OUR KEITH TOLD OF a not very good Thursday last week with five waterways biting the dust.
Then tells me that the following day, Friday, was not much better either. With the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal now closed. Due this time to the towpath side bottom gate at Kibworth Top Lock 18 coming away from the head post, this stopping the gate working.
Then yet again it is the poor Huddersfield Narrow Canal whose head paddle on the towpath side at 23E (Picture by Pennine Waterways) has failed, with the paddle being unable to close.
Boston Lock Sea Gates are currently out of action due to a electrical issue.
The Rochdale Canal is still closed at Little Clegg Swing Bridge due to a fault with the lock mechanism and the hydraulic hose that operates the swing bridge, that failed on the 7th May.
Mind you, I must add that many of these have been quickly repaired.
A right hash
Before continuing my listing of the many stoppages it really makes me wonder why so many repairs are needed since the days when contractors were given the job?
Why so often do these contractors have to come back time and time again to re-fix their repairs?
But worst of all, why so many stoppages?
Looking back over our records before the Canal & River Trust came into being, I see there were around four stoppages a month! Yes, my friends, just four a month under the then British Waterways whilst often now it is around four a day!
Often seeing these contractors at 'work', and well remembering the fella who told me at Derwent Mouth Lock that he was more used to road work, that rather gives a clue—that he obviously hadn't one!
So he and the others of the same ilk simply did not know what they were doing, so making a hash, that the trust's teams are now having to put right.
And so it will go on, until all those slapstick repairs are put right, and we boaters can take our cruises knowing the Monday to Friday stoppages are a thing of the past.
A great deal quicker
I reckon that all of us devouring the stoppage notices these days will have noticed something very significant.
That those old Monday to Friday working of contractors has certainly also bitten the dust—and certainly not before time.
It was when the old British Waterways gave way to the Canal & River Trust that this all came about. with the sale of the trust's tools and equipment, the repairs then in the hands of contractors—who soon realised the benefit of repairs stretching out for the working week, and at what must have been a colossal cost.
As I have mentioned before we were held up by contractors fixing two wooden strips to two gates (pictured) on the Leicester Section that took all week, our being told that was what the work was scheduled for. But it all being finished except for the clearing-up we were allowed through before the Friday.
Much better
The end of the Monday to Friday contractors means that most of the repairs are now in the hands of the trust, that is proving to be a vast improvement.
So let's take damaged culverts for instance. The one that closed the Huddersfield Broad last Thursday on the pound between locks 8 and 9, was all done and dusted by the following day and the navigation reopened at 2pm on the Friday.
Compare this with contractors whose work on a culvert between locks 81 and 82 on the Rochdale, that was so good it failed just days after, last September, closing the waterway, that remained closed until this April—seven months!
The picture shows the drained pound that is growing a fair crop for silage it being closed so long.
So the statement of 'complete an assessment and will work out a repair strategy' proved to be their usual codswallop, eh?
So let's rejoice should they really be gone. As boaters, caught in their total incapacity, we certainly do.
And certainly Canal & River Trust must do—it now saving millions.
And ultimately making it much better for us boaters in the bargain.
Too hot for the bridges
Here comes a statement from the trust concerning both the low and high level bridges on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.
It telling that mariners should be aware that the present warm weather could affect both the Low Level Bridge and High Level Bridge at Sharpness in that they will cease to function.
I don't reckon this will affect narrowboats too much, as they could possibly get under, but this leads on to the Severn—and its risky tidal bore.
That we certainly did not venture during our cruise there!
So right!
Our new columnist Roger Lang, well carried on in his father's footsteps when he pointed out the failing in the trust's cruising recommendations, he telling us:
I believe that boaters who have cruised over or through the Pennines on the Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale canals will accept those are among the most attractive, yet in the trust’s list they are not even mentioned, and we know why, as both are more closed that open through stoppages. The ‘Narrow’ twice [three] already this month and the Rochdale closed three times!
Well stated Roger, and I agree that including the Leeds & Liverpool was a blunder on the trust's part, with already five closures this month.
Victor Swift—telling tales for 26 years