I'm nearly a month behind with this, I've about lost patience with Photobucket and the direct method doesn't seem to like those of us who use IPads ( if anyone has cracked this method for IPad please let us know !) I'm trying out a different hosting site.
Anyway last month we grabbed a Groupon deal for 3 nights hire of a 45 foot 2 berth narrowboat from Preston Brook on the Bridgewater Canal.
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If you head South you're into a long tunnel straightway and plenty of locks to handle, so we were happy to head North where the canal follows the contours - making for a lock free relaxing journey that can potentially take you all the way to Manchester.
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Max speed is about 4mph if you are pushing a wake that washes the bank and overtaking walkers you are going too fast.
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We'd never used a narrowboat before but we've plenty of boat knowledge.
If you fancy trying it but don't know your way around a boat the hot tips are;
Don't get flustered over where the front of the boat is going, instead push the tiller to the side where you want the back of the boat to go, choosing a no lock route that follows the contours can make for a lot of bends, sometimes double bends with a bridge in the middle and you won't get it right every time but at 4mph there is time to sort it out.
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Steering responds quicker the faster you are moving.
You can't move in the dark so have a map and plan where you'll be mooring for the night, mostly common sense, you hammer mooring pins into the canal side of the towpath and tie up to these
( don't use private moorings without permission)
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Be aware that a boat moving passed too fast can lift your boat in the water and yank out the mooring pin so tie your mooring rope through the eye of the pin or it will be lost at the bottom of the canal.
Many others use the towpath, your rope must not stretch across the path and a bright carrier bag or similar secured over the pin is a good safety tip.
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There wasn't much maintenance to do on our short hire but on our Isuzu diesel engined boat you did have to lift the duck boards and check the engine coolant and oil, the bilge water and turn a plunger to grease the prop shaft every morning.
When it comes to mooring and casting off it takes a little teamwork but you soon get the routine
Being Autumn the water was full of leaves, these build up on the prop and slow your progress, you sense it happening so once in a while give the throttle three blips in reverse to clear them before it gets to the point where you have to perform surgery!
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Rule of the road is pass left side to left side.
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We followed the canal as far as Thelwall and The M6 (a little research beforehand will give you the heads up on where you can turn your boat around if that is what your route requires)
Now for the fishing bit,
I'd hoped to do a bit of Pike fishing, it was a very cold weekend and we did see the odd Pike plugger and pole fisherman - it can be a slightly uneasy relationship between boats and anglers but from brief chats as we tried not to hassle them there were a few fish about.
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Fishing on this route is from the towpath side only, obviously you need an Environment Agency Licence
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But you will also need to contact these
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They don't do day tickets unfortunately and I left the whole thing too late to sort out so no fishing for me on this trip. Thoroughly recommend this as a relaxing break though, and I'm inspired to try my own boat in freshwater
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