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L1327_20070625_0042.JPG.a99957de79139302018913ffd976a157.JPGOn 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

 

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On this day in 2007, from #2076 in the Sheffield floods

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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.

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On this day in 2007, from #2078 in the Sheffield floods

L1327_20070626_0001.JPG.823fec32582bdb7fc2d82c3311a98fd9.JPGAbout 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.

Edited by PeterScott
radio stn
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On this day in 2007, from #2080 in the Sheffield floods L1327_20070626_0007.JPG.56e27f2a6ea5fc438639aafdae78f2a5.JPG

at about 4am

 

L1327_20070626_0003.JPG.b82011026908767537d9811fdec8acec.JPGBy 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.

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On this day in 2007 around 6am, (... from #2082) in the Sheffield floods

L1327_20070626_0018a.JPG.47bc4744b6f6ba4c7699eab382294bba.JPG

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)

L1327_20070626_0012.JPG.ac55e6f270816163ac4e6adcaf5ad053.JPGBehind 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"

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On this day in 2007 around 9am, (... from #2084) in the Sheffield floods

L1327_20070626_0045a.jpg.ee037c541cf61bf54c8845d4f0268c91.jpg

“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.

L1327_20070626_0048.JPG.b8d5f61302c39325b38460960229cef7.JPG

 

L1327_20070626_0071a.jpg.9ead2f2b2392cfe776b3e09d281d3a81.jpgThe 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

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On this day in 2007 around noon, (... from #2086) in the Sheffield floods

L1327_20070626_0156a.jpg.fb669f245d08e22a6bc63b7083a5f901.jpg

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.

 

L1327_20070626_0154.JPG.9db931467cf554598248b8a3235645a3.JPGBelow 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:

 

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Statue of King Albert at the Liege  end of the Albert canal.Build between 1930 and 1939 to link Liege and Antwerp it shortened the journey from around 5 days to 1 long day. Recently all the bridges have been raised to give 30ft clearance for 4 stacked containers. Personally we hated it as the wash never stopped and the bridge approaches and the concrete lined banks threw us about quite violently.

A123E71C-37C6-4595-8FAD-BEE8A5384CDC.jpeg

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On this day 2010 - Braunston boat rally

 

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Sarah and Jim on Chertsey - this was taken shortly after the boat had been bought by Sarah

 

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The usual Braunston chaos!!

 

1711122552_Braunston2010023.jpg.78e4b12eae559f4cb4ee89ed6007564b.jpg

 

Steve Jackson and Ed Mortimer on Camel. This was one of the first boats that I came into contact with as it was based at Loughborough in its BW days.

 

1090172974_Braunston2010018.jpg.42c176c7ed12bb270e43c68004ddbf00.jpg

 

A fleet of tugs

 

1232651491_Braunston2010017.jpg.c71c373bd5ef9a3cfff63e3fade39401.jpg

 

Car transporter - but unlike in France no crane to lift it off with!!

 

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19 minutes ago, Richard T said:

On this day 2010 - Braunston boat rally

616221297_Braunston2010013.jpg.17d84862d9612b366f3189e0d9dc89e2.jpg

The usual Braunston chaos!!

Gosh, a picture of me (almost) taking a picture of ... it will have been within a few seconds, anyway.L1658_20100626_0605.JPG.7b96569cb52e61d3c1ad5b729a75f9c6.JPG

 

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On this day in 1999

L12269s.jpg.c46e6318960a9c7735109e09ef14d45b.jpg

 

Above Wolverhampton Top Lock BCN Marathon Challenge

 

L12271s.jpg.820cc7cb68f839c3f36db06c76b9ab5c.jpgBroad Street Basin

 

The day before. Ring Ring. It was Chris Davey, Marathon Challenge organiser, to ask if we could host a TV crew the next day, who were making a six-part documentary for ITV and they wished to film a boat which navigated the difficult bits of the BCN, rather than going up and down the main lines. We argeed.

 

The 'TV crew' turned out to be Keith Wootton and a bagful of cameras, one of which was set to continuously record on the bow. We recorded various pearls of wisdom as we were going along: turning the engine off and drifting probably helped the sound quality, but was navigationally challenging ...

 

The series was the first year of Waterworld some aspects of which are described here. And no, there aren't any commercial DVDs of it ...

 

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On this day in 1999

L12284s.jpg.b8d2520a053f2f206160571d6666a216.jpg

 

Sneyd and Wyrley Bank Branch Canal (disused) BCN Marathon Challenge

 

L12270s.jpg.f172cfe2ff641530fb43def0b7c5332c.jpgabove Wolverhampton Top Lock at the beginning of the day. Keith Wootton miking-up Elaine.

 

The filming covered about four hours and this was spread out across all six episodes of the first series of Watreworld. For the next dozen or so years there were regular "we saw you on the TV last night" recognitions and that may have been primarily 'er 'at. Even so I was at Stourport one summer and a boater with whom I had not previously spoken opened a conversation with "I recognise that behind". An allusion to the frequent pictures of said behind while retrieving stuff from the weedhatch.

 

Once we were chased down a lockflight and invited to sign the box of the series-video. ...

 

 

 

 

Edited by PeterScott
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