Boating Plans for 2015

Spring is in the air and thoughts inevitably turn to where we are going boating this year.  Originally we had thought that we would be doing two separate trips this year with a break in the middle back home in Yorkshire.  However it now looks as if we shall be out most of the summer, as we have been the last three years.  Though you can't really plan anything boating with any sort of precision the broad aim this year is to fill in most of the blanks in the waterways map.

We plan to leave the Dales in about the third week in April and cruise back East down the Leeds and Liverpool to Leeds and then on to Castleford.  From there we'll head to Goole, but we don't plan to go out on the tidal Ouse there.  Then our way lies back towards Sheffield before we venture out onto the tidal River Trent at Keadby.  As we go up the Trent we'll visit all the side branches so towards Chesterfield on the canal of the same name and then South to Lincoln and Boston which will probably be our furthest South this year.  At Trent Junction near Derby we aim to meet David and Victoria on Pas Mèche in June and then cruise with them for a couple of months to Chester.  We have a booking for the Ribble Link in mid August, without Pas Mèche, to explore the Lancaster Canal.  At the end of the season we aim to go back over the Pennines on the Leeds and Liverpool to Skipton.

So that is the plan.  Keep an eye on this blog to see what really happens and the pitfalls along the way.

We look forward to sharing our journey with you and meeting some of our boating friends along the cut.