fixed!). Next year I've got two eight week trips planned, though no idea where I'm going, although the L&L is an option if I can bring myself to face Wigan again..

You're obviously a bit limited in distance with a HM, and I'd love to be able to CC, but I can't get enough books and instruments on the boat, and at the moment I still enjoy playing in a band too much to pack that in.

That being said, in all of last year I went to Middlewich, where the engine broke, and back home, where the boat sank...

[churchward]

Home moorers are one CRT's biggest customers and have (well should have) a lot of influence in the future of it's waterways.

 

My hobby horse is keeping our great national asset connected so we can all enjoy exploring all of the waterways. If we don't use it, we will lose it. Bit by bit, the remote sections may well get shut down due to no maintenence (probably where there are no boat hire companies!).

 

So my questions to home moorers are...

 

1) How often do you think you'll go for a cruise this year?

 

2) What's the furthest you think you'll travel from your home mooring this year?

 

BTW, I used to have a home mooring and found myself pretty much tied to it with the occasional trip up and down the same section of canal.

Where we used to moor on Northern Oxford Canal we had a lot of choice of direction and over time went everywhere we could withinn 2 weeks or so travel from Brinklow. Where we are now (Swanley near Hurlston locks on Llangollen) we are doing the same. We will get out and about as much as possible this year and have already been out boating twice this year one to Chester and the other just for a quiet stroll down to middlewhich. We are hoping to get down towards Stoke and the Caldon canal later in the year. We will probably be boating some 500 or more hours on the go and several weeks of elapsed time.

[Mike Todd]

I'm starting to use my home mooring more as a winter mooring, and crusing over the summer months.

 

One trip, furthest destination from home mooring will be around 37 miles away.

 

Last year was around 28 miles away.

 

Before that it was the occasional daily trip up and down the sane section of canal, so about 3 miles.

 

I've debated with myself if to go fully CC, but my moorings for the year don't cost much more than CRT winter moorings, and CRT keep changing their mind over winter moorings.

You are far from being alone in that mixed mode. Too often the assumption is that boaters divide neatly into home moorers and cc's.

[Mike Todd]

 

The plan is 24 hours days, only two planned stops for water, fuel and provisions.

Crew of 3 (picking up 4th at Brighton) for the last leg up the East coast to Hull.

 

Cannot cross the Bay of Biscay prior to 1st April due to insurance stipulations, but then departure date is weather dependent anyway.

 

51948869gallery_wm.jpgIMG_1021.JPG

There's a couple of narrow boats on the lower GU bolted together like that!

[Tony Dunkley]

Will only cruise the Lea and Stort as we're on a river only license. . . . . .

 

Not really relevant to this Topic, but would you mind checking the wording on your River Registration.

When BW first started misrepresenting them as Licences, they were very careful to avoid describing them as licences in print and used to put 'River use only' on the Registration 'discs'.

I was wondering if C&RT have now taken the deception a step further by putting the word 'licence' on what is in truth a 'Pleasure Boat Certificate' [of registration].

[Alan de Enfield]

 

Not really relevant to this Topic, but would you mind checking the wording on your River Registration.

When BW first started misrepresenting them as Licences, they were very careful to avoid describing them as licences in print and used to put 'River use only' on the Registration 'discs'.

I was wondering if C&RT have now taken the deception a step further by putting the word 'licence' on what is in truth a 'Pleasure Boat Certificate' [of registration].

 

Mine clearly states "Standard River Only Licence"

[Mike Todd]

For the record our stats since we bought Take Five in the summer 2008:

 

Miles Locks LockMiles Days

2008 305.7 318.0 623.7 25

2009 823.9 620.0 1443.9 73

2010 971.9 498.0 1469.9 66

2011 875.5 931.0 1806.5 89

2012 1034.5 694 1728.5 108

2013 951.9 680 1631.9 109

2014 942.4 936 1878.4 93

2015 1122.3 774 1896.3 103

2016 33.5 0 33.5 3

 

eta I did paste as a table from my spreadsheet and it looked OK in draft but scrambled on posting. Can anyone tell me how to post a table, if at all?

Edited March 4, 2016 by Mike Todd

[DaveP]

I'm starting to use my home mooring more as a winter mooring, and crusing over the summer months.

One trip, furthest destination from home mooring will be around 37 miles away.

Last year was around 28 miles away.

Before that it was the occasional daily trip up and down the sane section of canal, so about 3 miles.

 

I've debated with myself if to go fully CC, but my moorings for the year don't cost much more than CRT winter moorings, and CRT keep changing their mind over winter moorings.

For the last three years I've been using t he mooring as a winter one, with a 6 month meander (usually about 4-600 miles). I'm reverting to CC from Easter-ish; mostly because CRT keep raising the mooring price without actually putting any money into the site (let alone keeping up with the maintenance), local council making tax demands, and wanting to 'do' the southern waterways....

[FadeToScarlet]

 

Yes work restricts us but we still manage reasonable distances. Our summer cruise will be at least 628 miles and 328 locks, some of the miles will be a bit quick.We need to go through London but don't fancy being triple moored so not sure what we will do - possibly avoid the Regents Canal ?

Bookable mooring at the London Canal Museum, Battlebridge Basin. Will come and show you the Bantam tug if I'm about.

[bassplayer]

Too often the assumption is that boaters divide neatly into home moorers and cc's.

This is very true but I think it's fair to say there are many more boaters with home moorings. In a sense, we are all CC'ers once out on the cut....(let's leave the CM'er argument out of this for now).

 

I must admit, I'm really encouraged by the positive posts I've seen so far. Maybe we can keep tbe network connected after all.

[Leisure boater]

Last year I only got 8 weeks boating in the UK and due to some mobility issues that works out to around a thousand lock/miles. I do not live aboard.

[magictime]

The first year we owned a boat, we had a home mooring in Shipley (where we live) and didn't get any further than Skipton, I think - what's that, 15 miles? It was just short hops up and down that stretch really, sometimes leaving the boat on the towpath in between Saturday cruises. But we were out and about fairly often, except in winter.

 

The second year, we extended our local/weekend cruising range a few miles past Skipton in one direction, and out past Leeds in the other direction to places like Castleford on the A&C and Dewsbury on the C&H, while staying in the habit of leaving the boat on the towpath between cruises. Basically we'd go out on the weekend and cruise from one place near a train station to another, staying within an hour or so of home. We also did a few longer cruises, e.g. one taking in much of the L&L, the Cheshire Ring, and the Rochdale.

 

The third year, we realised we were wasting our money on that home mooring because we were hardly ever on it. So we gave it up - but our cruising pattern stayed basically the same, except that we started doing more local cruising over the winter.