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South Oxford Summit - Water Resources!


john6767

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Looking at the EA site and the weather forecast, I estimate that things are slowly getting better. Some time in the next few days I'm hopeful that more red boards will be replaced by yellow and the NBT may be able to leave Oxford going down river then into the K&A. Dave123, if you see a loaded breasted up pair coming down the Thames that would be us. If I'm not too busy in the galley, as we pass you I'll try to wave. Fear not, someone else will be steering!

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35 minutes ago, Peter X said:

Looking at the EA site and the weather forecast, I estimate that things are slowly getting better. Some time in the next few days I'm hopeful that more red boards will be replaced by yellow and the NBT may be able to leave Oxford going down river then into the K&A. Dave123, if you see a loaded breasted up pair coming down the Thames that would be us. If I'm not too busy in the galley, as we pass you I'll try to wave. Fear not, someone else will be steering!

I waved to them when they passed me at Rushey lock last week, but if they are at Osney I'm above them and I'm probably going to leave the river ASAP for the Oxford canal. A shame as I had planned to go down to Hambledon but it's too risky as any further significant rain and it'll be red boards again.

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51 minutes ago, Peter X said:

Looking at the EA site and the weather forecast, I estimate that things are slowly getting better. Some time in the next few days I'm hopeful that more red boards will be replaced by yellow and the NBT may be able to leave Oxford going down river then into the K&A. Dave123, if you see a loaded breasted up pair coming down the Thames that would be us. If I'm not too busy in the galley, as we pass you I'll try to wave. Fear not, someone else will be steering!

Hoping that by the beginning of next week it will have improved in Abingdon such that we can run for the canal.  I will I think break my rule this time and come off at Sheepwash rather than going Dukes Cut, but perhaps by next week I will be happier to do the extra bit of the river.

Edited by john6767
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7 minutes ago, Peter X said:

We've gone from too little to too much water in the south Oxford!

CRT notices issued a few days ago are now advising against navigating Isis Lock (4 Oct) OR Dukes Cut Lock (5 Oct)!

That's in reference to the state of the Thames not the canal

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Still in Abingdon.  Level has gone down by 43cm from the peak and is now only 60cm above where it was 9 days ago when we got here.  The lock boards charged to yellow yesterday, and that is reflected online this morning, and 2 boats have left here going downstream.  It is still flowing fast though.  It is still showing red above Osney lock, so at this point our plan I think is to stay put here until Monday, when hopefully we can get to the canal on yellows.

 

Todays excitement, cassette to the elsan, and get some water.  This may put me off rivers for a while.

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We escaped from Abingdon and made it onto the Oxford canal.  We were advised by the Abingdon lock keeper to go today, and he phoned me once they knew Osney would come off red, the rain forcast for tomorrow they think may put some reaches back on red,  hence take the opportunity today.  As Onsey only came off reds this lunch time, it lived up being hairy getting into Sheepwash channel.  Also the last mile from Abingdon to Sandford took almost an hour, much slower than pushing the tide on the Ribble link!

 

Unfortunately the CRT indicator at Isis lock is still showing red so people in Oxford are still waiting.

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1 minute ago, john6767 said:

We escaped from Abingdon and made it onto the Oxford canal.  We were advised by the Abingdon lock keeper to go today, and he phoned me once they knew Osney would come off red, the rain forcast for tomorrow they think may put some reaches back on red,  hence take the opportunity today.  As Onsey only came off reds this lunch time, it lived up being hairy getting into Sheepwash channel.  Also the last mile from Abingdon to Sandford took almost an hour, much slower than pushing the tide on the Ribble link!

 

Unfortunately the CRT indicator at Isis lock is still showing red so people in Oxford are still waiting.

Glad to hear you made it safely.  

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3 hours ago, john6767 said:

We escaped from Abingdon and made it onto the Oxford canal.  We were advised by the Abingdon lock keeper to go today, and he phoned me once they knew Osney would come off red, the rain forcast for tomorrow they think may put some reaches back on red,  hence take the opportunity today.  As Onsey only came off reds this lunch time, it lived up being hairy getting into Sheepwash channel.  Also the last mile from Abingdon to Sandford took almost an hour, much slower than pushing the tide on the Ribble link!

 

Unfortunately the CRT indicator at Isis lock is still showing red so people in Oxford are still waiting.

Pro nav authority...... and the rest who were prob too busy putting up more signs.

Edited by mark99
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14 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

It's interesting that CRT are showing Isis lock as open/'yellow' but the EA haven't removed the red boards at Osney on their website. 

They are slow at updating the info, last update was midday yesterday, and Osney came off red about then, I believe.  The Abingdon lock keep phoned me at about 11 yesterday to say that Osney was coming off red in about an hour so we were good to leave for Oxford.  We got to Osney about 3 yesterday, and the boards at the lock were as expected yellow.

 

Apparently it is Teddington who do the website updates and they are short staffed, not sure why it takes any significant time to do this though.  I would think they will update in the next hour, it usually seems to be in the morning, and then no updates in the afternoon. 

Edited by john6767
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Yeah they have done it now!

Don't suppose anyone knows if dukes cut or sheepwash is better when there is some flow on? Approaching going downstream...

I'm thinking Dukes cut will be easier as the turn above Kings lock weir is wide enough to keep some speed on. But does much flow get sent down the Wolvercote mill stream?

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24 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

Yeah they have done it now!

Don't suppose anyone knows if dukes cut or sheepwash is better when there is some flow on? Approaching going downstream...

I'm thinking Dukes cut will be easier as the turn above Kings lock weir is wide enough to keep some speed on. But does much flow get sent down the Wolvercote mill stream?

All yellow, until the impact of today’s  rain!

 

We came past Dukes Cut junction today (on the canal), the EA sign there, still had the Thames on red.  Both CRT and EA need to get better at keeping info updated.

 

I made the turn into Sheepwash yesterday going upstream, and it was very hairy, and to make it harder there are 2 boats breasted up there giving you less space.  The flow down the Thames and past the East Street moorings was very fast, and what cought me out was the level of the flow going INTO Sheepwash.  Once I had got into Sheepwash, I was on tickover as we squeezed under the railway bridges, but was going very fast.  Approaching Sheepwash downstream, unless it has slowed dramatically, you will be flying as you make the turn and I think risk getting swept onto the downstream side.

 

We spoke to someone as Osney lock, who had just come off the Oxford and via Dukes Cut and they said it was fine.  That seems logical to me, above King Lock should not be too bad, I guess the only bit will be the turn into Duke Cut from the weir stream, as there will be a good flow in the weir stream, but I would say much preferential to turning into Sheepwash.

Edited by john6767
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5 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

Thanks for that! Confirms what the lockie at Eynsham just told me too. Although he said he thought either would be fine by tomorrow as they are still shutting down weirs apparently. Despite the bit of rain today :)

Still chucking it down at Thrupp.  Given there has been no updates on Heyford Common lock, I think we will stay here tomorrow.

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Dukes cut was very easy, seemed to be no flow at all once I had turned into Wolvercote mill stream above Kings lock weir. And the pull from the weir wasn't too bad. My concern had been finding myself going too fast down the mill stream to avoid the overhanging trees and the turn into the canal cut.

Also noticed they seem to shut off all flow through Godstow bridge (once on yellow boards presumably), sending it all via the weir by the Trout pub instead which would have helped enormously had I gone that way.

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This week the flow on the Thames was steadily coming down to normal, and the NBT pair (with me on the crew doing the easy jobs) set off downstream from Osney on the morning of Sun 11th. By today we'd done our K&A deliveries and got back down to Reading. Fresh people joined the crew and I traveled  home from there; County Lock is handy for the station, just a short walk through the city centre.

The latest on the EA website is that the whole river is back to normal and navigable.

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8 hours ago, Peter X said:

This week the flow on the Thames was steadily coming down to normal, and the NBT pair (with me on the crew doing the easy jobs) set off downstream from Osney on the morning of Sun 11th. By today we'd done our K&A deliveries and got back down to Reading. Fresh people joined the crew and I traveled  home from there; County Lock is handy for the station, just a short walk through the city centre.

The latest on the EA website is that the whole river is back to normal and navigable.

You were moored above Iffley lock on the afternoon of the 11th when we came up.  Glad you made it OK.

 

On the actual subject of this thread, we are on the Oxford summit at the moment, water levels are good, and of course no restrictions on the locks.

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1 hour ago, john6767 said:

You were moored above Iffley lock on the afternoon of the 11th when we came up.  Glad you made it OK.

 

On the actual subject of this thread, we are on the Oxford summit at the moment, water levels are good, and of course no restrictions on the locks.

I think you passed us in Cropredy a couple of days ago (we moor just below the town bridge). Unfortunately I didn't link the person's and the boat's name at the time.

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4 hours ago, Athy said:

I think you passed us in Cropredy a couple of days ago (we moor just below the town bridge). Unfortunately I didn't link the person's and the boat's name at the time.

Firefly was the approaching boat that we moved away from you for. Good to have a little chat to you both. 

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5 hours ago, Athy said:

I think you passed us in Cropredy a couple of days ago (we moor just below the town bridge). Unfortunately I didn't link the person's and the boat's name at the time.

We did indeed, you were engrossed in tatting with paint when I said hello.

 

1 hour ago, Nightwatch said:

Firefly was the approaching boat that we moved away from you for. Good to have a little chat to you both. 

Likewise.

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20 minutes ago, john6767 said:

We did indeed, you were engrossed in tatting with paint when I said hello.

 

 

This is a habit I've picked up from Mrs. Athy. Before we go away on holiday, the house has to be cleaned from top to bottom, so that it can be spick and span while it's empty and there'll be no one to appreciate its effulgence. Similarly, this was our last stay on the boat this year and we were returning home on the morrow, so of course the boat had to be freshened up!

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Back off subject again but does anyone know why the EA send so much water via the sheepwash channel? It's still pelting it through there yet hardly flowing via Osney lock/East street. It would be safer if they sent a bit of that flow down through Osney I'd think.

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