[Southern Stratford closed ‘For weeks’]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

 

 

More likely CRT don't immediately know whether they have the right timber for that particular gate. 

 

They order timber from a yard in Pontrilas, when they place the order they know what gates are going to be built with that batch and it is roughly cut to size for them to finish. This also works on a system approaching "just in time" - they don't have six months worth of gate timber in the yard.

 

I would reckon that if, for example, they'd ordered wood for a pair of bottom gates at Marple (13 foot drop), and then a pair of bottom gates at Bosley (approx 9 foot drop) failed they could switch the timber over, but they can't do it the other way round. 

 

The locks at Lowsonford have single bottom gates, and would need a different timber kit to a mitre pair or a single top gate, and there aren't that many single bottom gates on the system. My guess would be that the  guys at Bradley (who know their stuff) will be in the process of working out whether they have timber on order already that will fit, but until they know this they will issue a standard "timber needs to be ordered" - in any event the ordered timber will go straight to the top of the queue, but the new gates can't leapfrog gates the construction of which has started. 

 

Delivery times - again I guess that's a stock answer as deliver slots for all gates "in process" have already been booked and the next free slot is several weeks off, and they'll have to negotiate that a delivery trip to, say, Huddersfield is now going to go to Lowsonford.

That's OK if they can recpricate the offer by sending us some water please. 💦

[Milton to Endon Caldon canal]

3 minutes ago, Annie cariad said:

Well what a surprise how lovely the run from Milton to Endon has been.Loved Milton great breakfast cafes , great chippy,good pubs .Leek next hope it's all as good 

Leave some beer for us Mike. We will be that way this month 👍😁

[Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals.]

1 minute ago, Quaffer said:

Ian,

I missed this debate and some interesting points were made on the thread. However as the Grant Funding Documents are not in the public arena and with these two waterwayus classified as remainder waterways, I don't feel as confident as you.

 

CRT may never officially close either waterway if there is such a liability but with continued localised closures at various location this will lead to a situation that through navigation is impratical ,a de facto closure in all but name . A general lack of planned preventative maintenance will then lead to yet more unplanned closures at other sites which in a roundabout way justifies much less spending on PPM if that means very few boats are using the canal in question.

Won't close them yet, just  longer stoppages that's the norm. Just done the Huddersfield narrow with my boat which draws 2foot ten inch at the skeg static. Was hard and challenging at times but a lovely canal. If the prat who can down from the tunnel before we waited to go up Marsden Flight had closed the paddles as they dropped down the Huddersfield narrow it would still be in water possibly. Yes crt have a lot to answer. So do a lot of dumb boaters. 

[Anyone passing the Etihad/Coop Live?]

2 hours ago, matty40s said:

By the time it opens, Green Shield stamps will be back.

And the Ashton filled in to make a express way. 🤔

[62' boat in Todmorden - rochdale]

20 hours ago, IanD said:

More passages through Standedge might be needed too. Maybe a spanking new comms system would help? 😉 

I think you have tunnel vision. 😁

[62' boat in Todmorden - rochdale]

5 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

If someone could make the HNC better and add a marina we'd be bringing it up home in a flash

Plus loads of water to fill it😁👍

[Anyone passing the Etihad/Coop Live?]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Thank you, good to know.

Thanks, useful photo - one of the earlier recommendations and quite likely the choice, but on Google maps satellite photo there's 5 boats on the 6 spaces, so I'm trying to cover all options in case some areas are full.

Tonight only us here. Moor mooring rings further up passed the narrows. 

[Anyone passing the Etihad/Coop Live?]

1 hour ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Sussex is relatively shallow drafted I seem to remember . Hope you or the current hirers didn’t get apprehended  by too many locals who hadn’t heard of the county but rather liked the “sex” bit of her name. It got a bit tedious after a while 😊

I'm not on Sussex. It's only the second boat I've seen moving since leaving the Calder and hebble a week last Thursday. They had a good crew helped us several times by flushing us out of locks and a tow for good measure. 😁👍

[Anyone passing the Etihad/Coop Live?]

23 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Today pound between lock 7/8 no rings pins only. Shallow at the edge. 

Yep. Very quite. Lock 7 top lock landing as rings next to the landing bollards. 👍

Paradise wharf good safe moorings. 

3 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Paradise wharf good safe moorings. 

 

[Anyone passing the Etihad/Coop Live?]

Today pound between lock 7/8 no rings pins only. Shallow at the edge. 

3 hours ago, billh said:

I'm pretty sure we've stopped for lunch there (just above lock 5) a time or two  and had something to tie up to though it might have been bollards for the lock landing. There's not much  boat traffic along here just now , what with Marple shut and the variable HNC, so you won't be shouted at for improper mooring.

I think I would be more concerned as to  if the event you are attending was actually going to happen this side of 2025!

I've messaged the volly lock keeper (50 years experience in and on this canal) for a definite answer.

Answer has come back: positive there are rings.

Yep. Very quite. Lock 7 top lock landing as rings next to the landing bollards. 👍

[Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.]

End of the Ashton canal. Before the start of the HNC. Today 

[Lymm facilities]

1 hour ago, Cheshire cat said:

There used to be an Elsan attached to the Golden Fleece pub that is next to the canal. Has it been decommissioned? There has been at least one thread on here about it

Was still there last September. Hope it's still working. Don't go on a Saturday afternoon thou 😁😁👍

[Where are all the boaters?]

5 hours ago, IanD said:

I suspect the hire companies were hammered by Covid and then the slow business return afterwards, which meant they put their prices up, which discouraged people from booking boating holidays, so fewer boats were hired, so the prices went up -- and the increasing number of stoppages in the past few years can't have helped either, once you've booked a fixed-date holiday with a planned route it can be difficult to change when you find out just beforehand that you can't do it.

 

This could well be a death spiral for a lot of the financially weaker hire companies, as well as those who are quitting/selling up due to retirement. Anyone know what's happening to Shire Cruisers in Sowerby Bridge?

Facts. Sowerby selling off boats. Offering discount to move boats onto the Leeds Liverpool. 

14 hours ago, dmr said:

 

The Tunnel leading up to Tuel Lane Deep Lock (Sowerby Bridge, Rochdale Canal) had some sort of comms system so the Lock keepers could signal to waiting boats (as boats should not enter the tunnel while the lock is emptying).

It broke.

Now the lock keepers have a whistle, they bend down towards the tunnel and blow the whistle and the sound travels through the tunnel quite well.

They don't even do that. Had to walk up to tell them I was waiting. No problem really. How much is a whistle these day. And how long is the training course 😁

[Where are all the boaters?]

10 minutes ago, IanD said:

Sure you can have an opinion, but it carries more weight if you back it up with some actual facts.

 

What have CART installed, how much did it actually cost, and what was the reason for doing it? Facts not hearsay, speculation or whinging... 😉 

 

If the existing system worked fine and the new one is no better and was a vanity project for no good reason, then I'll agree with you that it was a waste of money.

 

But I doubt that this is actually the case, CART have far better things to spend scarce cash on...

Don't know the answers. But if it needs to be addressed. Surely they need people to be able to get their to use it. Priority on how and when they spend the money as to be taken into account. Just look at the hoops you have to go through just to get to the tunnel east to West. That's before the lack of water and the abuse from local moorers in the short pounds telling you that you shouldn't be coming on here if your deep drafted having to run water down just to get into the locks. We are not new at this. The Huddersfield is great done it 3 times on our present boat. But it will be the last I'm afraid. 

[Where are all the boaters?]

1 minute ago, IanD said:

In other words you don't know or care why they're installing it, you just want to have a good old whinge about CART...

I'm allowed to have an opinion just like you. Apparently the risk assessment suggested that they put signs on the wall as to how far and what direction the nearest escape route was. That was untill someone with more than 1 brain cell told them they would probably be dead before they got their due to the distance and cold. The system they used now with the chaporone safety procedures would work hell of a lot better in the event of a accident of saving someone life. 

[Where are all the boaters?]

1 minute ago, IanD said:

On the face of it that's true, but does anyone know *why* they spent this? Did they have to in order to keep the tunnel open for navigation? Elf'n'safety? (which remember, stops people being injured or dying at work, it's not just a whipping-boy for the Daily Wail)

 

It seems unlikely that they'd have done this just because someone fancied it, given the CART budget shortfall...

Might be the railway mentally of the CEO who knows. I'm past caring. Was told yesterday that they might be a delay with my passage because the service vehicle had a puncture. Crt staff aren't allowed to change it. They had to get a outside company to change the spare over due to health and safety 🤣🤣. Then on the other hand they let volanteers operate tidle locks. Wtf. The world's gone mad. 

[Where are all the boaters?]

44 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

As the thread about this made clear, closing the HNC is extremely unlikely because it would probably cost CART something over £30M in penalties to the bodies which funded its reopening, plus millions more to close off and make the canal safe.

 

And that came from a poster who was actually involved in the funding negotiations and knows what he's talking about, not a scaremongering armchair lawyer... 😉 

Not saying they will close it. But spending a large amount of money on a new all singing and dancing comunication system is not the best way to spend crt funds.

[Where are all the boaters?]

3 minutes ago, IanD said:

When we've gone over the HNC, any day which had even one boat coming the other way was a busy one... 😉 

Well all this this talk about shutting the Huddersfield narrow seems unlikely as they are installing a new communication system in the tunnel. Simalar to what network rail use on their network by the same contractors? It's supposed to tell them where the boat is at all times and the chaporens are. Been informed by the very knowledgeable chaperone that the cost is in the region of £800000 don't know if that cost is true but a total waste of money as the present system works OK for the maximum 6 boats a week if fully booked. 😡

[Where are all the boaters?]

On 23/04/2024 at 11:16, TheBiscuits said:

 

Nah, Rochdale summit.

 

There's sometimes as many as two boats a month moving ...

Or the Huddersfield narrow. Only seen one boat in 7 days which had come from Diggle and moored up at the time. 

[Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.]

Today HNC lock 41E

2 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Today HNC lock 41E

 

[Photograph of Mr George Tooley (Snr)]

You could try to contact the present owner and author of this book. He maybe able to help you possibly. 

[Bow fenders]

5 hours ago, Mark R said:

 

 

Thanks MtB, think I'll fit what has been left and replace it with something a little more substantial if it looks a bit weedy/useless. 

Something like this. 😁

[Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.]

1

[Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.]

Plenty of water in the Huddersfield narrow 💦😁

[All routes out if Yorkshire closed ...again]

41 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Rochdale & HNC both currently closed again and it's only April 15

"Please be advised navigation remains closed at Lock 28 West on the Diggle Flight on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal due to broken paddles". 

"We continue to experience significant water management problems at lock 8 on the Rochdale Canal. Leakage through the lock gates is creating ongoing local difficulties in navigation,"

 

What happened to Winter Maintenance?
When will the C&RT apologists realise Parrry & Co are a waste of space?
 

I'm booked for lock 1e on Friday this week and the 2 flood locks are closed ATM (can't blame crt) if not open by Thursday afternoon I'm snookered as I could miss my passage through stanage tunnel with only 3 boats a week allowed. Next available in May 😱