Stuck at Anthony Lock, Rochdale Canal

[David Mack]

Made steady but slow progress down from Failsworth today.but now we have run out of water and we are stuck firm on the stop plank cill of Anthony Lock.

 

 

The depth here:

Is only this much!

 

 

[Jon57]

15 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Made steady but slow progress down from Failsworth today.but now we have run out of water and we are stuck firm on the stop plank cill of Anthony Lock.

 

 

The depth here:

Is only this much!

 

 

Not good. Took us 8 hrs from lock65 to New Islington marina. Worst bit of canal I've been on. 

[Alan de Enfield]

Then you'll get the C&RT 'lovers' who will say '2 foot is plenty'.

 

Nothing wrong with the management of the canals, nothing to see here, move along ....................

[dmr]

Not the best place to spend the night, but much better than Newton Heath. Is the pound absolutely full, the level looks to be down a fair bit? and I remember that as quite a long pound with shorter pounds above it so running water down will be tedious.  I'm surprised you got as far as the lock as that's a shallow pound with a concrete bottom?

 

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

[David Mack]

18 minutes ago, dmr said:

Not the best place to spend the night, but much better than Newton Heath. Is the pound absolutely full, the level looks to be down a fair bit? and I remember that as quite a long pound with shorter pounds above it so running water down will be tedious.  I'm surprised you got as far as the lock as that's a shallow pound with a concrete bottom?

 

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

It's at least 18 inches deeper either side of that cill.

Anyway, thanks to the good offices of CRT we are now through 77 and about to try 78. And the Shire Cruisers hire boat which was waiting to ascend 77 has also passed through, though I don't know how far they will get tonight. I do feel guilty about holding them up, but they were very decent about it.

[Alway Swilby]

42 minutes ago, dmr said:

Not the best place to spend the night, but much better than Newton Heath. Is the pound absolutely full, the level looks to be down a fair bit? and I remember that as quite a long pound with shorter pounds above it so running water down will be tedious.  I'm surprised you got as far as the lock as that's a shallow pound with a concrete bottom?

 

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

Restored on the cheap I believe.

[dmr]

13 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

Restored on the cheap I believe.

I think the entire Rochdale was restored on the cheap, or at least opened on the cheap because some would say its not fully restored yet. But its open to navigation!

Many modern restorations are done section by section to a much higher standard but it takes forever, then the disconnected bits get taken over by wildlife which creates more problems. I can do the Rochdale now but probably won't see the Cotswold Canals open in my lifetime.

 

As that section had subsided replacing it in concrete was probably not a bad idea and as long as there is enough water its just about deep enough. Its lack of water and the locals throwing stuff in thats the real issue.

 

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

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I hope there’s enough water left for me, next week. 
2’ draft. 

I won’t be taking no for an answer this time, even if I have to bring my own water. ?

[dmr]

7 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I hope there’s enough water left for me, next week. 
2’ draft. 

I won’t be taking no for an answer this time, even if I have to bring my own water. ?

Its a lot harder coming up than going down ?

 

I could let some down from the Summit but it would  most likely get lost somewhere on the way to Manchester. You will need CRT to unlock the locks above Manchester so I would hope that they would find some water for you.

 

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

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

You’d hope so. 

Mind you this incident is above the locked locks. 

(no below?)

 

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by Goliath

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

No got itwrong

it’s amongst the bottom of the locked locks

 

 

[roland elsdon]

25 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I hope there’s enough water left for me, next week. 
2’ draft. 

I won’t be taking no for an answer this time, even if I have to bring my own water. ?

Belfast is a converted town class. Its a whole lot more than 2 ft. Probably close to 3ft counter on, and more in gear.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

12 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Belfast is a converted town class. Its a whole lot more than 2 ft. Probably close to 3ft counter on, and more in gear.

Yes, I see, a proper big boat. 

And proper enough not to have a weed hatch. 
On the Rochdale, going through Manchester,  ? without an hatch. 
That’s only for the brave. 

[Jon57]

32 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Yes, I see, a proper big boat. 

And proper enough not to have a weed hatch. 
On the Rochdale, going through Manchester,  ? without an hatch. 
That’s only for the brave. 

We are 2foot 10 static. Had enough crap on the prop to fill a dustbin. Had to flush out of a lot of locks. 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

17 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

We are 2foot 10 static. Had enough crap on the prop to fill a dustbin. Had to flush out of a lot of locks. 

Where’s tomorrow’s journey?

Are you a glutton for punishment?

You gonna do the Ashton too?

[dmr]

35 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

We are 2foot 10 static. Had enough crap on the prop to fill a dustbin. Had to flush out of a lot of locks. 

Can you remember which locks you had to flush out of? Our current plan is to spend every winter on the Rochdale so I am trying to learn as much detail as I can. We are about 2 foot 8 and have only had to flush out of Failsworth top lock.

 

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

[dmr]

Question/thought for David Mack, (or even Ian Mac)   does that stop plank cill go all the way across the lock mouth or is it just at the edges with a deeper channel in the middle?

First time up the Rochdale as we came out of that lock we hit something very hard and the boat stopped dead. Gillie reversed back into the lock, I got on the front and we tried again with me on the front probing the depth. This time we got out without touching anything.

 

I really felt we had hit a submerged safe. I think we were just a bit further out when we hit unknown object, and if it was a cill I would have thought the front would have ridden up over it, But..... it was very close to where you were stuck, and you are right over at the side.  I will have a probe next time, or maybe Goliath will investigate?

 

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

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, dmr said:

Its a lot harder coming up than going down ?

 

I could let some down from the Summit but it would  most likely get lost somewhere on the way to Manchester. You will need CRT to unlock the locks above Manchester so I would hope that they would find some water for you.

 

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

 

 

CRT had taken as much water as they dared from the pound above 65, so someone else had been sent up to Slattocks to let more water down. Shame as up to that point, not all the pounds were brim full, but we had enough for a 3 ft draught boat.

Edited August 10, 2020 by David Mack

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Goliath said:

Yes, I see, a proper big boat. 

And proper enough not to have a weed hatch. 
On the Rochdale, going through Manchester,  ? without an hatch. 
That’s only for the brave. 

 

Only had to stop to de weed once today. Actually that's not true. No weed. Just a huge tangled mess of an enormous string dishcoth type thing and lots of plastic bags.

 

And a lorry inner tube yesterday.

Edited August 10, 2020 by David Mack

[dmr]

1 minute ago, David Mack said:

CRthadtaken inasmuch water as they dared from the pound above 65, so someone else had been sent up to Slattocks to let more water down. Shame as up to that point, not all the pounds were brim full,but we had enough for a 3 ft draught boat.

You stole our favourite mooring spot at Walsden but you have such a lovely boat I forgive you. ? We are still very new to the Rochdale but I think letting a bit of extra water down when going through Failsworth top lock is a good idea, or at least making sure the wide Failsworth pound is full to the brim. Last time we went down we had almost too much water by the time we got to Anthony, but I have heard there are a lot of water problems down there of late due to naughty children.

 

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

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

Can you remember which locks you had to flush out of? Our current plan is to spend every winter on the Rochdale so I am trying to learn as much detail as I can. We are about 2 foot 8 and have only had to flush out of Failsworth top lock.

 

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

 

None when the pounds are on weir. But if the pound below is significantly down, then it may be necessary.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

Question/thought for David Mack, (or even Ian Mac)   does that stop plank cill go all the way across the lock mouth or is it just at the edges with a deeper channel in the middle?

First time up the Rochdale as we came out of that lock we hit something very hard and the boat stopped dead. Gillie reversed back into the lock, I got on the front and we tried again with me on the front probing the depth. This time we got out without touching anything.

 

I really felt we had hit a submerged safe. I think we were just a bit further out when we hit unknown object, and if it was a cill I would have thought the front would have ridden up over it, But..... it was very close to where you were stuck, and you are right over at the side.  I will have a probe next time, or maybe Goliath will investigate?

 

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

 

Well I didn't prove across the width, but we had driven ourselves so hard on to it, that we couldn't go forward or back. And the boat was level crossways. But as it's a stop plank cill, I assume it is level across the full width. 

 

The depth over it is about 3 ft 6 ins when the pound is on weir, but the level was more than 18" down when we got stuck. When we felt the water coming down I measured the depth at  2 ft 10.5ins and we decided to go for it. But we did just touch as the skeg passed over the cill.

Edited August 10, 2020 by David Mack

[dmr]

Just now, David Mack said:

 

None when the pounds are on weir. But if the pound below is significantly down, then it may be necessary.

 

We had trouble at Failsworth top even on weir, both in the lock and just below the lock, but I think it has been dredged since, also the top lock in Rochdale was a big problem but I think that has been sorted out too. At the other extreme we were testing potential winding holes just before the summit last week and in some places the Rochdale is 6 feet deep.

 

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

[David Mack]

9 minutes ago, dmr said:

You stole our favourite mooring spot at Walsden but you have such a lovely boat I forgive you.

I have stopped there before. But it's not such a good choice. Several people told us that the level had been seriously down as the Shire Cruisers hire boats wind in the wide section, so take a lockful out and don't bring one down. Apparently Belfast had been at a very drunken angle several times over the 2 weeks it had been there. And most of the contents of the kitchen worktops were on the floor, so I can believe it.

8 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

We had trouble at Failsworth top even on weir, both in the lock and just below the lock, but I think it has been dredged since, 

 

No problem in 65, but yes, we grounded below it.

[David Mack]

4 hours ago, Alway Swilby said:

Restored on the cheap I believe.

The restoration from Littleborough to Manchester was funded by a fixed Millennium grant. Inevitably, some costs rose, but there was no extra money. So the final works were cut back in scope. Which is why a number of the shallower sections were only dug out over a narrow channel, rather than full width.

 

At the time various folk said other moneys would be forthcoming, to finish the job. But 20 years on, it hasn't happened.

Edited August 10, 2020 by David Mack