Dave123

I can't think of many places on the typical narrow canal where I'd let a boat overtake. Only if it was sufficiently wide and straight that I knew I wouldn't go aground or get pushed into overhanging trees or moored boats, and could see nothing was coming the other way...

Cross guns was doing food the other week. Best moorings for Avoncliff are before/East of the aqueduct. For some stupid reason BW put the visitor mooring bollards the other side where there is a big underwater ledge. I guess if anything your observations show people do move about as Dundas and BoA had quite a lot of spaces both times we went through earlier this month. Probably Bath will be quieter then, also the Avon is opening up now so boats will head down there too.

Crt giving a further update today. Initial fix seemed not to work and may be a longer closure or limited supervised passage

Just returned from a fortnight's cruise over to Bath and back. Was pleasantly surprised at how quiet and easy to moor it was on the whole stretch from below Caen hill to Bath. Bath itself was the only place that was very busy and we had to go down 3 of the Widcombe locks to find a mooring. There are good 2 day moorings in the pound here and plenty of room to wind if you don't fancy doing more locks onto the river. BoA was pretty quiet and moored on the visitor mooring rings on the way there and the way back. Plenty of general towpath space too all along the way from Bathampton through Claverton, Dundas and Avoncliff. In fact only Honey Street (and above the locks in Bath) were noticeably bad in terms of obvious overstaying on the short stay moorings

Just saw this on the BBC. Very shocking! As someone else said, it must be someone with a very specific grievance against the W&A trust. Be surprised if it was just a disgruntled landowner, they'll more than likely be 6 feet under by the time boats ever get to navigate the canal so why bother draining it now🙈

Disagree...for many visitors/tourists the boats are the most interesting thing about the canal. Number of times I've been at the end of a line of moored boats and all the tourists and other people out for a wonder stopped and turned back when they reach the end of the line of boats, because there was nothing else interesting to look at when the view became just ducks, muddy water and trees😅

So presumably this option was chosen over the other option (of having navigation permitted every day and no single day of complete closure) because boaters voted for it? Surely its better to have the option to move every/any day, albeit on a narrower timeframe, rather than no movement at all on Tuesday? What if the weather prevents moving on other days?

They need to find a way to make the bridges and locks on the Severn boater operated out of hours, same with the Weaver. Boaters can operate the big locks on the south Yorkshire and trent navigations so why not these? I read once somewhere this was because there was no way to set them to only a 'slow filling' option?

This is what I have been trying to establish. Surprisingly few boaters seem aware that most short stay moorings revert to 14 days in winter and so possibly a new boat checker is also unaware of this rule. I assumed the emails were either automated or decided upon centrally rather than by the bod on the towpath but it seems perhaps not.

Have twice in 2 weeks received overstay emails from CRT which stated I had spent more than 14 days in the same area. I knew this to be incorrect as I have moved to a new place at least every 14 days the whole year. Upon further communication with CRT it transpired these emails had been sent because I had been on a 48h short stay mooring last fortnight and a different one this fortnight, in two different villages. Neither of which had signs saying all year, so therefore they revert to 14 days in the winter. This bothers me as it is really misleading to word the email in such a way as to make it about breaking a different rule to the one CRT think I had broken. One is a breach of the BW act, the other a breach of the licence T&C, nevermind the fact that they should be aware which moorings revert to 14 days in winter. Had the overstay notices taken off my record so not a concern with regard to that, but I want to make sure this doesn't keep happening? And wondered if others have encountered this? It was a bit harder to find the reference to short stay moorings reverting to 14 days on the CRT website this time, it's buried in the FAQ section and not mentioned in the main blurb on short stay moorings. Apart from being nice to be able to stay longer on these moorings in winter, it's stupid to have purpose built mooring spaces sitting empty all winter whilst people chip away already collapsing towpath with mooring pins just around the corner.

This ^^ Especially if its a dry summer and going to the next winding hole means using locks and wasting water

Spending this winter on the eastern K&A and it also seems quieter than usual, partly because the river Kennet has been on red boards for weeks (and likely to stay that way for a while yet) and Crofton is closed all winter too.

The idea that parts of the network will permanently shut is always talked about but it has been proven and is well known that closing canals costs more money, you can't just cease to spend money on a section of canal and let nature quietly reclaim it. Urban canals in particular would need significant expense to make and keep them safe and to continue to perform functions such as drainage eg for sewage and storm run off.

The levels were only an issue around Kidlington when I went up and back from Oxford to Heyford in July/Aug. I suspect (at least on the days I went past) it has more to do with mismanagement of locks by boats or leaks from specific locks/pounds as Thrupp levels were fine, but everyone was going aground around Yarnton Lane Bridge (between Kidlington green lock and Roundhams lock). This didn't make much sense as Roundhams is much deeper than Kidlington green so that pound should always be overflowing...unless lots of boats only use Kidlington Green lock and not Roundhams (which isn't the case). I know reservoirs are low but the back pumping from Napton and feeds from the Cherwell seem to be keeping on top of the water supply for now.

Summit pumps have failed again (doesn't say if it is those at Wootton Rivers or Crofton). Does anyone know why they fail so often? Don't remember the last time I saw a notification about Napton or Calcutt or any other back pumps failing, but the K&A Summit ones fail several times each summer it seems?

The canal is river fed from Skipton downwards so rain of any sort will help, even if just briefly to allow limited passage through locks.

Also never had issues at Foxton and Watford. The ones at Napton are a bit useless and don't tend to leave the first/bottom lock.

It will also put some boats off visiting the affected waterway entirely and instead go on another route. Eg people hiring or heading out from their marina in the Braunston area are now likely to avoid the South Oxford, either because they worry about getting trapped when the water completely runs out, or worry about being in a queue at the locks or because they want/need to cruise from dawn to dusk and can't face the thought of having to stop at 2pm if they miss the last entry😅. But either way, restricted lock openings work and definitely are one of the things CRT need to do when there is a drought. Obviously they also need to fix leaks and improve back pumping and reservoir capacity etc.

Restricted lock openings work by deterring some boats from going through the locks at all. Particularly holiday boats that are in a rush to meet a schedule. Claydon locks are a great example, frequently met boats that have gone down those locks to wind before Clattercote and head straight back up. Just because they felt winding at Fenny Compton was "a bit too soon into their trip to turn around".

If they back pumped up the Worcester and Birmingham canal then they could move water from the Severn to the Thames, as they already can back pump from Leamington (which is fed from the Birmingham level) up to Calcutt then Napton up to the Oxford summit, and from there down to the Cherwell. Shouldn't take too much engineering especially as the locks on the Worcester and Birmingham and grouped in flights. However as others said, whether the flow rates to make the supply adequate are achievable is another matter. Maybe they could shut navigation down overnight and pump at a high speed then?

Yes, back pumps all the way up at each lock(s) from Leamington to the Braunston/Napton long pound This is good news, I had hoped the lack of restrictions at Claydon or Napton meant the situation at the top was OK and issues further down were more localised problems than a general lack of water

Obviously if the boat really cannot be portaged then it can't be portaged. Anything that can be clearly should be! Sadly the general public are largely oblivious of things such as saving water and what the weather has even been for the last year. Mentioned the dry weather and low flows to several boaters whilst sharing locks recently and most hadn't a clue

Shut? Or severe restrictions on the locks either side at least. They back pump at Napton and in theory this water can come from as far away as Birmingham summit level via Hatton and Stockton. But everything flowing down towards Oxford is lost. Bigger problems with water further down though as the Cherwell is extremely low and it is the supply for the canal from Aynho onwards. I would hope the fixed weir on the Cherwell at Shipton (around the corner from where the river and canal part) is set so the levels there can't drop below the minimum needed for navigation. Then in theory lock water from higher up can feed the canal here too? Shipton lock was pretty much level when I came through the other day. If the river can drop lower then I can't see how they will avoid shutting the canal there?

I think it flows into both, but the Shroppie is fed by the S&W anyway, the stop lock goes down onto the Shroppie.

Canoes can and should be made to portage at the moment, or the river will be shut completely before Autumn