The licences are due

It's that time of year again. We have to renew our boat licences. As we moor on the Bridgewater, we have to have a Bridgewater licence, issued by the Manchester Ship Canal Company. Although BW and MSCC have reciprocal arrangements allowing licence holders to use each other's waters, our licence only allows seven consecutive days on BW waters and we can't cruise past Harecastle tunnel or Barbridge junction. As we do the majority of our cruising on BW waters, we also need to buy a BW licence. So January is an expensive month for boating.

British Waterways are missing us!

We received a letter this week from British Waterways regarding their National Boat Check. We are part of a "random sample" of licensed boats that they did not see during the period 10 - 21 November 2008 and they want to know where we were!

Well, Blackstone was resting on her moorings on the Bridgewater Canal, which is probably why they did not see her!

It's nice to know that she is missed when she is not on BW waters.