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Wigan Flight Restrictions Back On


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I’m not sure they really intended to lift the restriction on Wigan. I think it just got added to the original “lifting” email by mistake. 

 

When we came up a few weeks back it was tricky to get up Poolstock due to levels dropping overnight. Imagine if the little darlings had been able to play overnight as well. 

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IIRC these time slots were originally created when there was a serious issue with one of the locks a couple of years ago which required assisted passage.  The unintended consequence was that the few boats that wanted to run the gauntlet each day stacked up at each end of the flight, which made the passage much easier for all concerned.  The state Wigan is in at the moment I think it makes sense to keep these restrictions, regardless of any considerations about water levels.  

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9 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

IIRC these time slots were originally created when there was a serious issue with one of the locks a couple of years ago which required assisted passage.  The unintended consequence was that the few boats that wanted to run the gauntlet each day stacked up at each end of the flight, which made the passage much easier for all concerned.  The state Wigan is in at the moment I think it makes sense to keep these restrictions, regardless of any considerations about water levels.  

We did Wigan a few weeks ago, without any help from volockies. Seemed fairly OK to me. What do you mean by the “state”?

 

I worry that if CRT works out that by putting such restrictions on other flights they can be less concerned about leakages, maintenance etc, we may end up with more flights with very restrictive times.

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14 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

We did Wigan a few weeks ago, without any help from volockies. Seemed fairly OK to me. What do you mean by the “state”?

 

I worry that if CRT works out that by putting such restrictions on other flights they can be less concerned about leakages, maintenance etc, we may end up with more flights with very restrictive times.

IMHO Wigan is the hardest work of any of the recognised flights but I was referring to the town in general.  I've done the flight loads of time and it is never a pleasant experience but it is easier if you have a bit of company which is what the restrictions promote.  It's one of the few locks where I'm actually pleased to see a queue.

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4 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

IMHO Wigan is the hardest work of any of the recognised flights but I was referring to the town in general.  I've done the flight loads of time and it is never a pleasant experience but it is easier if you have a bit of company which is what the restrictions promote.  It's one of the few locks where I'm actually pleased to see a queue.

It is quite hard work but IMO there is nothing exceptional about it. When we did it we just chuntered up with no hassle. Didn’t seem to be any issue with the natives. Yes definitely easier with another boat, which is what we did. But I was imagining something horrendous from its reputation, which it wasn’t.

 

But yes we went shopping in Wigan itself, and it hasn’t got much to commend it!

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43 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

It is quite hard work but IMO there is nothing exceptional about it. When we did it we just chuntered up with no hassle. Didn’t seem to be any issue with the natives. Yes definitely easier with another boat, which is what we did. But I was imagining something horrendous from its reputation, which it wasn’t.

 

But yes we went shopping in Wigan itself, and it hasn’t got much to commend it!

But it does have a bakers where you can have your favourite pie in a barm cake!! 

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1 hour ago, frangar said:

But it does have a bakers where you can have your favourite pie in a barm cake!! 

If you took it back to the boat and put it in the oven you could have your cake and heat it. 

  • Haha 1
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On 07/08/2019 at 03:56, MHS said:

I’m not sure they really intended to lift the restriction on Wigan. I think it just got added to the original “lifting” email by mistake. 

 

We were in the middle of the flight when the lockie got a phone call from CRT telling him the restrictions were lifted. They decided to lock it anyway at the usual time for that day as they had no lockies organised for the afternoon, but then it was to be unrestricted from the next day he said.

 

For us the main annoyance in the flight was the weed at the top lock. I cleared the prop when on the landing and got so much weed on the prop in 50 yards that I lost all forward movement and had to pull the boat in. The duck weed was so thick on one overflow that the water level of the pound was high and 2 boats in front of us had some real problems with water coming over the top of the gates onto their deck. The lockie was quite worried till they got it sorted.

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23 minutes ago, PeterCr said:

For us the main annoyance in the flight was the weed at the top lock. I cleared the prop when on the landing and got so much weed on the prop in 50 yards that I lost all forward movement and had to pull the boat in. The duck weed was so thick on one overflow that the water level of the pound was high and 2 boats in front of us had some real problems with water coming over the top of the gates onto their deck. The lockie was quite worried till they got it sorted.

There is certainly a lot of weed just at the top, but then clear after a couple of hundred metres. 

 

At the top lock at Johnson’s Hill locks, they have stacked up a large pile of weed near the top gate. Unfortunately above the Wigan flight it would be a massive undertaking. 

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19 minutes ago, MHS said:

There is certainly a lot of weed just at the top, but then clear after a couple of hundred metres. 

 

At the top lock at Johnson’s Hill locks, they have stacked up a large pile of weed near the top gate. Unfortunately above the Wigan flight it would be a massive undertaking. 

Not quite so clear, further up the canal the weed is quite a problem, going through Blackburn I was down the weed hatch 10 times before giving up and accepting that our forward motion would be slow. Several boaters complained to us about the weed they encountered.

 

We went up the L&L a couple of weeks ago and had no problems with weed, but it was quite an issue coming back.

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7 hours ago, PeterCr said:

Not quite so clear, further up the canal the weed is quite a problem, going through Blackburn I was down the weed hatch 10 times before giving up and accepting that our forward motion would be slow. Several boaters complained to us about the weed they encountered.

 

We went up the L&L a couple of weeks ago and had no problems with weed, but it was quite an issue coming back.

We’ve just come up through Blackburn. It was fairly slow progress with the weed, but managed it without a visit down the hatch. Also slow through Rishton.  

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The padlocks locking the paddles on the bottom lock m didn’t look very strong when we passed through early last week.

 

I certainly wouldn’t condone their actions, but it wouldn’t take much doing. 

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5 minutes ago, MHS said:

The padlocks locking the paddles on the bottom lock m didn’t look very strong when we passed through early last week.

 

I certainly wouldn’t condone their actions, but it wouldn’t take much doing. 

One has to consider why they are on. Ostensibly for anti-vandalism. But can someone explain how putting a very severe restriction on this flight and padlocking just the top and bottom, has any effect on vandalism? All the locks have anti vandal locks which of course are not particularly vandal proof. So any naughty kids with a key can, for example, drain all the intervening pounds. All 21 of them. Which is a lot of water. And if they had any initiative, cut off the rather pathetic padlocks with your average bolt cutters or hacksaw.

 

So I question whether restricting entry to this flight to a couple of hours a day, is justified. Where is the evidence?

 

My suspicion is that it is down to the volockies who have annexed this flight as their own plaything, and don’t like the idea that boaters might be allowed to use this pretty average flight of locks when they are not there. I see it as the thin end of the wedge for CRT passing power to volockies and increased restriction on other flights for no good reason.

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