Jump to content

Bedford Milton Keynes Link?


gemmaze

Featured Posts

2 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

It's not too bad when the river is normal. We only just made it when the river was high; rather scary coming back down to Bedford with a very very strong current behind us. I just shut my eyes, shut my eyes, and waited for the bang as we approached the railway bridge; when I opened my eyes the bridge was already 50 yards behind us.

I had a similar experience when I rowed there once, in a regatta. The course starts upstream of the railway bridge and then goes downstream as far as you can on the upper river. It's slightly alarming going backwards under the rail bridge at full pelt. The cox says the bridge is coming. Ducking would cause the boat to slow down and so is not encouraged.... I was the tallest person in the crew. I think there was at least two foot of headroom to spare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

It's not too bad when the river is normal. We only just made it when the river was high; rather scary coming back down to Bedford with a very very strong current behind us. I just shut my eyes, shut my eyes, and waited for the bang as we approached the railway bridge; when I opened my eyes the bridge was already 50 yards behind us.

Nice to see someone else with my cruising technique!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Martin44 said:

Actually, that is precisely why I have  two minds about this link. On one hand it would be great to have shorter journey to access the canal network, on the other though, the infrastructure is not here. Moorings are already sparse, let alone water points or pumpouts etc.

But simple infrastructure is reasonably easy to fix, especially as it can be spread out over the time it takes for demand to build up. But NIMBY is a powerful argument . . . 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, I might be the NIMBY here too ( very much liking the 'backwateredness' (new word alert) of East Anglian rivers)?

I believe that with increased demand, facilities would improve and multiply perhaps. Though it took EA 2 years to fix moorings in Prickwillow.

If I was to bet which of the new projects could materialize, it would be rather the Fens waterway link between Nene and Boston as to my best knowledge it does not require any expensive structures in place.

  • Greenie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Martin44 said:

Actually, I might be the NIMBY here too ( very much liking the 'backwateredness' (new word alert) of East Anglian rivers)?

I believe that with increased demand, facilities would improve and multiply perhaps. Though it took EA 2 years to fix moorings in Prickwillow.

If I was to bet which of the new projects could materialize, it would be rather the Fens waterway link between Nene and Boston as to my best knowledge it does not require any expensive structures in place.

I agree. Chris Howes did an interesting online talk about this project recently, does look like it has legs (in part as driven by water supply requirements).

 

 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interestingly, in the latest GOBA magazine on p. 5, under the heading EA's sustainable business plan, Welches Dam lock appears to have allocated money for rebuilding.  It says: ' ...2 locks [...] will cost £8 million to rebuild and are on the Middle level, Welches Dam being one of them.'

edited to say: this is pre-covid news

Edited by Martin44
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.