No BL@@DY Mooring - Whaley Bridge to Bugsworth Basin

[@susiecruises]

So true about the abysmal visitor moorings at Whaley Bridge. Such a shame because Whaley is a great place to explore. I’ve tried and failed several times to get moored there so I understand your frustration, Trev.

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

Hi Sue. It is not good for the businesses there either. Boaters bring in money. BTW since I spoke with you my plans have changed. I am now sat at the top of Bosley locks waiting to go back down the Macclesfield

[@49BRITTANIA]

Thinking the availability of the better mooring spots is due to the heavier summer traffic Trev? You don't want to end up on the CRTs most wanted list eh? Ha ha! Hope the day goes a little better tomorrow with more of your very informative and enjoyable vlogs. Chin up mate!

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

Nothing to do with summer traffic the CRT have got greedy and made all the mooring except for room for to 70 foot boats, long term only, where they obviously charge you to moor.

[@philcox1986]

Good little video Trev

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

Thanks 👍

[@anfieldroadlayoutintheloft5204]

good vid on the cut with your travels thanks lee

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

thanks Lee

[@SlowBoats]

Agree entirely Trev, too many spots utterly ruined by excessive residential moorings, no doubt as an easy money-maker for CRT. We left Bugsworth on the day you arrived (crossed at the swing bridge) and it was disappointing not to be able to visit Whaley for lack of any mooring.

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

I am glad I am not the only one. I was looking forward to walking around Whaley with the camera

[@granthostheflatulent]

Canals appear to have got so busy - when I was a kid in the late '60's we could go for an hour plus without seeing another boat, neither moored nor moving. Canals were in a shocking state and far more dangerous back then - long sections where you couldn't moor because of banks collapsing in and gang planks not long enough to moor after leaping ashore - sections with no towpath left to walk or even knock in pins. Canals were more wild then - I remember chugging along well into the night on headlight and torches still looking for somewhere deep enough and sufficiently reed free to be able to get to the bank. I remember carefully choosing the least rotten lock gate to walk across as the tops of the really rotten ones used to wrong foot you by crumbling a little and many had no hand rail. 50 years on I was considering hiring for a trip down memory lane - well, the North Oxford actually. Maybe it would shatter memories with a lot of the bank hole dwelling wildlife banished by pilings and far too many boats - maybe go in winter. Do you still see Kingfishers, herons and voles most days or have the hoards scared them away?

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

I first went boating in the late 70's and yes the canals were only then starting to improve, as the leisure activity increase. I have been back on the canals now for 2 1/5 years and I am now seeing a decline again in the maintenance side of the canals. Locks failing everyday. I get emails from the CRT on every lock failure and closure, some days this can be 15-20 failures across the network, two years ago this was only 1 or 2 a day. There are a lot of boats now on the canals, but most do not move. I came from Bugsworth basin to Marple a couple of days ago 6 1/2 miles and only passed 1 boat coming the other way. The wild life is thriving on the canals. All water fowl including kingfishers I see regularly. Water vole I do still see, but are in pockets across the country.

[@granthostheflatulent]

Glad to hear canals haven't lost all their beautiful wildness and wildlife. I think all the legislation has come in to prevent the huge encampments of decaying wrecks that can't move being used as one level up from homelessness. On my last visit to a canal in the mid '80's I saw wrecks with people living in as far as the eye could see - driven by the gov move away from social housing back then I guess.

[@neojted]

There's space for 5 boats at Whaley Bridge, or 6+ if coal boat Alton isn't there. (It's only there for a couple of days every fortnight). You were unlucky. You're right tho spaces are limited and they should be 2 day moorings not 7 day.

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

The only visitor marked spot I could see was where the 2 boats were moored the last 2 moorings on the bend before the weir

[@neojted]

@@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat You may also moor in the windy hole next to the main road. You can see two boats there in your video - the coal boat Alton and one other.

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

@@neojted There was a sign up there saying authorised boats only when I was there. It could have been because the market was on at the time, and it might have been a temporary signed.

[@cousinjack2841]

I don't like seeing my mate Trev so pissed off; bureaucrats, they rank just below flies, ticks and mosquito's on my list of things I love to hate. A great observer of the human condition, (Billy Connolly), once said of politicians; 'Anyone who WANTS to be a politician, should be barred from ever becoming one' or words to that effect. The same could be said of bureaucrats methinks. Is there not some sort of continuous cruisers association that could be used to put pressure on the CRT over such issues? I mean, you are the guys who are paying their salaries. I prescribe a couple of pints of strong ale Trev; all the best mate.

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

Just in the short time I have been back cruising it has become very noticeable to me there is some underlying agenda going on, just like there is in the real world. I don't like it.

[@nickvincent3029]

It’s a big club and we ain’t in it…. George Carlin

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

I am not, I know that

[@858493]

Maybe the logic is they are making money out of longer term moorings certainly the case here Down Under where its on average $10,000 per anum to Moore up and that's worked out on the length of your boat and the time your staying...they only want those with money to enjoy life...my rant sorry Trev...regards Doc from Down Under

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

We are on the same page. My Mother told me this morning, that she did not like the video, and I should not complain about such things. I told her I was just reporting it as it was. I said apparently according to law as a KZbin creator I am considered a journalist, therefore I was just doing my journalistic duty and reporting the facts. I think she then gave up. lol

[@thomasfilion9064]

I'd ask CRT for the reason. At first thought, maybe someone with a lot of pull doesn't trust boaters, a subculture fear. Idk.

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

If that was the case why 1/2 a mile of long term moorings before the 2 visitor moorings? I am pretty sure it is money.