Bancroft Basin

[Theo]

We set off from our permanent mooring at Tardebigge Old Wharf on  Thursday to meet our son and his family who were collecting a hire boat from Wootton Wawen on Friday afternoon.  We met a boat on Friday morning and were given the news that Bancorft Basin had been drained, and the Stratford Canal had several pounds drained above that.  Also reports of lots of boats stranded, queuing and all sorts of associated mayhem.

 

Is there any truth in this or was it just the spreading of a rumour to keep people away?  I have used the search on here and a general search on the web that is wide and worldly and and can find no reference to this.  We asked at Anglo-Welsh in WW and they confirmed that there were problems so we suppose that there was truth in the story.  Does anyonw know about this?

 

N

[dmr]

I can't help, but in general do not believe anything that passers by tell you on the towpath. A pound a few inches down and showing a bit of mud at the edges looks really bad to a gongoozler but is either navigable with care or easily filled by a boater. My favourite was been waved at by a bloke in Birmingham (who had probably only recently arrived in the uk) shouting "stop, stop, the canal is blocked by a big wooden wall". He watched in some amazement as we showed him how a lock worked.

 

Bancroft has a lot of restaurant boat lockings onto the Avon (if they are running again?) so does need a decent supply of water and if it gets accidentally drained it might take a while to sort out.

 

.................Dave

[Rob-M]

I once ignore the advice from the towpath on the Minworth flight when somebody told me the water was really low. So instead of my wife walking to the next lock I set off on the boat only to eventually come to a grinding halt. I then had to paddle ashore to go and let some water down.

[sharpness]

In the morning I'd ring the Avon Navigation Trust boat in the basin, the one that issues the licences and ask them.

[pig]

Just back from a week going down to Stratford and back, two days on the river and back up to Hatton today. No problems at all apart from a low pound at the fourth lock up from Bancroft, due to a paddle left up. Heard a lot of talk about low water, and that was it, just talk.

7 minutes ago, sharpness said:

In the morning I'd ring the Avon Navigation Trust boat in the basin, the one that issues the licences and ask them.

The boat is unmanned due to u know wot- all licenses done online.

[sharpness]

4 minutes ago, pig said:

 

The boat is unmanned due to u know wot- all licenses done online.

That's a shame, anything on the ANT website?

[nikvah]

1 hour ago, sharpness said:

In the morning I'd ring the Avon Navigation Trust boat in the basin, the one that issues the licences and ask them.

The rumored low pounds are CRT waters, there is plenty of water in the river Avon so ANT may not be aware and not responsible either.

[sharpness]

2 minutes ago, nikvah said:

The rumored low pounds are CRT waters, there is plenty of water in the river Avon so ANT may not be aware and not responsible either.

As the OP says Bancroft Basin may have been drained, I think as the ANT boat would be sat on the mud they would probably be aware but agree not responsible.

[nicknorman]

11 minutes ago, sharpness said:

As the OP says Bancroft Basin may have been drained, I think as the ANT boat would be sat on the mud they would probably be aware but agree not responsible.

The ANT boat is unoccupied.
We were in Bancroft last week and there was some minor issue with one of the last few locks, the CRT lady closed the flight for a few hours so some repair could be made. But that was last Monday and I’m sure that if the problem was more serious, there would have been a stoppage notice.

 

Generally there seems to be plenty of water around the system at the moment so if the basin is low, it could be topped back up in under a day.