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Leicester Ring


IanD

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3 hours ago, Richard T said:

Moor in the first space you get to in Alrewas - it gets busy. Don't think that there may be better ones further on. If all else fails there is usually space above Bagnalls lock. A word of warning about this lock - the bottom gates swing someone needs to hold them shut until a top padle has been drawn. Another word of warning on the Soar about 150m above Ratcliffe lock is a large shoal on the offside it is important to stay on the towpath side as you approach - the prevailing wind will want to blow you onto the shoal!!

Should be more visible at the moment due to low water levels,  but good advice all the same.

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1 hour ago, Nightwatch said:

I think you are.

The Alrewas top lock DID have them on to start off with, but they kept getting removed.

Ridiculous invention, boaters have managed for 200 years to operate locks, and adding those was daft.

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1 hour ago, matty40s said:

The Alrewas top lock DID have them on to start off with, but they kept getting removed.

Ridiculous invention, boaters have managed for 200 years to operate locks, and adding those was daft.

We were talking to a CRT guy a few years ago and he said the poles kept getting pinched from that lock.

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16 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

We were talking to a CRT guy a few years ago and he said the poles kept getting pinched from that lock.

Several times I have approached that lock from below, seen daylight in the gap, or even an open gate, and moved forward to ease gates open to find one of the silly things in place.

The lock entrance and hole below are so full of leaf debris and silt it's almost impossible to get to the bank easily so having the simple solution removed by a new invention is rather annoying.

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4 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Several times I have approached that lock from below, seen daylight in the gap, or even an open gate, and moved forward to ease gates open to find one of the silly things in place.

The lock entrance and hole below are so full of leaf debris and silt it's almost impossible to get to the bank easily so having the simple solution removed by a new invention is rather annoying.

Could be worse, I pulled up to nudge the gates open only to find a boat in the lock.

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40 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Could be worse, I pulled up to nudge the gates open only to find a boat in the lock.

I did that very recently, they were having lunch in the lock.....and had a paddle open both ends.

Hottest day of the year....he was drinking squash out of a robinsons bottle...I saw him empty it 3 times. 2 locks up, he collapsed by the lock gate spewing up orange squash in impressive amounts. I helped them get the boat out of the lock....and left them to it as they didn't want any other help.

 

Edited by matty40s
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Here’s a quick one about lock flights to think about. Just did a lock flight of 8 Locks, started off nothing behind or in front, later met a couple of boats coming down. With 3 locks remaining I notice a boat 3 locks down, so just carried  on, I’m single handed the boat behind had crew, gets out of lock No6, a person from the boat behind walks to the lock and starts to empty it as I close gates, in lock No7 a boat goes into the last lock No8, I empty the lock, open gates and wait to pass the other boat, the boat behind enters lock No6 when a member of the crew approach’s me and asks why I have not waited for them, I said I was 3 locks ahead and never thought to wait, so I goes out swaps locks with the boat and wait for the boat behind to do the last lock with them. So the question is while doing lock flights how many locks should you wait to let a boat catch and share the locks?

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31 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Here’s a quick one about lock flights to think about. Just did a lock flight of 8 Locks, started off nothing behind or in front, later met a couple of boats coming down. With 3 locks remaining I notice a boat 3 locks down, so just carried  on, I’m single handed the boat behind had crew, gets out of lock No6, a person from the boat behind walks to the lock and starts to empty it as I close gates, in lock No7 a boat goes into the last lock No8, I empty the lock, open gates and wait to pass the other boat, the boat behind enters lock No6 when a member of the crew approach’s me and asks why I have not waited for them, I said I was 3 locks ahead and never thought to wait, so I goes out swaps locks with the boat and wait for the boat behind to do the last lock with them. So the question is while doing lock flights how many locks should you wait to let a boat catch and share the locks?

You shouldn't, unless they catch you up or approach you.

I've been waiting for boats in a lock and had them moor up for lunch on the lock landing or join me and say, we're stopping after this one. 

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5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

You shouldn't, unless they catch you up or approach you.

I've been waiting for boats in a lock and had them moor up for lunch on the lock landing or join me and say, we're stopping after this one. 

Same here,
 

I’d would have said something when they first caught up and offered to wait in the next lock and do the remaining locks together. 
 

People are are odd when it comes to sharing locks. A couple of times I’ve caught up with another boat and had to sound the horn to stop them closing gates and let me share the lock.  Then they make an excuse to stop, and I continue on my merry way wondering what I did to upset them. 

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19 minutes ago, matty40s said:

You shouldn't, unless they catch you up or approach you.

I've been waiting for boats in a lock and had them moor up for lunch on the lock landing or join me and say, we're stopping after this one. 

I wouldn’t normally but as you say they approached me even though I only had one lock to do and they were 2 behind I waited, it was like they expected me to wait due to it being a flight. Lucky I have all the time in the world and other boaters haven’t.

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3 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

I wouldn’t normally but as you say they approached me even though I only had one lock to do and they were 2 behind I waited, it was like they expected me to wait due to it being a flight. Lucky I have all the time in the world and other boaters haven’t.

In that case I wouldn’t have waited. 
I thought they’d caught you up. 

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24 minutes ago, Goliath said:

In that case I wouldn’t have waited. 
I thought they’d caught you up. 

No I was in the second to last lock they were 2 behind, they approached me and asked why I had not waited for them. They were always at least 2 locks behind. I waited in the last lock for them, they seemed to be on a mission to try and catch me.

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On this route The Bridge at Branston and The Greyhound, Sutton Stop are the 'must eats' for us. There's an excellent chippy on Atherstone High Street as well.

 

Agree with Bagnall Lock comments, the bottom offside gate ALWAYS swings open just when you don't want it to, and as the wife leaves the other gate to shut the offside one, that slowly creeps open too! I reverse up to hold the gates in place.

 

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38 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Back to topic, anyone know if there are any issues with water levels Foxton to Leicester and beyond to the Trent?

CrT are letting water down Kibworth from about 8am daily.

When we were at Foxton, one of the lockies was letting water down from the top, but didnt tell anyone down the bottom, so flooded the middle.

We really struggled round South Wigston as it was very down, but this was the day after he 2nd lockdown finished so nothing had been done since Winter, it was OK on the way back up.

 

The Soar is as low as it can get but fine from Kings Lock through, only North Lock to Belgrave Lock are the usual shit filled trench.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 17/08/2020 at 08:13, Rickent said:

I can confirm it is on the up.

We might be up there on the Soar in 10 days or so. We’d plan to moor somewhere North of Leicester, perhaps Birstall area if that was ok. Then go home, come back as usual 2 weeks later. Any regular issues with security, either from hooligans or river level drama?

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14 minutes ago, droshky said:

We might be up there on the Soar in 10 days or so. We’d plan to moor somewhere North of Leicester, perhaps Birstall area if that was ok. Then go home, come back as usual 2 weeks later. Any regular issues with security, either from hooligans or river level drama?

Birstall, Syston are good safe moorings, river levels can shoot up over a short space of time when rain is heavy, need to keep your eye on the weather.

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