PeterScott

Gosh, a picture of me (almost) taking a picture of ... it will have been within a few seconds, anyway.

On this day in 2007 around noon, (... from #2086) in the Sheffield floods Damage to gates of Ickles Lock S&SYN. There is a colour change halfway up the windows of the lock cottage and that was the height of the flood. Below Ickles Lock. While investigating the extensive damage to the navigation, More the wider news had all the major roads into the north of Sheffield closed, including the M1 motorway closed for fear of Ulley Dam collapsing:

On this day in 2007 around 9am, (... from #2084) in the Sheffield floods “Give it a good thump; here’s the mooring hammer”. To that stake nbCopperkinsII remained tethered for ten hours in eight feet of floodwaters, while two million tonnes of water rushed through our railway bridge at six miles per hour. The start of an article about the experiences of the previous twentyfour hours. We settled back into the canal successfully and this was the stake that had held us all night. Later on it just pulled out without further banging or twisting. The towingpath was "a bit wet this morning" in the words of a morning jogger, who had been running this way each morning for ever, and an intervening six foot of water wasn't likey to dissuade him from his daily exercise. Stoical lot, these Yorkshire folk. Moored (below) was the clump of craft that saw out the flood in the middle of the river. The blue boat had sunk at its moorings as it was tied to the bank. The Sheffield Keel at the crazy angle had been moored with its stern immediately behing the blue boat and had swung round in the stream when its stern rope parted. A video of Sheffield flooding here

On this day in 2007 around 6am, (... from #2082) in the Sheffield floods Our towing path through the bridge arch was still wet, but no longer a river. The graffiti artist's tag was fully visible. (composite photo) Behind us, the swinging Sheffield Keel had settled partly on the canal bank, as we feared we might have done. Other boats in our pound fared worse than we had. The second Sheffield Keel had been the core of a raft made by the boat roped together in the middle of the stream above the lock. They came down higgledy-piggeldy; one was in the lock cottage garden and a digger was used to push it off the bank. The occupants of the lock cottage left when the waters reached knee height, and like may Sheffielders, their home and possessions were now wrecked. Following-on from Radio 5live in the small hours I phoned into Radio Sheffield to describe what could be seen from the "canal at the back of Rotherham football ground"

On this day in 2016 Braunston Historic Boat Rally

On this day in 2007, from #2080 in the Sheffield floods at about 4am By 3.30am, there was a significant fall in our now-river level, sufficient to be concerned for how to keep the boat in the canal and off the towingpath. Poles and the boatplank down the side and adjusting all the ropes seemed best. Having that year been married for 33 years to a sewerage engineer who speaks of her work over lunch, I have outgrown squeamishness. Our fireman told us that the River Don had just overwhelmed Sheffield’s main sewerage plant at Blackburn Meadows, just above Jordan’s weir, on its way to our bridge: I have never before been so surrounded by my spouse’s professional interest. With an inch of black mud on the towpath, it is reassuring that two million tons of water can do a lot of diluting. See #2059 for the proximity of the round settling tanks.

On this day in 2016 Braunston Historic Boat Rally

On this day in 2007, from #2078 in the Sheffield floods About 01.30am and maybe a bricksworth of drop in the levels. Listening to Radio 5live helps remain awake, and if only they would say the phone number slowly enough to type into the phonepad, we could tell them what it's like to be in the middle of the Sheffield Flood. We have been on the national news all evening, and sadly at least two people are known to have died in the floods. Many have been disrupted in journeys home, and some emergency shelters have been opened where homeward journeys were impossible. After a couple of tries the number is entered properly and there is a couple of minutes of national broadcast to say to an insomniac audience what it is like to be afloat in the middle of this newsworthy storm. ... ... including that despite being covered in six foot of water, the light on the railway signal alongside us is continuing to show brightly.

On this day in 2016 Braunston Historic Boat Rally

On this day in 2007, from #2076 in the Sheffield floods A new day, and much the same problem as the previous one. Past midnight and we are still six feet above the towingpath above Ickles Lock, and the river that had taken over the canal was still passing us at a great rate of knots. The DE50 graffiti artist seems to have the maximum courses of bricks covered and we may be starting to uncover bricks at last. The nighttime tasks may be to shorten all the ropes that have been lengthened over the last seven hours. Except of course the one to the bridge above, which must not be allowed to become too tight. There were discussions with some helpers to support us. Railwaymen on the bridge above were sorting out problems on their railway, and shouted encouragement a couple of times. The other boaters sent us a their emergency-services fireman to check our progress, and he could have summoned a helicopter had we really needed it. We stayed awake in shifts, to guard against losing contact with the bank, or coming down on to the towingpath. Peggy and Alastair were stoic throughout, and retired to bed in their clothes lest we needed emergency action for any reason. And So Not-To-Bed.

On this day in 1997 S+W Anglo-Welsh yard, by Great Haywood junction

On this day in 2007 (from #2073) The graffiti artist's tag DE50 helped us count which bricks had been covered by the now-river at around 10pm that day. The stream from which the bridge was giving us some protection was running at 5mph at its height and an extra course of bricks was covered every fifteen minutes. Our connections to the bank, both bow and stern were unexpectedly holding. By good fortune we had taken the ropes through the rings on the mooring stakes, rather than tying half-hitches on them or similar: the ropes fed through easily and only one end needed extending as we rose. We had enough extra ropes to join in if we had needed them. And there was the rope to the underside of the bridge and the anchor in reserve, with its own ten metres of heavy chain and twenty metres of hefty rope. All tied around the T-stud of course. Our fourth defensive resource was the engine, which we kept running with the tiller-bar in place and I mentally rehearsed the technique in #1779 Video here at about maximum height

On this day in 1999 Aldersley Junction BCN

On this day in 2007 (... from #2069) ... and in front of Ickles Lock there was a clump of boats roped together in what had become a significant flow on the now-river. The crazy angle became crazier, and even if it would have helped, there was no way to communicate with the boats below. ... The keel's stern rope parted ... The stern swung out into the stream ... and round in a S L O W arc as the hull righted itself into something more like a floating boat ... And it continued to swing (rather than drift sideways in the stream) ... and it swung some more ... and the bow rope HELD. To sighs of relief from us. Not so lucky was the fifteen-foot narrowboat on the opposite side of the now-river to us. It sank as it remained tied to the bank as the waters rose. An incident we didn't see a l little earlier one man was moving the boats to the clump, fell in, was swept past the Ickles lock fittings on to which he couldn't hold, and was more fortunate with the concrete bridge below. He was hauled out with a life ring, and survived. A video from about this time 8.30pm. Helicopters had been brought to help the emergency services. We decided that (frenzied) waving at it, even if in a friendly and supportive manner, might have been a bad plan. This pic is after the keel had swung around.

On this day in 2001 top of Farmer's Bridge Locks BCN (from Newhall branch towards Odyssey crossing Farmer's Bridge Junction) and a pigeon on Aston flight

On this day in 2002 Bumblehole Lock No 22 S+W

On this day in 2006 Drewitts Lock No 79 K&A

On this day in 2007 (from #2067). By about 7pm we were afloat above the towingpath, which once was walkable through the left arch of the picture of the Railway Bridge above Ickles Lock (S&SYN). Phoning to tell the family we were in no immediate danger just found all the cellphone networks (as we called them then) were too overloaded to take calls: all five of our phones on three separate networks were unable to make a call more than once-per-dozen tries. By happenstance, a mistyped BW emergency number connected us to BW’s Mark Jenkinson(?), who was driving somewhere in the Midlands, and much surprised to be talking to discomforted boaters in Sheffield. He helpfully passed on our position to our family, to the proper BW emergency number with a request to ring us, and some hours later checked back personally. We never heard from the BW emergency service. Nobody would willingly choose to be aboard for this journey: had we known at noon what was to happen, we would have still been able to walk along the towpath, and it would have been a tricky choice whether to stay or go. Evacuation would have required more secure attachment than a mooring spike, an accurate prediction of how slack the lines needed to be and acceptance that Copperkins would find its own resting place as the waters fell, and probably sink. I had a workable plan and was thinking clearly about it as we rose. Using a rope I always carry for emergencies, I tied to the underside of the railway bridge when its ten-feet-above underside beams were reachable with the hooked boatpole. This became our second line of defence; I trusted the rope to take the snatch when the mooring pin come out, assuming we would swing into the stream from which our bridge pillar had been giving some protection. We were trusting our lives to these ropes, our knots to extend them, and our overall strategy of staying where were; but then we do the same with the front tyre whenever we drive on the motorway. It wasn’t all calmness all evening: I berated the use of the corridor for the frivolous activity of making tea when a furious dash to the tiller might be needed: it was the stress doing the talking, and I was better off with the tea. ...

On this day in 2008 south of Banbury Southern Oxford A fortnight before, Fulbourne had been moored to the towingpath on a trip planned to end with the Braunston Historic Boat Rally. While moored it sufferered the attentions of the local vandalry, who sought some booty in the engine room but could not circumvent the locks. They opened the flaps of the pigeon box and perhaps thought the engine room was the place we would store our extensive cellar of vintage wines (it wasn't). But they did manage to disengage the pigeon box and cast it into t'cut. They did in the end find some (if-all-else-fails-drink-this-) beer and vented their further frustration by casting us adrift and presumably then went home. We were alerted by a BW call that the boat was adrift, and Martin scurried across the country in the evening to leap aboard, single-hand to a more secure mooring north of Banbury and, in a spare moment this day morning, fashion a temporary plywood cover for the hole now above the engine: he then left for work. We arrived as the next crew aboard and took the challenge to find where Fulbourne had been moored. Armed with a borrowed boatpole from a boat moored nearby and two seasearcher magnets, we tried a programme of casts to where said pigeon box might be sinking into the mud. The final recovery required a wet arm (Henry) and securing of legs to the bank (Elaine). Said pigeonbox is now even-more securely attached to the upstand of the engine room. After such entertainment, it was something of an anticlimax to come upon (at lock 26 Slat Mill Lock) a team of bollardiers. They were fulfilling the BW contract to put three square wooden bollards at various points on the offside of each narrow lock on the system. It was a safety measure included in the BW Customer Service Standards. No doubt someone thought it was a good use of a million pounds.

On this day in 2007 ... (from #2059) ... The crew of four of us had settled to a day of crosswords and soduku, while we listened to the rain. By 4pm the view of the bank opposite changed its angle as water came over Jordans Lock and Holmes Lock into our pound, in effect making us part of the River Don rather than a canal. It flooded the towpath and started vertical rise. Despite being near a bridge, it became uncomfortable to wade the towingpath to get there. It was also a railway bridge, so no contact there with the outside world. We listened to the radio: Sheffield was suffering serious flooding with major roads clogged up. Public transport was stopped. Despite the long journey from the Midlands with the boat, our house was half a dozen miles away and, the hills of Sheffield being what they are, five hundred feet above the flooding. We were moored opposite some residential boats, and a shouted conversation invited us to join a clump of boats that were intending to clump together above the lock in the middle of our new river. We were still attached to the bank, and while the water was at the height it was, the hull was still in the canal, rather than floating above the towingpath. The bridge and its graffiti through the train on the window. And slightly later, behind us a Sheffield Keel was at a crazy angle and straining at its ropes ...

On this day in 2010 Braunston. Boats collecting for the Historic Boat Rally the next day, and crews completing preparations

On this day in 2011 Braunston Historic Boat Rally Parade with a good audience

On this day in 2014 Rothwell Field Bridge No 7b (Leeds to Castleford) A&C

On this day in 2015 Wendover Arm GUSouth

On this day in 2016 Braunston Historic Boat Rally Parade