Shire Cruisers Information Pack

We are delighted you will be coming on holiday with us. Here is your Information Pack, containing all the information you need for your particular boat, starting from your booked boatyard. It contains everything you need to prepare for your holiday – what to bring, how to find us, and what you can expect of your boat and our service.

Please check you have the right page for you. Your Booking Confirmation shows these details. Other boats and bases have different pages.

This Pack contains useful information of many sorts. These are the key items, essential for you to study before your holiday:

• Holiday Guide
• Route Companion - where more than one is offered, pick the one that suits your plans
• Canal & River Trust Boater’s Handbook - and Boater’s DVD
• Specimen Handover Certificate

To give us information we need to prepare for your arrival, please return the Yellow Form (scroll down this page to find) as soon as you know all the answers but at least ten days before your holiday.

Since your whole crew need to be confident about safety before you can enjoy your holiday, we place great emphasis on giving you all the information and training you need to handle the boat, work locks and so on. This process starts now: please pass the url of this page to all your active crew, and encourage them to prepare. Then when you arrive to start your holiday, we will give you a thorough briefing and practical demonstration. Before we leave you on your own, we shall ask you to sign a Handover Certificate as a way of checking that we have explained everything to your satisfaction.

Each boat must have a Skipper. If that is not the Hirer, then the Hirer will sign to appoint a Skipper.

If you are a novice, this may seem daunting. But don’t worry; we are good at making our training straightforward and enjoyable. If you are an experienced boater, we are sure you will appreciate that we need to tell you about the numerous unusual features of our northern waterways, and to make sure that any gaps are covered.

Please see important information below under Stoppages and restrictions. This section is updated to cover any important temporary restrictions or closures, in the event of adverse weather or waterway breakdown. We encourage everyone to sign up for Canal & River Trust's email stoppage alerts. These include emails to update you on the state of the river navigations. These keep you in touch and make life much easier.

Please pay your balance six weeks before your holiday - the due date is on your Booking Confirmation.

There is a copy of the Boater’s Handbook and DVD on the boat.

We look forward to seeing you, and hope you have a wonderful time.

Yours sincerely,

Nigel and Susan Stevens

All this material (except where obviously published by CRT or others) is prepared by us exclusively for our customers. Versions shown here are updated periodically. Up-to-date information on opening times, stoppages etc. will be given to you on arrival. There is more about routes and canals on our website, but remember you can't get back to this page from the site, so bookmark it now.

Click to see how our handover procedure works.

 

Navigation update for Barnoldswick

Updated 15 March 2024

Water supply, Leeds & Liverpool Canal

Major reservoir works have reduced capacity for the start of this season. Shorter lock opening times will help to conserve water for later in the season. Note that a number of sites still have normal operating hours - see our Lock Opening Times page. Please always take great care to leave all gates and paddles closed.

Sign up for stoppage alerts (scroll right down to 'Receive stoppage notices').

The Cross Keys at East Marton is still closed, so sadly will not be available for your first night.

We will update you when you pick up your boat, and lock opening times will be in the Boat Manual on your boat.

Key items

You will need all these.

Holiday Guide for Barnoldswick

Our complete guide to what to bring, where and when to come, and all you need to know (all boats based at Barnoldswick, and one way trips starting there).

Route Companion for Barnoldswick

Our complete route companion with cruising and safety information for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Canal & River Trust The Boater's Handbook

Download The Boater's Handbook.

Watch The Boater's DVD

  

Watch The Boater's DVD in Dutch, German or Swedish.

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Handover Certificate

We'll sign off one of these with you when we've completed your handover. Sample for reference.

Route Companions

These are not conventional cruising guides, but contain detailed information about practicalities and boating safety relevant to each route. You need ONE only.

Out & back holidays from Barnoldswick

Leeds & Liverpool Canal

Included in Holiday Guide, see above Short breaks and longer out & back holidays from Barnoldswick on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal
For Cambridge, Norfolk, Somerset from April to October

Rings for experienced boaters

Outer & Northern Pennine Rings

Download Outer & Northern Pennine Rings, combining the Leeds & Liverpool with either the Huddersfield Narrow or Rochdale Canal. Three weeks, available with Barnoldswick or Sowerby Bridge start. Or see a version set up for double-sided printing.

Other useful information

Opening Times

Locks and swing bridges are available all daylight hours unless they are on this list. Temporary restrictions for water control are included. There's an up-to-date copy in your Boat Manual. See also Stoppages section below.

Maps, Guides and Apps

Our online shop lists all the maps and guides you might find helpful in planning your holiday, with pictures of each. There's also an app which locates you on the map as you move (phone or tablet). Or you can order cruising guides by phone, or download and print a form.

Stoppages and restrictions

Updated 13 May 2024

Reservoirs recovered well over the winter. The ground is very wet, so streams will continue to top up levels into the spring. However, rivers are likely to rise easily with any rainfall, so navigation on the Calder & Hebble and Aire & Calder Navigations may be interrupted more frequently than usual.

Calder & Hebble Navigation

Ganny Lock (just above Brighouse): the bottom gates are quite leaky, so use both top paddles to fill the lock as quickly as you can, using as little water as possible.

Rochdale Canal

Lock 8, just before Hebden Bridge, loses water, which tends to drain the pound between Locks 8 and 9 - just where everyone likes to moor. So it's better either to go through and moor between Locks 9 and 10; or to moor near the winding hole below Fallingroyd Tunnel, and walk up into Hebden.

Various other locks leak quite badly, notably 12 and 17. Be organised going through these locks.

Leeds & Liverpool Canal

Reservoir works will restrict supply this year, so most locks will be padlocked overnight. Up-to-date opening times will be in your Boat Manual..

The stoppage to repair River Lock from 28 May to 26 July has been cancelled.

Huddersfield Narrow Canal

Cerrtain reservoirs are being held down for works and if the weather is very dry there may be restrictions later in the year,

Navigation between Locks 1E and 3E will be restricted, see Opening Times.

Emergency stoppages are needed from time to time - that's why we suggest signing up for updates.

If your planned journey includes the river navigations (Calder & Hebble, Aire & Calder) then you have to be alert to the possibility that heavy rain makes the river flow too fast for safe navigation. If this happens, you simply tie up somewhere safe (in a lock cut) and wait for the excess water to run away. Observe carefully the coloured indicators which tell you when the river is safe to navigate.

Useful information

Here's some other stuff you might like.

Routes

Our website route suggestions

Check out all our routes using the information you may have seen before you booked - with timed examples.

Pubs and restaurants

Our list of places to eat and drink, by or near the canal.

We try to keep our pub list up to date, with the help of your reports. Bookmark it on your phone, and you'll be able to get directions from your mooring, and ring to check when they are serving food.

Lunch places

Some places to eat when you arrive in Barnoldswick.

in preparation.

Where to stay

Our guide to places near Sowerby Bridge and Barnoldswick.

Click here.

How to find us

Take the stress out of travel

Google maps with directions from where you are to Barnoldswick. Also directions by train and air. The postcode for your satnav is BB18 5TB.

Information from CRT and others

Information on specific canals or areas.

Email alerts

Stoppages and Strong Stream

Sign up here to receive email alerts from CRT on your phone, keeping you up to the minute on any emergency or Strong Stream closures.

Leeds & Liverpool Canal

Leeds & Liverpool locks guide

Download this useful guide to working the L&L locks.

Huddersfield Narrow Canal - only for those doing the Outer Pennine Ring

HNC guide

Lots of CRT information about the HNC.

Standedge Tunnel

All passages of Standedge Tunnel must be booked. After discussing the date and direction of travel with you, we usually make the booking for you. Click to find CRT's tunnel guide.

Huddersfield Narrow survey

Please go to the Huddersfield Canal Society's site and complete their online survey after your trip: specific to the Huddersfield Narrow. This survey is done each year in conjunction with CRT, and its results help prioritise improvements to the canal. You may be handed a paper copy on your trip.

Rochdale Canal - only for those doing the Northern Pennine Ring

Boater's Guide for the Calderdale section of the Rochdale Canal

Published by the Upper Calder Valley Linear Park Group. You can download here , for practical information for visitors.

Manchester Moorings

Published by CRT. A handy guide to good overnight moorings in Manchester. Useful for South Pennine Ring and one way trips via Rochdale.

CRT navigation guides

For individual waterways

CRT publish quite detailed guides. You can try here , but it's hard to find what you're looking for. This information is being revised.

Calderdale Events and Festivals

For the Calder Valley, Todmorden to Brighouse

A day-by-day guide to a huge variety of events and festivals across Calderdale, including Sowerby Bridge's very own Rushbearing.

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