TONY Brooks makes a valid point about the gearbox paddle gear on the Kennet & Avon; it often does stick so that you cannot drop the paddles in an emergency.
Although it is preferable on ease-of-use grounds to the very heavy ungeared paddles that were previously fitted. It is also preferable to the hydraulic gear which is still all too prevalent on this canal—this can never be dropped in an emergency.
There seems to be a degree of schizophrenia in Canal & River Trust's (CaRT's) current attitude to hydraulics—having just done the whole Kennet & Avon and return I have observed old gates where the hydraulic gear has clearly been replaced by the new mechanical gear, but also seen brand new gates where the hydraulics have been re-instated—what is going on?
Dangerous lock
Bath Deep Lock (20 feet or more) has been the scene of more than one sinking in the past. Coming down the flight this time, I just averted a double one. The problem is that the lock, for some unaccountable reason, has the bottom gate footboards on the inside of the gates, although there is plenty of room for them in the normal position, outside the gates. We were descending the flight and two long hire boats were coming up the deep lock.
Neither steerer noticed that both tillers were under the footboards as the boats rose, and I was only just in time in ordering the lowering of the top paddles to avert a disaster. As it was, one of the tillers was quite badly bent. As the top (and bottom) paddles are hydraulic, the lowering process was necessarily slow. No warning is given to boaters about the dangers of this, except for a small traffic bollard tied to the gate mitre—see picture. I don't think this is good enough—the footboards should be relocated as a matter of urgency.
Safety notices
No safety notice at Bath Deep—but at Widmead Lock, just below Newbury, there is a notice on the top beam: 'Gate paddles cause strong water flows. Do not open them until the lock is half full'. Fine—but this lock only has gate paddles, so it is impossible to obey the notice. Since there was no queue of frustrated boaters, everyone presumably treated it with the contempt it deserves—but this sort of stupidity undermines the authority of safety notices generally.
Mooring restrictions
I am a bit puzzled by all the fuss being made about the attempt by CaRT to impose fines for overstaying visitor moorings on the Oxford and Grand Union. On the Kennet & Avon such fines have been in force, or at least advertised, for some years. They seem to work. The Kennet & Avon must have more continuous moorers than any where else—from below Caen Hill to the top of Bath locks they are almost literally nose to tail the whole way—but only once have we failed to find a space on an official visitor mooring and that was a very small one at Theale.
Actually, I quite admire the continuous moorers' tenacity. Virtually the entire towpath bank is thickly overgrown, and quite a lot of it looks shoal. Nevertheless they are in there, half concealed by nettles, purple loosestrife etc. What's more, I've only been shouted at once for going too fast—and tickover all the way from Devizes to Bath is not on the agenda.
I reckon 95% of them were displaying current licences and most were reasonably presentable, so the only real objection can be their sheer number. The overall effect is of a linear shanty-town more suitable to a third world country than a major waterway intended for the enjoyment of nature, walkers and cyclists—and boaters, of course.
I don't know what the answer is—the situation presumably arises from the present state of the housing market, where young people cannot afford a house—but they can afford £20 to £30,000 for an oldish boat (they are mostly oldish) with the added advantage of avoiding Council Tax. So can you really blame them?
Good time in Bristol
We reached Bristol Floating Harbour for only our second time, and found it much improved since our last visit in 1997. Good pontoon moorings are available, some of them with security gates, there are lots of water points and no fewer than four pump out machines, charging £8.50—CaRT please take notice.
The licence fee seems steep, but it reduces the longer you stay; our four nights cost us just over £40, which is comparable with some overnight charges on the Thames—and Bristol has more to offer than Henley. The cruise down the Avon from Bath is also excellent, but the enjoyment is limited by the very limited mooring opportunities; we met two boats who had turned back for this reason. As with the Severn, it is high time CaRT did something to provide more pontoons, perhaps in conjunction with what looked like excellent pubs—but we couldn't get at them.
David Hymers