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Ellesmere Port on Easter Monday


Philip

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I'm planning a trip for Easter which will include a trip to Ellesmere Port on Easter Monday, all being well. What is the mooring like at Ellesmere Port - where is the best place to go and is there usually space? I know about the historic boat gathering, have most of them moved off by the Monday evening? What time is the boat museum open until and are there any good pubs in the vicinity and places to eat? I'm aiming to arrive there for around 4-4:30.

 

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There is a pub and you can eat at the Holiday Inn. Ellesmere Port is not the centre of culinary excellence, or good pubs. We have usually visited the museum during the day and gone back out to the Bunbury Arms at Stoak,  http://bunburyarmschester.com/ Great food and drink in a pretty little village near to the motorway bridges but we didn't notice any noise overnight. The other thing to do is moor up near the Zoo and visit that for a day, it is strange when you wake up in the morning and hear odd noises from the animals.

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Last summer we stayed overnight on the VMs at the top of the museum and were the only ones there. The museum entry fee included mooring in the lower basin should we have wished to. I can't comment on what effect the historic boat gathering will have on availability though. 

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We also stayed at VMs at the top of the museum. Quiet overnight. Choice of the Holiday Inn at bottom or a restaurant overlooking the Manchester Ship Canal. Didn’t look for a pub, so can’t comment on that. There are also moorings at the bottom beside the Holiday Inn. Not aware of any charges for them. We certainly didn’t pay in previous years. Certainly recommend the zoo for a day out. We left Chester in the morning, had a day at the zoo and moored up at The Ellesmere Port for the night. All nice and gentle. No issues apart from weed, but you won’t encounter that at this time of year. Look out for terrapins in the canal at Ellesmere Port. We spotted a couple basking in the sun.

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8 minutes ago, Derek Porteous said:

We also stayed at VMs at the top of the museum. Quiet overnight. Choice of the Holiday Inn at bottom or a restaurant overlooking the Manchester Ship Canal. Didn’t look for a pub, so can’t comment on that. There are also moorings at the bottom beside the Holiday Inn. Not aware of any charges for them. We certainly didn’t pay in previous years. Certainly recommend the zoo for a day out. We left Chester in the morning, had a day at the zoo and moored up at The Ellesmere Port for the night. All nice and gentle. No issues apart from weed, but you won’t encounter that at this time of year. Look out for terrapins in the canal at Ellesmere Port. We spotted a couple basking in the sun.

The museum issue a mooring permit for the lower basin. One night is free with a museum entry ticket and additional nights can be purchased.

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You have to purchase a visitor ticket (s) for the museum and the first night stay in the lower basin is free, after that it is £4.00 per night (2017). The museum does have a tap but it is above the locks into the basin so fill up before you lock down. There is also an elsan point tucked away in the far corner. We stayed last year waiting for a weather window for our Mersey crossing and the CRT staff were really helpful assisting with the paperwork required by Peel Ports, scanning the forms and e mailing them to me. The basin is very quiet overnight and you can log on to the Holiday Inn internet which didn't have a password.

The mooring outside the gates is 24 hours and there is not much of it, it is also not secure and there were quite a few teenagers hanging around, no problems that I was aware of but it only takes one idiot.

Ken

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24 minutes ago, KenK said:

You have to purchase a visitor ticket (s) for the museum and the first night stay in the lower basin is free, after that it is £4.00 per night (2017). The museum does have a tap but it is above the locks into the basin so fill up before you lock down. There is also an elsan point tucked away in the far corner. We stayed last year waiting for a weather window for our Mersey crossing and the CRT staff were really helpful assisting with the paperwork required by Peel Ports, scanning the forms and e mailing them to me. The basin is very quiet overnight and you can log on to the Holiday Inn internet which didn't have a password.

The mooring outside the gates is 24 hours and there is not much of it, it is also not secure and there were quite a few teenagers hanging around, no problems that I was aware of but it only takes one idiot.

Ken

Do you know if there is still a pump out there, there use to be at the end of the building just outside the gate

 

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1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

Do you know if there is still a pump out there, there use to be at the end of the building just outside the gate

 

Sorry no idea, not something I need, give them a call and ask. Just remembered there is also a rubbish point near the front entrance outside the museum.

Ken

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Personally I think it well worth paying the museum fee not only for a look around, but for the secure mooring in the lower basin. The moorings at the top are right by the road and thus a bit “exposed” in terms of people wandering about.

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3 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Personally I think it well worth paying the museum fee not only for a look around, but for the secure mooring in the lower basin. The moorings at the top are right by the road and thus a bit “exposed” in terms of people wandering about.

When we moored there last year there were youths inside the yard at night.

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Thanks all for the info. Do you need to go through the first 3 locks to access the secure lower basin for the museum, or is it the basin after the first 2 locks?

Just as an alternative, is the mooring at Little Stoak for the Bunbury Arms safe enough nowadays? I vaguely remember mention of problems with gypsies along the rural stretch some years previously.

Edited by Philip
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We had a  very expensive bike stolen from inside the cabin while the boat was moored in the museum itself. The boat was tied in an area  theoreticaly not accessible to the public, and left with the hatches unlocked for a mere few minutes.( domestic crisis) Opportunistic yes the bike had never been out of the cabin in ellesmere port. It was £3000 gone. Police... dont make me laugh..

personaly i wouldnt leave a boat unattended anywhere near there. They had my friends golf too.

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On your way there or way back, about midway to Chester, you can walk up to Chester Zoo if that floats your boat.  There's a concrete path leading up from one of the bridges with decent moorings right there.  It's poorly signed, with both the moorings and the path a little incognito regarding the zoo, but you can work it out if you're looking for it.  Good zoo, doing good conservation work, but be aware that they shut at 5pm except for the main school summer holidays when it's 6pm. This came as a it of a surprise to us during June, so we left without seeing everything. 

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