Your route
Out and back from Barnoldswick. First week to Saltaire and back. Second, shorter week to Hapton and back. We moored at East Marton, Skipton, Crossflatts, Saltaire, Bingley below the 3–rise, Low Bradley, Skipton and just below Bank Newton locks during the first week. Second week was Foulridge, Burnley Wharf, Hapton, Nelson, top of Barrowford Locks and Barnoldswick.

Your Experience
We absolutely loved the section between Barrowford and Crossflatts, especially between Greenberfield and Bingley.

The section from Greenberfield (brilliant tea shed) to Skipton was probably the best of all. The Bingley locks are a proper experience, completely different to other big lock flights we have done and the café at the top is highly recommended. Saltaire was good and the Hockney exhibition excellent, particularly his recent ‘Year in Normandy’ “tapestry” in Salt’s Mill. Very good bakery with a small café just across the road. Two of us visited East Riddlesden Hall, which was very good. Barrowford was lovely, both the canal with moorings above the locks and the village itself, where we really enjoyed the Pendle Heritage Centre and its very good café and grounds. We had a nice meal with friends of 50 years, at The Boathouse Inn at Saltaire; also, at The Royal Shepherd in Skipton. The annual Sheep Day, in Skipton, was a lot of fun and The Beer Engine is highly recommended – we went there twice. There is a brilliant real ale bar, The Peacock on Wellington Street in Bingley, that surprised us with an Indian takeaway or eat-in menu that was very good. We stopped at Burnley Wharf, which was deserted but found another excellent Indian eatery, The Aroma Asian Restaurant – a modern place with a really good menu at good prices. This was an oasis in an otherwise rather dreary town. Further on, The Railway Inn at Hapton was “an experience”, where only the barmaid spoke to us. We really liked Nelson, despite the Pearson guide’s comments about it. Obviously very, very Asian with plenty of curry houses and Asian cafes, all with a definite Pakistan flavour, we found it very clean (at least between the canal and the railway station) and friendly when we arrived, which was shortly after Friday prayers. Eventually we found a super café, ‘This girl can bake’, towards the station which despite its name is Asian. The young girl behind the counter had impeccable English and was clearly a “modern” Moslem, whilst her mum (grandma?) wore traditional dress, had little English and cooks very good dishes. Verses from the Koran play all day, “to bring peace to our café”. Lunch was great but the highlight was their takeaway High Tea for Two, at £30. We bought two and they fed four of us for two full evening meals on the boat, there was so much food. Fantastic – you will have gathered that we quite like Asian food, I suspect. Barrowford was lovely. Excellent moorings above the locks and a really nice village, such a difference from the mill towns on the other side of the M65! We could have stayed for longer than the one night. Our final meal was Sunday Lunch at The Anchor Inn at Salterforth. We also had two trips to Victoria’s tearooms, in Barnoldswick, which is lovely.

Your Waterways
Generally pretty good until you get close to Burnley, which was where the rubbish/shopping trolleys/planks of timber etc began to appear. Many of the lock gates are very leaky and several have one or more paddles that are locked shut. Towpaths were excellent throughout and most of the moorings, whether onto in situ mooring posts or using pins, were easy. We only needed the gangplank twice. Best moorings were East Marton (simply beautiful), Skipton, Crossflats and Barrowford. Burnley Wharf is a very good mooring but not in a particularly desirable area; likewise below Bingley 3-rise. At Saltaire, the fixed mooring points did not appear to be available for overnights, or were full, so we had to improvise in a less desirable spot. We should have continued beyond bridge 208.

Your Boat
Lovely boat, in very good condition, with everything we needed. You have fitted a lot into a 56 foot boat.

Website
The whole trip was thoroughly researched a year in advance and we fixed on Shire Cruisers because it was intended to be one-way; circumstances conspired, as you know. We found a huge amount of really useful stuff on your website and also had our own copy of the Pearson’s guide. Not much to choose between that and the Nicholson ones, we thought. These days, we mostly use websites and yours was excellent, making planning really easy.

Information Pack
The pack was very useful and contained a far greater range of information than we have found in previous hirings. Added to what you have on the website there wasn’t much that we didn’t know about in advance but bear in mind that we have hired narrow boats before, so were prepared for what to look out for. The folder of other information provided, on the boat, was a surprise and a very well-used resource.

Handover
This was the best handover process we have encountered by a country mile! Sam showed us everything on the boat, had an initial discussion about locks etc on the L – L canal and then followed us all the way to Greenberfield, where he watched us through the locks. After a short discussion the checklist, which we have never had before, was completed and signed off. It helped that Sam was a really nice person to work with – relaxed but very attentive and on the ball.

Service You could not have been more helpful, given what was going on with Leeds River Lock 1 and in our family immediately before our trip . I know you insist that our experiences are far from uncommon but that doesn’t reduce how we felt about your support, from everyone in your office. It was all really reassuring. We did fine in the main, despite the sinking (of another boat) at Bank Newton that left us a tad grounded after a night moored just below the first lock (another ‘gate left open’ error by someone we think), and a ‘not actually lost’ waste tank cap, which we eventually found exactly where Nigel thought it would be. It was lovely to be able to thank you in person, when we dropped in on our way home.