Ellesmere Port...

[Pete of Ebor]

Does anyone know whether it is possible or generally allowed to take a 70' boat down the three locks at Ellesmere Port ? We do not want to pass through the last one into the river. There is a water point marked in Nicholson below the third lock. If we do get there, can we wind 70'. Would seem a little awkward to go down only to have to come back up backwards. I note that there is a winding hole marked at the top. Are we expected to wind there ?

[junior]

Yes you are and yes you can wind. No issues at all with doing either.

Yes you can also wind at the top and there is also a tap at the top.

Google maps will give you an idea of how much room there is at the bottom. In fact you could probably just do a U turn

[Pete of Ebor]

Are there any visitor moorings at the bottom or by The Museum, and any decent pubs nearby ?

[junior]

Are there any visitor moorings at the bottom or by The Museum, and any decent pubs nearby ?

There is space for 2 boats (more if you breast up) at the top of the locks. The moorings are just outside the museum gates but are safe enough and quiet enough.

If you have time, I'd go down the locks. Massive basin at the bottom where you'll never fail to find a space. Down the bottom you are mostly either within the museum gates (you get out with a BW key) or within the area that gets locked up by the council at about 8pm.

 

Ellesmere Port is a bit of a dump, but we'll worth boating to. The area around the museum and bottom basin is nice and quiet and always feels safe to me. Pub wise it depends what you are used to? I'd recommend the Horse & Jockey round the back of the museum boatyard. It looks a bit like a crack-den but is actually very friendly. If crack-den's aren't your thing then it'll have to be Weatherspoons in town, about a 5 min walk.

 

There are some lovely moorings on the way from Chester to the Port also, but the last mile or so isn't much to write home about and I wouldn't recommend overnight mooring in that last mile until you hit the VM'S outside the museum.

[Ian Mac]

You asked if you could go down the three locks, Going down two is easy and zooming around the bottom basin is fun. The last lock into the holding dock, before the Ship canal is harder as there is also a swing bridge which need to be swung, and I believe you have to get the council to do that. The other way down through the ship lock also has a swing bridge in the way again a council operated one. Also the large ship lock isn't working currently which is also a shame.

[adam1uk]

Ian is right, unless you want to go out onto the ship canal, you need do only two locks down to the big basin at the bottom. The third lock, onto the ship canal, needs to be unlocked by CRT, and have the bridge swung by the local council. Both need 48 hours notice.

 

It's great fun mooring for the night in the museum basin at the bottom, in amongst some really big boats. They charge the museum entry fee for the privilege, which is fair enough. You can have a wander round out of hours, and there's a gate at the top opened by a CRT key.

 

Edited May 5, 2016 by adam1uk

[junior]

They charge the museum entry fee for the privilege, which is fair enough?

 

image.jpeg

Really?

[Mac of Cygnet]

Really?

Yes, and that's per person initially (which is fair enough, as that's the per person Museum entrance fee) Subsequent nights charged per boat.

 

Full details here. £6.50 per person entry and £4 per boat for second night onwards. I've twice left Cygnet there for a week - it was a lot more expensive last year despite getting an oldies concession (for me, not the boat) than a few years ago because originally it was only a flat entrance fee.

[dmr]

Are there any visitor moorings at the bottom or by The Museum, and any decent pubs nearby ?

 

There's a pub just out the back of the museum (bottom basin), probably the roughest pub I have been in for a long time, full of old bikers and the like. No real ale, one lager, one cider and Caffrys, all very very cheap. A lot of the old Irish Republican songs on the jukebox.

 

We got a warm welcome and spent a very pleasant long afternoon there, but I reckon if you behave like a pr*t it could all go horribly wrong very quickly. Dogs very welcome and a surprisingly good collection of books to read.

 

...............Dave

[junior]

 

There's a pub just out the back of the museum (bottom basin), probably the roughest pub I have been in for a long time, full of old bikers and the like. No real ale, one lager, one cider and Caffrys, all very very cheap. A lot of the old Irish Republican songs on the jukebox.

 

We got a warm welcome and spent a very pleasant long afternoon there, but I reckon if you behave like a pr*t it could all go horribly wrong very quickly. Dogs very welcome and a surprisingly good collection of books to read.

 

...............Dave

The Horse & Jockey by the sound of it, as per my recommendation.

[junior]

Yes, and that's per person initially (which is fair enough, as that's the per person Museum entrance fee) Subsequent nights charged per boat.

 

Full details here. £6.50 per person entry and £4 per boat for second night onwards. I've twice left Cygnet there for a week - it was a lot more expensive last year despite getting an oldies concession (for me, not the boat) than a few years ago because originally it was only a flat entrance fee.

That's genuinely the first I've ever heard of anyone paying. There are boats in that bottom basin that have been there for weeks if not months and I'm pretty sure they are not paying a nightly fee.

[Paul C]

That's genuinely the first I've ever heard of anyone paying. There are boats in that bottom basin that have been there for weeks if not months and I'm pretty sure they are not paying a nightly fee.

 

Basically, it works like this:

 

* Museum entry fee is charged per person and day 1 is charged at the normal entry fee. Day 2 and onwards of museum entry fee is free, if you visit in a boat.

* Mooring fee for mooring at the museum (not the visitor mooring but beyond) is charged with night 1 being free, but night 2 and onwards charged (I think, can't fully remember) £4/night.

 

So, if you visit the museum in a boat, stay overnight you'll be charged the museum entry fee, which is fair enough. If you simply wanted to moor for the night and not visit the museum, there's a couple of visitor moorings just before the museum itself and a couple more just before the last brige too.

 

There's a number of boats which seem to have a permanent mooring in the lower basin, I don't know the details of these but I imagine they pay a slightly different long term fee.

[Pete of Ebor]

Thanks for all the info. The map in Nicholson was a bit unclear. It did say that you can't pass through the lock into the ship canal (which we won't want to do anyway) but there didn't seem to be any way to wind above the bottom lock. Once I'd looked it up on googlemaps, it's obvious there's plenty of space. We wouldn't be there overnight as it's likley only to be a lunchtime visit, then evening back in Chester.

[ditchcrawler]

I would rather stay there than Chester overnight

[Paul C]

Don't worry, once you're in the lower basin* there is enough space to wind! Beware turning left just after the 2nd lock though - don't swing your stern out too close to the edge, there is a sunken boat there - look out for its funnel.

 

* Some guides call the little basin below the 3rd lock (on the same level, and sharing the water of the MSC) as the lower basin, and the large one as middle or upper basin. Its logical to think of the large one as the lower basin, and the small one above the locks (just at the entrance of the museum) as the upper basin, though.

[Mac of Cygnet]

I would rather stay there than Chester overnight

 

Why? I stayed in Chester before and after Ellesmere Port last summer, once in the town centre and once in the basin below the staircase, and both were fine. There is certainly a lot more to see and do in Chester, and lots of good pubs.

 

A good mooring between Chester and Ellesmere Port is Stoak, by Bridge 138, where there is a pleasant walk past the Church to the pub, and bus to Chester or Ellesmere Port if you want.

[captain birdseye]

We have stopped at The Bunbury Arms at Stoak a couple of times, food and beer are great, far better than staying the night at the port. Opposite the dry dock at Chester is a good mooring with, unless they have been ruined, a very good facilities block in the flats.