Doolally Days in Lancaster?

Tuesday, 02 June 2009 18:48

The moorings here are full and have been most of the time. One or two boats have moved and others arrived. Today's arrivals were the 2 of the boats that we crossed the link with!

When we arrived I was reassured to see that the moorings were 14 days, as we planned to stay for a while! This morning I thought I was going doolally!

Opening up Epiphany as she warmed with the sun I saw that the mooring notice right by us says 7D (7 day max). Oh dear, today was the 7th day and we did not plan to move for a couple of days more! I could have sworn it said 14 day max! We really need to stay for a bit longer as we have plans arranged.

7 day moorings notice

I was sitting in the bows when Andy, the BW Canal Ranger, came by. In his hand a drill - and Daniel had a box of screws in his hand! They stopped to chat. They have been very helpful with advice on where else to moor and when. As we talked it "came out" that they had just changed the 14 days to 7 days this morning - a directive from above!

So relief - I was not going doolally after all! It may not be a popular move with some of the local boaters who are aware that most times the Lancaster Canal moorings are under-used, rather than over-used. However, Lancaster is a mooring "hot spot" and with more boats using the Link this may make it more popular. Apparently the same has happened at Tewitfield at the top of the canal.

There is certainly more than a weeks worth of activities to do here, but as we will be coming back again - the canal is a dead end after all, we can spend more time here if necessary. However we are assuming that we will not get warned off the mooring as the rules have only just changed.

We entertained Richard (Lancaster Canal Trust) and his wife for coffee this morning. He had not been aware of the change and it will mean an addendum to the next edition of the Guide!

My experience is that once something is published, it immediately becomes out of date - at least if something is published online it can be changed or edited easily!

P.S. When Epiphany was being built, we did think about naming our boat "48 hour max" - in those days we could have found plenty of moorings just for our boat. With BW's current variable mooring plans we are glad we called her "Epiphany" (ed.)

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