Moorings, help!

[Grant_thenovice]

Hi guys,

my S/O and I are looking to get our first narrow boat, and would want to moor it on or as close to the Rochdale canal as possible, as a liveaboard. Only problem is I'm having no luck finding any information about doing so, any help would be amazing! Thanks in advance 

[MtB]

On 15/05/2017 at 10:41, Grant_thenovice said:

Hi guys,

my S/O and I are looking to get our first narrow boat, and would want to moor it on or as close to the Rochdale canal as possible, as a liveaboard. Only problem is I'm having no luck finding any information about doing so, any help would be amazing! Thanks in advance 

Welcome!

You appear to have discovered that fully legit residential moorings are rare as hen's teeth. 

Most boaters who live aboard do so 'under the radar' on leisure moorings. They just 'spend a lot of time on their boat', rather than living on it. A fine distinction and one you'll get to understand as you continue to search.

Another approach is to have no mooring at all, and just cruise around from place to place all the time. This is probably what most liveaboards do actually.

[junior]

9 minutes ago, Grant_thenovice said:

Hi guys,

my S/O and I are looking to get our first narrow boat, and would want to moor it on or as close to the Rochdale canal as possible,

You can actually moor ON the Rochdale Canal.

[Grant_thenovice]

Ahh, so am illusive approach is more or less the best approach to have? 

15 minutes ago, junior said:

You can actually moor ON the Rochdale Canal.

How Junior?! So little information to be found, I've tried getting numbers and names of people for that neck of the woods and found nothing! 

[Athy]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your search. You should get good advice from members on here.

I am amused by your term "S/O", which I assume stands for "Supervising Officer", i.e. wife or girlfriend? I refer to my wife as "The Management", which is another way of saying more or less the same thing.

[Grant_thenovice]

Brilliant Athy! May just have to pinch that "term of endearment". I've got my fingers and painfully my toes crossed I find some helpful information out soon

[mross]

SO = significant other

[Athy]

3 minutes ago, mross said:

SO = significant other

Same to you!

Isn't that an old American term for a girlfriend? I remember reading it some 20 years ago, but thought that its use had died out.

[Chewbacka]

This is the site for moorings along the canal that are managed by CRT.  I suggest you put in your boat length as the availability may change - I assumed 15m long.

https://www.watersidemooring.com/Search?Location=Rochdale%2C+United+Kingdom&DistanceMiles=30&PriceMinimum=&PriceMaximum=&Length=15&Beam=&Coordinates=53.6097%2C-2.1561&tab=&Availability=availablenow&Availability=availablesoon

 

There are also private moorings available but I don't know if you are more interested in the Manchester or Leeds end of the canal.  This may give you some ideas as well - http://www.canaljunction.com/boat/marinas_north.htm

Edited May 15, 2017 by Chewbacka

[8 Hairy Feet]

Mayroyd moorings ?

Shire ?
 

[Grant_thenovice]

16 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

This is the site for moorings along the canal that are managed by CRT.  I suggest you put in your boat length as the availability may change - I assumed 15m long.

https://www.watersidemooring.com/Search?Location=Rochdale%2C+United+Kingdom&DistanceMiles=30&PriceMinimum=&PriceMaximum=&Length=15&Beam=&Coordinates=53.6097%2C-2.1561&tab=&Availability=availablenow&Availability=availablesoon

 

There are also private moorings available but I don't know if you are more interested in the Manchester or Leeds end of the canal.  This may give you some ideas as well - http://www.canaljunction.com/boat/marinas_north.htm

Thank you kindly, you are a star! I'll have a look on these now, with everything crossed.

1 minute ago, 8 Hairy Feet said:

Mayroyd moorings ?

Shire ?
 

Getting hold of them has proved very hard, but I've not given up hope just yet. Thank you  

[8 Hairy Feet]

If you do want this side of the Pennines (Hehe the best side)

you could think about The Calder & Hebble too...

Salterhebble or Brighouse????
eta I come from Bury way too but have made the

right choice on which side to live now

 

Edited May 15, 2017 by 8 Hairy Feet
extra info

[Grant_thenovice]

1 hour ago, 8 Hairy Feet said:

If you do want this side of the Pennines (Hehe the best side)

you could think about The Calder & Hebble too...

Salterhebble or Brighouse????
eta I come from Bury way too but have made the

right choice on which side to live now

 

I'm trying to convince the missus that Brighouse would be a good move, the only issue then is the work commute. But, I'll try my charm haha! 

[Machpoint005]

3 hours ago, Athy said:

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your search. You should get good advice from members on here.

I am amused by your term "S/O", which I assume stands for "Supervising Officer", i.e. wife or girlfriend? I refer to my wife as "The Management", which is another way of saying more or less the same thing.

 

2 hours ago, mross said:

SO = significant other

If uttered by the female half of the partnership it would be "subordinate oik". 

[Mac of Cygnet]

3 minutes ago, Grant_thenovice said:

I'm trying to convince the missus that Brighouse would be a good move, the only issue then is the work commute. But, I'll try my charm haha! 

Where are you commuting to?    There are various small moorings scattered along the Rochdale Canal, plus Baltimore Marina, Todmorden, Mayroyd at Hebden Bridge, and Shire Cruisers at Sowerby Bridge.  Apart from the last (where I moor, and can recommend, but doubt if any space), it seems very difficult to get contact details of any of these.  If Nigel Stevens at Shire can't help you, it may be worth while, as has often been recommended here, travelling along the canal and speaking to people on the ground (or rather on the water).

[Grant_thenovice]

38 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Where are you commuting to?    There are various small moorings scattered along the Rochdale Canal, plus Baltimore Marina, Todmorden, Mayroyd at Hebden Bridge, and Shire Cruisers at Sowerby Bridge.  Apart from the last (where I moor, and can recommend, but doubt if any space), it seems very difficult to get contact details of any of these.  If Nigel Stevens at Shire can't help you, it may be worth while, as has often been recommended here, travelling along the canal and speaking to people on the ground (or rather on the water).

We'd both be commuting to Bury for work, unfortunately! I'd love to pick up sticks and set sail but still, work commitments. 

Ah, I'd not heard of the Baltimore Marina but I'll have a gander. We're planning on having a walk up and down the Rochdale canal this coming weekend, so hopefully we can have a natter with other boaters

[MtB]

5 hours ago, Grant_thenovice said:

Brilliant Athy! May just have to pinch that "term of endearment". I've got my fingers and painfully my toes crossed I find some helpful information out soon

 

Swerving off topic a sec, someone here once mentioned they were discussing terms of endearment used by politicians for their SOs.

Nigel Farage came under discussion and given his wife is German, they decided he probably calls her "Hun". 

[Grant_thenovice]

6 hours ago, Grant_thenovice said:

I'm trying to convince the missus that Brighouse would be a good move, the only issue then is the work commute. But, I'll try my charm haha! 

Out of interest where we're you based in Bury? 

[8 Hairy Feet]

Me?

Was born at an address on Bury New Road actually

in Whitefield but went to school in Bury.

Had a Saturday job in the market with Chris Barrash(sp?)

fruit and veg. Mmm black pudding from the BP stall..happy daze 
 

[Grant_thenovice]

Ahh I know that side very well, lived in Prestwich, now Radcliffe (now you can see why I want out!) 

[Buryphil]

I live in Bury,but work near Rochdale.I am planning to buy a narrowboat soon and hope to moor somewhere close to Rochdale.Would it be possible to moor up in a spot and move on to somewhere different every couple of weeks? As i don't drive a long commute won't work for me,7am start.

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, Buryphil said:

Would it be possible to moor up in a spot and move on to somewhere different every couple of weeks?

Unlikely - but it depends what you mean by 'another spot'

Read the guidelines for boats without a home mooring.

"....... if someone’s boat has broken down or they are ill, we can arrange for a boat to stay a little longer in an area whilst this is resolved.  But it would be neither fair nor feasible to apply this to everyone who wants to confine their movement to a small area indefinitely, for potentially very long term reasons like work or school.   If a boater wants to stay in a particular area then they will not be continuously cruising and this type of licence is not right for them and they should consider obtaining a home mooring".

 

Do read the guidance in full, but in a nutshell, it explains that you must use the boat to genuinely cruise (A to B to C to D rather than A to B to A to B   from place to place and must not stop for more than 14 days in any one place. If you're planning on continuously cruising then it's best to get an idea of the movement pattern we'd expect you to be doing over the course of your licence period.

 

 

Guidance for boats without a mooring.pdf

Edited June 24, 2017 by Alan de Enfield

[WotEver]

42 minutes ago, Buryphil said:

As i don't drive a long commute won't work for me...

I don't see how that is compatible with continuously cruising the system. 

[Buryphil]

Thanks Alan,I would be buying a boat with the intention of getting it ready/as I want it before my retirement in a couple of years.Mooring it in multiple places between Rochdale and Manchester would be ideal.With a good bus service and a push bike it seems doable.

[jennywren]

21 hours ago, Buryphil said:

Thanks Alan,I would be buying a boat with the intention of getting it ready/as I want it before my retirement in a couple of years.Mooring it in multiple places between Rochdale and Manchester would be ideal.With a good bus service and a push bike it seems doable.

There is not really much mooring between Rochdale and Manchester, is your problem. You will likely have to move further afield if you want to CC (though as is often the case, the trainline closely follows the canal so there is a direct train into Manchester Victoria along much of the Rochdale, certainly as far as Todmorden). Otherwise you would end up moving back and forth between the same mooring spots over a very short amount of time, which is not likely to comply with your license conditions as a boater without a home mooring (though the distance between Manchester and Rochdale probably wouldn't meet them anyway).

After the city centre, there is pretty much nowhere until by The Rose of Lancaster in Chadderton (some moorings outside Tesco in Failsworth but that's only really okay for overnight, local kids can be a problem-I wouldn't leave a boat unattended for long there). The next lot of moorings are really then at Slattocks (all of the bank between is stone edging with a hard towpath-there are some bits of grass but I doubt you'd have much luck trying to get any pins in-when I needed to stop along that stretch because it was too windy, I ended up tying up overnight to a lock mooring). You might be able to moor with pins on a few bits between Slattocks and Rochdale but it is not recommended to stop in Rochdale (and I am not sure whether there are any suitable places to moor anyway) so your next mooring place would likely be Littleborough (after which there are a few more places to moor).

There are also very few services on the Rochdale canal which is worth keeping in mind; after New Islington marina (which is going to close for a year after the summer for work to be done which is likely to mean the services will be out of action) the next place there is water and an elsan disposal is Littleborough, followed by Todmorden.