Steve Wood wrote... >I've heard a rumour that the number of boats making the trip each day >will be severely limited - a figure of 6 was mentioned to me. Have you >heard this? > I have heard 8. This is because the BW team has to leaf-frog the boats to get ahead to open swing bridges between Maghull and Netherton. A couple of these are on major roads and the police have told them they cannot have these closed to road traffic for too long at a time, as traffic backs up very quickly and there have been problems with ambulances heading for a nearby hospital being caught up in the queues.
If there are large numbers of boats wanting to come in the first few weeks they might consider doing what they did when they had the Coal and Cotton Rally and have more than one convoy in a day. When things calm down a bit, 8 boats each way each day might be more than enough to satisfy demand. >Is pre-booking going to be mandatory? If so, why? I don't know about mandatory but if there are going to be restrictions on numbers going through, someone who just turns up on spec may find themselves having to wait days or weeks for an unbooked slot while the Link is still a novelty. There are other places where boaters need to book passage in advance, like the locks from Manchester to Failsworth on the Rochdale Canal. -- Martin Clark Pennine Waterways Website http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk
