Pocklington Canal - Jungle Boating

[Mac of Cygnet]

1 hour ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

How much manual override have the guys at Barmby barrage got over the system? When I came from Selby to the lock at Barmby the barrage opened as I was trying to line up for the lock which made getting into the lock a whole lot more 'exciting'. When I sort of 'politely' asked,"What did you open the bl**dy barrage for", once into the lock the lockie said,"It wasn't me, it's all done remotely by computer now".

 

I'm not sure I'd be over bothered about cross contamination of weed from Selby to the Pocklington, partly 'cos its about 6 miles downstream on the Ouse between them, plenty of time/distance to wash any contaminant weed off and partly 'cos the Pocklington has plenty of it's own weed, a bit more from Selby (even if it travelled that far) probably isn't going to make much difference.

 

The barrage is opened from 3 hours after to 3 hours before high tide, if I understand rightly from Martin the barrage keeper.  Normally you would leave Selby at high tide and arrive At Barmby well before the barrage sluice opens - certainly I have both times I've been there.

 

The point about the weed infesting the Selby canal is that it is an extremely invasive alien which has only recently arrived in the area - I had never seen it before this year.  As such, it is actually illegal to introduce it even accidentally to an SSSI such as the Pocklington.

[Mac of Cygnet]

4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

This is what I get. I guess it works for you because you’re logged in. 

 

 

Dunno what's going on there.  I just Googled 'Azolla control' and clicked on the first result and put in the link.  No logging into anything.

[WotEver]

4 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Dunno what's going on there.  I just Googled 'Azolla control' and clicked on the first result and put in the link.  No logging into anything.

Interesting. I tried the same thing and ended up with:

https://www.cabi.org/projects/project/32814

[Mac of Cygnet]

5 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Interesting. I tried the same thing and ended up with:

https://www.cabi.org/projects/project/32814

 

Yes, that's the one.  It's what I get when I click on here in my post.

[WotEver]

1 minute ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Yes, that's the one.  It's what I get when I click on here in my post.

Your first link was:

https://www.azollacontrol.com/

 

The link above is:

https://www.cabi.org/projects/project/32814

 

That’s the difference. 

 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

14 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

The barrage is opened from 3 hours after to 3 hours before high tide, if I understand rightly from Martin the barrage keeper.  Normally you would leave Selby at high tide and arrive At Barmby well before the barrage sluice opens - certainly I have both times I've been there.

 

The point about the weed infesting the Selby canal is that it is an extremely invasive alien which has only recently arrived in the area - I had never seen it before this year.  As such, it is actually illegal to introduce it even accidentally to an SSSI such as the Pocklington.

Surely doing that would drain the Derwent into the Ouse? or are you saying it is liable to open between those times, but isn't necessarily open? All I know is that as I was neatly lined up to go into the lock I suddenly had a rush of water coming from the barrage pushing my bow to port whilst the river current was pushing my stern to starboard and all the time I was trying to go dead ahead. In fairness the lockie did apologise and awarded me 10 out of 10 for not hitting anything

[Mac of Cygnet]

10 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Surely doing that would drain the Derwent into the Ouse? or are you saying it is liable to open between those times, but isn't necessarily open? All I know is that as I was neatly lined up to go into the lock I suddenly had a rush of water coming from the barrage pushing my bow to port whilst the river current was pushing my stern to starboard and all the time I was trying to go dead ahead. In fairness the lockie did apologise and awarded me 10 out of 10 for not hitting anything

 

Well, the whole point of the barrage is to allow the Derwent to drain into the Ouse without the reverse happening at high tide and flooding everything.  The amount the sluices open depends on the level of the Derwent.  If the Derwent is low, then only one sluice may be only half open, but it still operates every low tide AFAIU.  Otherwise the Derwent would back up. behind the barrage.

[Kieron G]

I think one of the main responsibilities of the barrage is to maintain the water at a level for the treatment works at Loftsome bridge. The river usually floods really high in the winter. Often i can't get to the floating pontoon my boat is moored on and the camping field at the Breighton ferry can be all under water. From my experience EA aren't really interested in maintaining the river for boating or maybe only as far as the Pocklington canal, It is lucky that Martin goes out of his way to be helpful. John is good as well. Unfortunately Martin is leaving EA next year. 

[Mac of Cygnet]

7 hours ago, Fitter kieron said:

I think one of the main responsibilities of the barrage is to maintain the water at a level for the treatment works at Loftsome bridge. The river usually floods really high in the winter. Often i can't get to the floating pontoon my boat is moored on and the camping field at the Breighton ferry can be all under water. From my experience EA aren't really interested in maintaining the river for boating or maybe only as far as the Pocklington canal, It is lucky that Martin goes out of his way to be helpful. John is good as well. Unfortunately Martin is leaving EA next year. 

 

Yes, Martin is one of the most pleasant and helpful waterways employees I have encountered, EA, CRT or any other organisation.  I wished him a happy retirement as I left the barrage, as it is unlikely that I will be back before he leaves (it's 7 years since I last was there, and he remembered me!).