Here's the explanation

A STOPPAGE notice has been published by Canal & River Trust concerning Cholmondeston Lock on the Middlewich Branch, with no explanation.

The notice tells that the lock is only open from 0800 to 2000 under supervision and is otherwise closed, but does not explain why this is necessary.

Removed cill fender

But our David Hymers discovered the reason, telling us:

"What happened was that on Sunday a hire boat caught it's bow fender at the front of the lock while ascending and suffered a flood, coming close to sinking. This happened, according to the hire fleet operator I later spoke to, because CaRT had removed the sill fender from the lock, which exposed a recess bridged by a metal joist, under which the fender caught.

"I don't think the boater was to blame, since these locks draw you forward anyway and I would probably not have noticed the problem myself, let alone a probably inexperienced hire boater; they were only out for the weekend."

Why CaRT decided to remove the cill fender is not known...