Victor believes these date mix-ups are not at all helpful

SALTERHEBBLE GUILLOTINE LOCK on the Calder & Hebble Navigation broke down on the 17th June.

But we are told the engineering team continue to plan these essential repairs, as Keith Gudgin reports.

With Canal & River Trust telling it expects that it will be another two to four weeks before repairs are complete and navigation can resume. 

Though still planning there is a team working on the repair of this lock, and have confirmed that new cables, those which lower and lift the gates, are needed for the operating mechanism and they are currently procuring these.

Then it tells (though still in the planning stage remember) the job is more complicated than initially thought and so the trust anticipates it will take four weeks rather than the hoped for two weeks!

And again 

It's the same again for Todmorden Lock 19 on the Rochdale Canal (pictured below) with our being told the engineering team continue to plan these essential repairs.

And again that it expects that it will be another two to four weeks before repairs are complete and navigation can resume.

Then it gets worse as we are told that after planning and mobilisation for these works is underway it anticipates that these works will take between four to six weeks to complete!

Not at all helpful to the poor boaters planning a cruise.

Still more stoppages

With so many stoppages caused by the lack of rain, and these are piling up with two more closures on Saturday.

Still another one the Erewash and another on the Grand Union. Both due to low water levels.

'Normal' stoppages

 It is easy to forget that the system is still getting other 'normal' stoppages, with these still piling up.

* For instance Birmingham & Fazeley had a lock beam failure on Aston Lock 10 closing the waterway.

* Bell's Bridge 16 on the Leeds & Liverpool had an electrical fault, but since repaired.

* Late last week saw the Kennet & Avon closed at Crofton Lock 59 with its cill needing repair.

* Then the Rochdale having another stoppage with its Grimshaw Lane Bridge 75A having a sensor failure.

* The Grand Union is now closed by Camp Hill Lock 2 having problems with its gates that has prevented any further operation.

Then a purge of updates that arrive telling of repairs not completed.

So it says

Then the trust's Brag Rag will have us believe that the majority of the network is open and fully navigable.

Yes, the majority of canals are  still open, but with the host of closures they are impossible to fully cruise. 

Take for instance the Leeds & Liverpool, that has all its flights closed and every lock closed from Leeds to Bingley—so how do you get on to canal—as even the Wigan Flight is also closed at the other end of a connection with a waterway?

Richard Parry goes

It was the early days, that I have previously told, that a woman at a Canal & River Trust stand at an event at Foxton told our Jan that the trust had been brought in to clear up the mess left by British Waterways.

My tales above tells a somewhat different story, eh?

It's a damn sight worse now, that's for sure.

Something different

Many has been the time I have mentioned our partner on the boat Jan, but here's something else she gets up to in addition to boating—on the right of the picture with her niece, both being a 'Sparkle'!

This was a 10k night time walk in Chesterfield where she joined 3,500 others at 10pm with LEDS on their headgear to swamp the closed roads of the town, including two dual carriageways, to raise money for the Ashgate Hospice, she collecting over £400 and enjoying herself with her relations in the attempt.

The route was lined by bands, singers and even fire eaters and the like giving their time to the hospice, Even getting a banana and Mars Bar half way round, with the walkers already raising £280,000 for the hospice and more to come in.

The Mon & Brec at risk

During this month, boater David Jones tells me, the Welsh Parliament is to debate the Mon & Brec for future generations.

This being the result of the legislation that was passed that restricts the supply of water from the Usk that feeds the canal. This legislation allows the restriction of water that can be pumped into the Mon & Brec.

The problem being that in times of drought this water can be cut off and the canal allowed to run dry.

Even though the canal water eventually runs back into the river later along its course.

So it is the Welsh Parliament that has the future of the canal in its hands. For if the pumping is stopped then that will be its end.

Not looking good for the future of Vazon Bridge

Network Rail tells it faces 'significant challenges' in maintaining the sliding railway bridge over the Stainforth & Keadby Canal.

It having suffered multiple recent failures despite extensive works in 2024. (pictured.)

The bridge, as boaters going on or coming off the tidal Trent at Keadby well know slides open to allow boat passage along the navigation, then returns to allow rail traffic. It was built in the 1860s and converted in 1925.

In 2024 engineers installed a 24.5 ton precast concrete slab on the canal’s north wall to strengthen it and metal supports on the bridge deck. The rails were also renewed.

But in August 2024, these welds developed cracks and one of the large plates became significantly distorted during operational use. While the issue was rectified, it did cause temporary disruption to canal users hoping to use the bridge.

Though much work has since been undertaken we are told the inherent characteristics of this asset mean it cannot be made fully reliable in all conditions.

So there you have it—sometimes it will open but at other times it will not.

Another bridge

This time the Dimmingsdale Bridge on the Staffs & Worcs Canal that caused a stoppage when a vehicle knocked out most of the parapet on the side of the bridge.

Meaning that all the debris had to be cleared out of the waterway to allow navigation.

And it is the fifth such crash in 14 years, it leaving the parapet of the bridge badly damaged, as can be seen, and our told that its repair will cost £80,000. This time the trust was lucky in that it had the culprit, but many times the vehicles smash the parapet then scarper.

The answer, as Graham Booth suggests—wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper, and just as effective, to install sleeping policemen on either side of the bridge?

Yes indeed, Graham.

Victor Swift—telling tales for 25 years...