I hope I can add my own experiences concerning the winter moorings that are offered by Canal & River Trust, that I believe are little more than a con, writes David Turner.
When you think about it as a continuous cruiser I can moor say at Sawley, (that your contributor said was too noisy) winter moorings for a couple of weeks, then take off up the six locks and stay at Willington winter moorings for another couple of weeks, with the addition of shops.
Everything near at hand
Then I can up and go to Fradley, providing I am well stocked-up as there are no shops there, so perhaps after just a week it is off through a few locks into Rugeley with everything near at hand, and stay there a fortnight, followed of course by an amble to Great Haywood, where there is a handy shop over the bridge.
After another fortnight I can do it all in reverse, arriving back at Sawley around the end of the season, and as my narrowboat is 60ft, saving me over £1,000. I will have had better advantages than your complaining contributor, as there are no shops where she is, the only difference being that I have had about the total of around five days cruising during the winter months, and should those so-called continuous cruisers be so afraid of a few days cruising during winter, I think they will be better on land.
No matter how you look at it, as another of your contributors remarked, with plenty of spaces at the winter moorings, why stay on one and pay when you can save so much money by simply 'hopping' from one to another every couple of weeks—not having to pay?