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Darren72

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Posts posted by Darren72

  1. Leeds Liverpool Canal

    in New to Boating?

    Posted · Edited by Darren72

    Incidentally, Dave: if you're keen to do the whole L&L, have you considered the possibility of making some headway over 2 or 3 weekends just before your main 10-day cruise? There are lots of places at the eastern end of the L&L, up to and including Gargrave, where you can moor your boat within easy walking distance of a train station. (Edited to add: I mean a train station with a fairly fast, regular and affordable service back to Leeds; I'm sure there are train stations west of Gargrave too!)

     

    If you could get as far as Gargrave over 2 or 3 weekends, and take that as your start and end point for your main 10-day cruise, you actually could get all the way to Liverpool (if you didn't mind doing longer days!). Or you could do a partial 'ring' bringing you back towards the A&C from the other direction - heading along the Leigh Branch, Bridgewater, Rochdale and C&H.

     

    This is exactly the sort of thing we used to do when we were moored in Shipley - 'local' cruising on weekends between places that were easy to reach by train, but planning ahead so that places at the far end of that local range (e.g. Gargrave, Castleford, Sowerby Bridge) became the start and end points for longer cruises. That enabled us to cover far more ground in a year than we could have done if we'd started from our home mooring every time.

    I wouldnt rely on using the Rochdale to get to Leeds in Summer 2016 from Lancs.

  4. Skipton - Then Which Way?

    in Holidays Afloat

    Posted

    My bet as a past Skipton home moorer of 2 years and a fellow Yorkshireman. Got West. Take in Gargrave either on your way west or east. You should get to Foulridge and wind either just before the tunnel or after. If you have time get down to the top of Bingley. Wind just above the 5, on your way back. You can take in Skipton the day you take the boat back.

  5. 1.5 breather

    in BMC

    Posted

    My engine breather doesnt have a pipe leading to the air box as recommended by some. I have an history of a mist coating on my engine which I presume is coming from the open breather. NO I dont have too much oil in the engine. Does connecting a pipe to the air box result in blue smoke from the exhaust? Can I not just connect a pipe from the breather to a container to collect the oil so I can monitor the loss? Plus connecting a pipe to the air box surely will clog the filter?

  6. Cyclist injures pedestrian

    in Fishing, Cycling and Walking

    Posted

    When pulling ones boat in with a rope to aid mooring, while you have said rope in ones hands and stood on the tow path. Should lycra clad brigade stop and allow you to get your boat in or should they just ting ting and expect you to stop what you are doing. NO in my eyes. If I am pulling my boat in for what ever reason I have the right of way. The path is there for me the boat user, not for cyclists to race past. Surely any boater who is tending to his boat with a rope in his hand has priority to any other path users.

  7. Leads/Liverpool from Wigan locks to Leads

    in General Boating

    Posted

    Thanks again, I'll also make sure I spell Leeds correctly in future posts!!!

     

    Your way rgreg sounds much easier than the ones I've looked at on youtube. Sometime in August/September I'll be putting the advice into operation.

    That time of year and on the stretch from Gargrave to Bingley where you will find a majority of the bridges am sure it will be busy enough to rely on hire boats/day boats.

    On the previous mentioned stretch you will find about 10 day boats in operation and 3-4 hire bases with a approx total of 30 hire boats. Plus the owners. You wont have to wait long for help.

  19. Novice river users

    in Boat Handling

    Posted

    After 7+ years of the cut we wanna start chugging on rivers after failing to use the Avon while at Stratford this month:-(. We have done the tiny bits like at Alrewas but they dont count. We are on the Ashby so we arent that close to any rivers. Where can we start and what do we need? Licence, anchor etc. not to bothered about tidal rivers. At the moment.

  21. Seriously scary moment at Hillmorton - And another volunteer lock-keeper concern.

    in General Boating

    Posted

    I will state this every time and I also state this to anyone manning the lock for me (or my OH will if she is on the opposite paddle). The only person in charge of the rate of water going into/out of a lock is the person in charge of the boat. I always tell who ever is manning my paddles the rate of water I require and I will not let anyone tell me different. I will not let anyone lower or higher any paddles till I am ready at the stern of the boat. Lock keepers are keepers of locks but in my eyes are NOT in charge of what happens. Obviously on a staircase they know the sequence but I still ask them to fill/empty at my rate not theres, as its my ££££££ and life whats in the lock not theres. If they dont like it I will tell them to step aside and we will do it ourselves.

    Shortly after starting today's boating had us descending the Hillmorton paired locks in "Flamingo".

     

    Apart from the not unusual particularly low pound between the top pairs of locks, the first two locks were fine.

     

    At the bottom pair we took the lock on the non-towpath side, where a volunteer lock keeper was in attendance.

     

    He drew one of the bottom paddles on these fast emptying locks, and Cath had yet to draw the other, when it became very obvious that whilst the back end of "Flamingo" was going down, the front end was hung up on something.

     

    Cath who was on the other side called across to the lock-keeper saying "the boat is hung - drop the paddle!", but he replied "No it is all-right". Cath repeated "Drop the paddle - the boat is hung", but he said "No it is all-right, it will sort itself out".

     

    By now the counter was in danger of being submerged, and the boat on a very downhill slant with the water fast disappearing beneath it.

     

    By now an alarmed David who had been with Odin the dog inside appeared and yelled very VERY forcibly to drop the paddle, but fortunately David was able to sprint to the top end of the lock, and draw the paddles long before the lock-keeper had managed to wind down the bottom paddle.

     

    The turbulence caused by David drawing the paddles caused the boat to fall, but then cannon up and down the lock on the massive wave caused by it falling down to the water. The rudder was repeatedly cilled and lifted from its pintel.

     

    Once the lock was refilled we tried again, and exactly the same started to happen. This time the paddle was dropped leaving the boat hung long enough for me to climb off, to see what was causing it. The stem of Flamingo was wedged to the left of a large nut on the rubbing plate of the left hand gate, jamming the boat against the wall. As we started to refill the lock you could see the stem start to slip past the bolt, before it fell free.

     

    We agreed with the lock keeper that I would hold the stem to the other side of the offending nut, and monitor closely as he emptied the lock very slowly. By the third attempt we completed the descent, but the dog was now so terrified he would not get back on the boat.

     

    I would first stress that the volunteer lock keeper was polite throughout, but just kept sticking to the line that in several years he had not seen it happen before. He seemed to interpret that as that because he had never seen it happen before, it couldn't possibly be happening now.

     

    Of course things do sometimes go wrong, and we have had incidents in the past with no third party involved, but my concern here is that ultimately we are responsible for the safety of "Flamingo" and those on board, and the volunteer lock keeper initially refused to accept Cath's requests to drop the paddle that he had raised.

     

    I think had David not been there things might well have developed to a sinking.

     

    So what do people think we should do,please ? Do we just accept this as an unfortunate set of circumstances, or do we report the near miss to CRT, explaining that the volunteer locky had become convinced "it would sort itself out".

     

    It was seriously scary, though , and for me more so, because we did everything by the book, and it was certainly not due to us getting anything wrong.

    I would report this without fail.

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