Victor on the Four Counties

AS MY regular readers will know we were thwarted from our intention of making it to Bugsworth Basin by our friends at CaRT deciding not to open the Peak Forest Canal as promised—but what's new, eh?

We thought, 'shall we risk it', but decided on the Four Counties Ring once again, and it was good we did, as we learn that the Peak Forest breach has caused it to be 'closed until further notice'.

It was some years since we last did the Shroppie, and this time we could manage it in easy stints by cutting down on the distance by picking up the boat at Fradley.

Tixall deserted

So on to the 'Ring' at Haywood Junction, clockwise, and an 'overnight' at Tixall Wide, with the difference that we had no need to carry on towards the lock to find a quiet—non engine/generator—mooring as the Wide was virtually deserted, with the picture showing the usually packed full of boats area, when we set off from there early one foggy morning.

So soon at the start of the season we really expected that the various problems would have been sorted, but alas, no such luck.  The very first lock still had the iniquitous yellow tape wrapped around the safety handle of one gate, as it was insecure, and I soon discovered it had been the same since last season.

Problem for newcomers

Approaching the lock it was obvious that the gates were still not properly balanced and swung open, as looking at the boat's log I see they have been for many a year. Not really a problem, as like many others we simply open a top paddle a little way to hold them closed once in the lock, but a problem for newcomers and particularly new hirers. But worse, I have seen newcomers who have cottoned-on but opened a paddle fully and have the gates crash shut, that is hardy conducive for a long life.

Perhaps the answer, if CaRT do not intend to do anything about such gates, as it obviously does not at Junction Lock at Fradley, is to install a couple of cheap struts to hold the bottom gates closed.

As we travelled the waterway we were surprised at the lack of moored boats—popular moorings completed deserted, as were those at Penkridge, shown in the picture.

It was also obvious that the waterways badly need dredging in parts, and even with our short draught we would suddenly be slowed right down, showing that as is now widely stated 'the bottom in getting nearer the top'.

Having an effect

It was exactly 22 years since we first cruised this part of the Staffs & Worcs and have done it many times since, remembering in fact when the fella who lived in the lock keepers cottage at Deptmore Lock had to carry diesel in a boat to power his generator, having no mains supply, yet as we carried on it was more and more obvious that CaRT's constant failure to keep up with its maintenance was having an effect.

One thing very much in its favour, is that the Staffs & Worcs boasts just about the easiest paddle gear on the system—no long handled windlasses needed here, and that certainly makes life a little easier for us older ones. And though alas, not always well balanced, when they are, the gates are also a doddle to move, all helping in working the canal.

 

A struggle

If alas its maintenance was up to scratch it would all be a pleasure, but the leakage at so many locks causes problems with the operating of locks. Many are badly balanced with their the lower gate posts having subsided so much they are a struggle to move from their open position, and consequently don't stay closed.

Still empty

The picture above shows the top gate at Otherton with water leaking into the lock. But would you believe, yet not enough to fill a lock overnight—the bottom gates were leaking even worse! And though all the gates were firmly closed, the lock was empty of water when we reached it early one morning!

Such leaking bottom gates are so bad it is difficult to get the water level to be able to open the top gate of a 'full' lock. It sometimes needing brute force to open the top gate as the water is escaping as fast as it is coming in.

The cill at Rodbaston Lock, pictured above, certainly won't last the season out if its leakage is anything to go by, but certainly confirms the new CaRT trend of 'wait until it fails' then repair it.

The collapsed bank at the bottom lock at Gailey, is a good example, as it has been surrounded with the iniquitous orange protective fencing, as She Who Must, etc etc pointed out, for the last couple of times we had cruised the canal—amounting to three years.

Will we get back?

But what is so terrible is that there is all this lack of maintenance at the very beginning of the season, so little wonder there are already stoppages, and from the state the waterways have been allowed to get into by inefficient management, there are going to be the hell of a lot more. We have already been thwarted by one failure, and can only hope we can get back to our base before we hit another, something that surely many other boaters will have worries about.

In the 22 years since we first cruised this particular waterway, on our jaunts to and from the Severn and the Birmingham canals, the reports in the logs of our two boats show an obvious deterioration, especially in the latter years.

A good mooring

One boater thought he had a good mooring that was certainly not good for anyone else—he was firmly moored on the lock mooring at the bottom of Gailey Lock, which is particularly bad for boaters using the lock as it means going forward right under the bridge to the lock gates and be met with the rush of water coming out of the lock.

There were no indications on the actual boat of its name or number, but I did notice a licence plate inside the boat—number 509781.  This is one boat that the men from CaRT should attend to straight away, as it seems a permanent fixture.

But wait a minute my friends, there is a mooring post pointing to the lock mooring area where the boat is established, and clearly states '48 hour mooring'. So Cart in its wisdom is now making lock moorings 48 hours! Do you have words to explain its stupidity?  I certainly don't.

Shroppie

And so to the Shropshire Union Canal, and Telford's wide, straight waterway with its embankments and cutting that is in great contrast to the much earlier built contour Staffs & Worcs Canal of Brindley.

What must strike so many visitors to the waterway are the seemingly endless lines of moored boats, literally stretching for mile upon mile. Though there are now a couple of marinas at its Northern end towards the Middlewich Branch, it is completely devoid of them down to the Staffs & Worcs. I for one, have always been bemused by that rush to build marinas at the honey-pot sites along such as the Llangollen, Oxford and Trent & Mersey canals, resulting in overkill, whilst miles upon miles of this part of the Shroppie have none. A couple, removing some of the linear moorings would be a blessing, especially to those regularly using the waterway.

To, of course, be continued!

Victor Swift