Jump to content

Scholar Gypsy

Member
  • Posts

    4,942
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by Scholar Gypsy

  1. Sadly the pub at Dog-in-a-Doublet has shut recently.
  2. I believe that FBW is in organisational/legal terms a coalition of other organisations, ie it does not have a legal personality, bank accounts, etc etc. So (for example) it is not a registered charity, though some/many of the coalition will be (eg IWA), and they will provide the infrastructure (eg IWA are providing the website). So to be chair of FBW you are just chosen by the first meeting of the constituent organisations. Very different to the process for being elected chair of one of the consitutent organisations - all of whom will have their own process for that. Apologies for going down a bit of a rabbit hole.
  3. We have these, not sure what to call them, probably similar to the gutters in an earlier comment. I wouldn't want anything that sticks out any more , as that would impede walking along the side deck and also get tangled with trees etc.
  4. Most of the day (according to my GPS gadget, referred to in video 2!) we were doing between 4.5 and 5.5 knots, although we did get as slow as 3.5 above Hammersmith as I had to waste a bit of time before getting to Richmond. The estimates for the time of lifting the weir (HW-2) are often out by 30 mins either way.
  5. We were already going quite slow, in order not to arrive at Richmond before the gates lift.
  6. In general I would agree, but I think it's more complex in a convoy, where boats handle differently and each skipper has a different view of how fast they need to go to maintain control. The lead boat in each group does try (and I think this is unavoidable) to maintain constant speed/ RPM, otherwise things can get rather messy.
  7. On Brentford I can offer you two reasons: 1) David had (as he mentioned in the commentary) covered this section before in an earlier video. See below: 2) He was having a little snooze between Hammersmith and Richmond (see second photo, taken just by the piece of modern art). On Teddington, the outer gates of the barge lock have been out of action for about 4 years, so we can only use the inner half. A pity, as I reckoned the 590 metres of boat would just about fit in the lock, three abreast. My apologies! Personally I reckon pitching is good for safety - though it may cause some mild nausea and breakage of crockery. MOBIUS is short and light - longer and heavier boats pitch much less which means that on occasion you can get a bit of water running along the sidedecks and in the side doors if you have not taped them up. It's fair to say that the centre of London is usually quieter than this, and if pick a tide so you can depart Limehouse at 0700 then it's usually much quieter....
  8. Agreed. I did it in May this year. Slow but doable.
  9. I am very grateful to David Johns, who has made these three videos of the recent St Pancras Cruising Club trip on the tideway. * St Pancras to Limehouse * Limehouse to Margaretness * Margaretness to Teddington.
  10. The whole thing is basically a massive one way valve. There is a similar arrangement at the other end of the relief channel near Kings Lynn; and at Boston Grand Sluice; and on a much smaller scale where Soham and Bottisham Lodes join the main channel.
  11. Before and after photos from Facebook. Looks like a new collar? Some reports said the gate had lifted out of the cup, but that looks unlikely from this photo.
  12. In case anyone is interested. The earlier EA notice said there would be a further stoppage in September for a couple of weeks to reinstall the repaired gate. I understand from the EA that this is now not needed, the gate was repaired in situ in the original stoppage.
  13. My understanding is that there is (or has been in the past) a concern about the impact if the guillotine at Salters doesn't lower when they press the button. On a spring tide that would cause flooding at Salters as the water level would be above the top of the inner gates. On a neap tide the water would be below the top of the inner gates. Hence on a spring tide they operate only on a falling tide which would give them 8 hours or so to fix the gate if there is a problem. As you say there is an issue about going under any structure with reducing headroom...
  14. The dates in black here are tides above 6m or so, so as you say you should be fine. I suppose a backup plan is to come down the New Bedford River, as I think Salters Lode is not affected by silting at the moment.
  15. My personal view: 1. Wicken Lode 2. Wissey 3. Little Ouse (you could choose to stop at the siphon at Lakenheath) 4. Lark, though the top half is more interesting. Also the museum at Prickwillow is well worth a visit (check opening hours) 5. Relief channel
  16. That is further than I managed. When I last did this I got stuck at the island a bit further downstream. One side was blocked by trees but looked as though it had a decent depth. The other side had no trees, but lots of shoaling. Looks like someone has got the saw out.
  17. The trip boat (ca 60 x 10) goes up there and may be able to advise. I've been as far as here https://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?x=502642&y=247887&z=115&sv=502642,247887&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map&searchp=ids&dn=703&ax=502642&ay=247887&lm=0
  18. Convenient pump at Buckland, on the main channel just below Offord lock. And the marina in Bedford also has a convenient pump. The Bedford bridges will be fine, as you got under the low bridges on the ML. It's worth going up to Kempston which is a mile or two above the EA's formal head of navigation.
  19. It's worth walking to Aldreth, along the causeway used by Hereward the Wake until he was defeated by William the Conqueror in 1074. My favourite mooring is on the backwater 1/2 mile above Great Barford
  20. Our insurers also required a pilot - mainly for advice on weather, like you I was confident I would not get lost. We had quite a strong NNE wind, hence the dog leg in our course (B to E) to avoid the wind and waves being beam on. Once we turned at point D it all got a lot calmer..
  21. I'm expecting to be heading down the Nene in the second half of August, so this timing works well for me. Here I am 10 days ago, with 31 boats following !
  22. Thanks for that, I was trying to work out why boats were not being allowed through, with the gate sitting on the bed of the river.
  23. And a bit later on Sunday I had some fun going through Kingston and Hampton. In places I reckoned I was keeping an eye on 50 plus people in the water, all having a lovely time.
  24. A good example of measure three times, cut once. It was pretty clear they were reusing the existing abutments.
  25. The new bridge. Photo taken this morning by David L on the way back from SPCC tideway cruise
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.