Rochdale moorings/pubs given summit closures from August 4th

[IanD]

Going over the Rochdale in August, planned to stop at the Summit Inn on Friday 11th, now find the summit is closed between locks 34 and 44 on Mondays and Fridays starting August 4th due to water shortages :-(

So need to replan stops -- starting from Thomas Telford basin the plan is now Rose of Lancaster on Thursday, Red Lion at Littleborough on Friday, then hammer over the summit on Saturday and try and get to Todmorden. It's only 30 locks in a long summer day, we've done more than that in shorter days with fewer crew so I'm not worried, always assuming there's some water...

For Rose of Lancaster I guess we'll moor near the aqueduct, but where would people recommend mooring in Littleborough given that we want to get a head start the following morning -- above Durn Lock #47?

[NB Esk]

I did it the other way round and came down from summit to overnight by the waterways depot/services near Littleborough.  I was single handed but found this stretch relatively easy.  I am also fairly deep draughted but again had no problems to speak of.  Some of the lower sections (on both sides) were a different matter, I was on the bottom by the Rose of Lancaster.

 

 

[Ian Mac]

This is a piece of string question, however some boaters easily do Piccadillly to Slattock top in a day, it all depends on the shape of you boat! If you have a hull that picks crap up then making just for Mills Hill (The Rose of Lancaster) is a better idea, as the Manchester 18 is definitely an urban canal.  Its also down to how many crew you are 3 and a bike is the ideal number.
On my last trip up, at the end of June with a full length traditional boat, we did Piccadilly to Littleborough in a the day - crew of three and a bike, which is really useful on the Rochdale. Dinner taken at the Rose. 7:30 start from New Isslington. Beer taken in the Red Lion :-)
Rose to Littleborough is a short day - 6 hrs . I prefer to stop above lock 47, especially as the pound below it is not holding water! Means that when you have run the water you can give the pound time to recover overnight. The walk to the Red lion is almost equal distance. No pubs in Littleborough appear to do food, Restaurants are available, the Indian on Tod Road is OK.
Littleborough to West summit is 3 hrs of a job.
Littleborough to Stubbins Wharf is a good days boating, about 10 hrs of a job, a late pub stop in Tod which is now where the next pubs are after West Summit. One can more around lock 30 and walk out to the Waggon and Horses, via the footpath over the railway then back towards Rochdale along the road, but is a bit of a hike, but worth it.
Just to finish off Stubbins Wharf to Halifax and back is a days job. I like the Stubbins wharf inn the food and beer were excellent all 4 times I've used it.
Just to keep things in prospective at Easter with my trad boat, draught 3ft 4" we got caught out by a fellow "helpful" boater? how had drained the long shallow pound above lock 69.  So we only managed to get from Audenshaw to lock 66 in the day, we went to the Home Guard club, walking back to lock 68. The club was really good. We then got well and truly stuck by the top Morrisons footbridge just before Victoria Avenue, the following day, due to low water levels. It took us 4 hrs to get from lock 70 to lock 66, due to their help!

Cheers Ian Mac

ps  don't forget the they ran out of money when opening the canal down into Manchester, so between lock 70 and lock 68 they only scooped out a narrow channel with a machine sat on the bank, so keep your boat fully on the towpath side of the centre line on the canal, and do it on tick over.  Do not go to near the towpath either!

pps - volunteer lock keeps may be available  see C&RT stoppage notices.

 

[NickF]

I like the old wharf above bent House Lock No 46, makes a lovely little mooring, you would have a bit of a walk back to littleborough but not too far.

[IanD]

16 hours ago, Ian Mac said:

This is a piece of string question, however some boaters easily do Piccadillly to Slattock top in a day, it all depends on the shape of you boat! If you have a hull that picks crap up then making just for Mills Hill (The Rose of Lancaster) is a better idea, as the Manchester 18 is definitely an urban canal.  Its also down to how many crew you are 3 and a bike is the ideal number.
On my last trip up, at the end of June with a full length traditional boat, we did Piccadilly to Littleborough in a the day - crew of three and a bike, which is really useful on the Rochdale. Dinner taken at the Rose. 7:30 start from New Isslington. Beer taken in the Red Lion :-)
Rose to Littleborough is a short day - 6 hrs . I prefer to stop above lock 47, especially as the pound below it is not holding water! Means that when you have run the water you can give the pound time to recover overnight. The walk to the Red lion is almost equal distance. No pubs in Littleborough appear to do food, Restaurants are available, the Indian on Tod Road is OK.
Littleborough to West summit is 3 hrs of a job.
Littleborough to Stubbins Wharf is a good days boating, about 10 hrs of a job, a late pub stop in Tod which is now where the next pubs are after West Summit. One can more around lock 30 and walk out to the Waggon and Horses, via the footpath over the railway then back towards Rochdale along the road, but is a bit of a hike, but worth it.
Just to finish off Stubbins Wharf to Halifax and back is a days job. I like the Stubbins wharf inn the food and beer were excellent all 4 times I've used it.
Just to keep things in prospective at Easter with my trad boat, draught 3ft 4" we got caught out by a fellow "helpful" boater? how had drained the long shallow pound above lock 69.  So we only managed to get from Audenshaw to lock 66 in the day, we went to the Home Guard club, walking back to lock 68. The club was really good. We then got well and truly stuck by the top Morrisons footbridge just before Victoria Avenue, the following day, due to low water levels. It took us 4 hrs to get from lock 70 to lock 66, due to their help!

Cheers Ian Mac

ps  don't forget the they ran out of money when opening the canal down into Manchester, so between lock 70 and lock 68 they only scooped out a narrow channel with a machine sat on the bank, so keep your boat fully on the towpath side of the centre line on the canal, and do it on tick over.  Do not go to near the towpath either!

pps - volunteer lock keeps may be available  see C&RT stoppage notices.

 

Thanks Ian Mac -- I was originally planning Piccadilly (well, Thomas Telford) to Slattocks and then to the Summit the following day, but this was scuppered by the planned Monday/Friday closures of the summit starting from August 4th because we'd have been there on Friday 11th. Rushing up from Manchester just makes this even worse, we'd have to sit and wait for a day.

So planned stops now (all near decent or good pubs...) are Sowerby Bridge -- Cooper's Bridge -- Slaithwaite -- Marsden -- Uppermill -- Stalybridge -- Thomas Telford -- Rose of Lancaster -- Littleborough (Friday night) -- Todmorden (Saturday night) -- Sowerby Bridge. Gives us 2 long days (~9.5 hours with 30 locks) but we've done longer runs than this in the past in shorter days.

Don't plan to ask for volockies, 6 of us on the boat usually means 3 or 4 on the bank who enjoy locks, volockies would just take some of the fun away...

Edited July 23, 2017 by IanD

[NickF]

Sounds like a brilliant trip with all that crew, 30 locks a day ... no problem, 

[IanD]

I've just heard from CART that locks 34 and 44 will be closed at 4pm the day before (Sunday and Thursday) and opened at 9am the day after (Tuesday and Saturday) the Monday and Friday closures. They also say the locks will be closed overnight on the other days of the week, but not whether the times are the same.

I guess that means avoiding planning to enter the summit stretch (locks 34-44) after 4pm on any day, and certainly not planning to cross it on Monday or Friday.

[IanD]

Thanks for all the advice, we had a fantastic trip -- see report in Cruise Diaries forum :-)