THAT dreaded 'D' word—dredging, or the lack of it, the blight of fairly deep draughted boats like ours, writes Gareth Haines.
But first, it was yesterday, Saturday 31st I cruised from the bottom of Tardebigge to Warstock on the North Stratford. Tardebigge was dispatched in good time (just over three hours for my wife and I, for those who are interested) and I was pleasantly surprised by the generally good condition of all the locks.
Really missing out
The views from Tardebigge are incomparable and those who are put off navigating this section because it's the longest flight in the country are really missing out on the jewel in the crown of our canal network.
Whilst Tardebigge seems to be in fairly good nick, Stoke Top Lock is in need of serious attention—it has a paddle taped up and is leaking substantially from both top and bottom gates. Sadly, I see that this lock is not on CaRT's list for maintenance this winter. I shouldn't have thought it will be long before it causes a stoppage.
Barely enough space
Leaving Tardebigge behind we negotiated our way past the Anglo-Welsh yard, which is always good fun in a full length boat as its hire boats are stacked up right into the channel, barely leaving enough space for one boat to pass and manœuvre, then on towards Shortwood Tunnel.
I noticed that progress was becoming extremely difficult and despite having engaged all 50 horses from my venerable Barrus Shire, we ground to a halt 200 yards short of the tunnel—in the centre of the canal. I had to back it up and take three full speed runs to get through the silt and eventually managed to get going again.
Dredging severely neglected
Whilst low water levels contributed to the issue, there's no getting away from the simple truth that dredging of the canals had been severely neglected over the years resulting in a massive build up of silt and detritus on the bottom, hampering navigation.
Progress was extremely laboured as we continued our journey to Kings Norton Junction and then on down the Stratford Canal. I actually picked up a motorbike tyre around my prop in the middle of the junction, which caused delay, but thankfully no damage to my mechanicals.
My boat draws just under three feet, depending on how much coal and wood I have on my roof, and I don't consider that to be excessively deep drafted, although I note that a lot of 'modern' boats are advertised as drawing two feet.
Not acceptable to be ploughing
I really don't think that it is acceptable for me to be ploughing the bottom of the canal whilst cruising. Not only is navigation made difficult and the chance of mechanical damage made increasingly more likely (are CaRT responsible for damage caused to my boat due to canals being too shallow?) but it turns cruising into an unpleasant chore.
I dread to think how people like John Jackson get on with his working coal boat, Roach. In fact, I already know how he has to be winched along some stretches and fights his way through the rest of it!
Paper-over-the-cracks approach
There is clearly only one solution to this issue: the dreaded 'd' word—dredging! I'd love to see the whole canal network dredged out to a minimum five feet. Alas, that's just not going to happen and we're left with the paper-over-the-cracks approach that is spot dredging.
One has to wonder how many more years it will be before some sections of canal are completely impassable to a large number of boats (those who draw over two feet). Hey-ho, I'm now sat at Lyons Boatyard, a veritable Narnia among the sprawling urbanisation of Birmingham, enjoying a cup of tea in the warm autumn sun with the owners Gary and Sarah. Life ain't all that bad!
Irony!
I'd only just finished writing my article on dredging, when a boater walked into Lyons Boatyard asking for help; he'd got his boat stuck on the bottom of the canal two miles further down. So Gary (Lyons Boatyard owner) and I walked down to see what we could do.
It was clear that something sizeable had attached itself around the cruiser's outboard prop (a bicycle or shopping trolley by the feel of it) and due to the boat's design, the motor couldn't be lifted or taken off without tools, so we were left man hauling it the two miles back to the yard. That in itself wasn't a simple task because the canal is that shallow that we were basically dragging it along the bottom.
Just more confirmation of the fact that the canal is badly in need of dredging. Of course, I understand that CaRT aren't responsible for people dumping stuff in the cut, but if the cut wasn't so silted up in the first place, these sorts of things would cause far less issues.