Well Done CRT

Canal and Rivers Trust are all too often labelled as not being interested in boats, their owners or their needs. But this time I would like to say well done CRT.

For years we and others have been complaining that Lincoln has a distinct lack of official visitor mooring capacity. The CRT visitor moorings we just a short length of mooring adjacent the university buildings with room for just three narrowboats. This clearly wasn't enough capacity as they were always full, sadly some boat owners also abused the facility leaving boats there for extended periods due to the location close to all a city has to offer.

The new extended visitors moorings have a little over twice the length available which should hopefully increase the chances of finding a mooring in this prime spot. The extended section of moorings also has mooring bollards and rise and fall posts spaced at much closer centres which makes it easier for smaller boats to moor up in a satisfactory manner. The bollards on the older section of moorings clearly had longer boats in mind as we always struggled to moor up properly with the spacings to hand.

There are still other options should the CRT visitors moorings be full. Lincoln Marina now offer visitors moorings for cruisers and narrowboats at £10 per night with electric, water and facilities included in the price. If a marina is not your cup of tea then there are moorings in the centre of town outside of the Waterside Centre, although these are busy during the day with folks going about their daily routine, they are really very quiet by night. For a quieter mooring spot there are moorings on the wall on the approach to Stamp End Lock. These are much quieter then the Waterside moorings. And lastly there is the option to anchor in the Brayford Pool and use a dinghy for shore access, not everyone's idea of fun but we have found this to be a great way to enjoy mooring in the city.

So well done CRT for listening to your customers and providing a service to Lincoln which was so greatly needed.