Jump to content

New record queue for locks?


IanD

Featured Posts

39 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

The south Oxford is indeed quiet at the moment, only one boat in front of me today at any lock max with non most of the time. Fab.

Not quiet on the summit, it was like wacky races earlier today.  Some peace now, and the rain has stopped, a bit dark and gloomy though.  
 

Despite all the dire warnings from a boat coming down Napton, I would say that the water level on the summit is as good as it ever is. 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

The south Oxford is indeed quiet at the moment, only one boat in front of me today at any lock max with non most of the time. Fab.

Unlike the North Oxford; I have never seen it so busy. Coming southward this morning I was following three other boats through Ansty when we met a convoy of FOURTEEN boats coming northwards. I must admit I rather enjoyed watching the resultant chaos!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We came through Braunston today heading north, there were plenty of boats heading in the other direction. We stopped on the services at the junction and within a few minutes two other boats were waiting for water and to go in to Midland Chandler's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Despite all the dire warnings from a boat coming down Napton, I would say that the water level on the summit is as good as it ever is. 

The summit is as full as it could possibly be, gently overflowing at every spillway. As is the pound from Braunston to Napton and Hillmorton. As is the pound from Hillmorton to Hawkesbury. As is the pound from Hawkesbury to Coventry, Atherstone, and including of course all the Ashby. Have any of the lock-time restrictions or depth warnings been removed yet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Keeping Up said:

The summit is as full as it could possibly be, gently overflowing at every spillway. As is the pound from Braunston to Napton and Hillmorton. As is the pound from Hillmorton to Hawkesbury. As is the pound from Hawkesbury to Coventry, Atherstone, and including of course all the Ashby. Have any of the lock-time restrictions or depth warnings been removed yet?

When we were waiting for Claydon to open yesterday CRT were running water down from the summit pound to fill all the pounds between the locks and the pound below Claydon as that was low and apparently a local farmer complains if the level is down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

The summit is as full as it could possibly be, gently overflowing at every spillway. As is the pound from Braunston to Napton and Hillmorton. As is the pound from Hillmorton to Hawkesbury. As is the pound from Hawkesbury to Coventry, Atherstone, and including of course all the Ashby. Have any of the lock-time restrictions or depth warnings been removed yet?

Restrictions are still on at Marston Doles and Clayton, I guess you could argue that it is because of those restrictions that the summit level is good, but I don’t get why people are complaining about the level though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The CRT website still says:

Due to the recent dry weather, we are currently experiencing extremely low water on the Ashby Canal. 

This is consequently making it very difficult for our boaters to travel. 

We are working hard with our colleagues in the West Midlands Team, who are trying to bring us water from the Coventry Canal. 

However, they are very low on water as well and so it is taking longer than normal to get the water levels back up. 

We advise boaters to minimise their travel at this moment in time and please proceed with care. 

We will update our website as the situation develops. 
We apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing and appreciate our customers patience at this time.

which is bit of a joke when the level is over the spillways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Restrictions are still on at Marston Doles and Clayton, I guess you could argue that it is because of those restrictions that the summit level is good, but I don’t get why people are complaining about the level though.

You, 'one', Me, I,  have got to have something to grizzel about don't 'we' ?

Nobody reads a post that said - "everyy=thing was peachy today - etc, etc.

I've been stuck here at home all blurry season, waiting for it to cool; now it's tinkling with rain and methinks the Management is losing interest. The Thames is soon to close with giant concrete mixers - fixing those locks where users have battered the concrete. Moorings for long that have welcomed boats are now closed with complaints of moutains of poo dropped by who knows.

 

Doomed,

Doomed,

we're all doomed.

 

AND that lot in BXL are going to screw us with their European carp - even though we've left..

 

Never mind eh? - I smell luvverly grub from My Gordon Blue in  t' kitchen and thou (very large Whisky Mac)  beside me gurgling in the wilderness...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

The south Oxford is indeed quiet at the moment, only one boat in front of me today at any lock max with non most of the time. Fab.

How 'south'? Not all the boats wanting to go up Claydon flight were able to do so before the closure time, despite having been there nearly two hours ahead of time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

The south Oxford is indeed quiet at the moment, only one boat in front of me today at any lock max with non most of the time. Fab.

That's cos all the posh shiny boats have to turn back towards Napton/Braunston once they get as far as Cropredy/Banbury or Heyford cos they heard rumours there are scruffy liveaboards in Oxford?

  • Greenie 1
  • Haha 1
  • Horror 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 29/08/2020 at 18:56, Keeping Up said:

Top and bottom locks were fully open, both pairs, but only one bottom paddle on each when we came through on Thursday afternoon. We didn't have to queue at all though.

You had to queue today though! Half a dozen people have been working on the locks all week and work is still ongoing. Apparently a sill has to be replaced in one lock and then the gates will be replaced. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, canalboat said:

You had to queue today though! Half a dozen people have been working on the locks all week and work is still ongoing. Apparently a sill has to be replaced in one lock and then the gates will be replaced. 

Yes indeed we had to queue at the middle lock, particularly because of idiot hirers who didn't know how to work either a lock or a boat. But we went straight in at the bottom and top locks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Keeping Up said:

Yes indeed we had to queue at the middle lock, particularly because of idiot hirers who didn't know how to work either a lock or a boat. But we went straight in at the bottom and top locks.

Bit harsh; I trust you took the opportunity to share your knowledge with them.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

Yes indeed we had to queue at the middle lock, particularly because of idiot hirers who didn't know how to work either a lock or a boat.

But nasty that, especially for some hires who have never done any more than one lock before...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, rgreg said:

Bit harsh; I trust you took the opportunity to share your knowledge with them.

Not harsh, in this case it was absolutely accurate. Two hire boats each took over half an hour to get from the lock mooring into the lock. And yes I did offer my help and advice in one case, where the hirer actually gave up, turned towards me, shrugged his shoulders, and asked "Have you any suggestions?" - in the other case neither I nor anybody else dared intervene in the resulting matrimonial argument in which both captain and crew attempted to throw each other off the back deck! We did of course operate the lock for them in each case.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Possibly one of the hire boats we saw although they were in good spirits. Yesterday one couple in Braunston took about 50 backwards and forwards manoeuvres to wind in the marina entrance and today a couple were trying to leave the moorings at Rugby but had forgot he had used the centre line when mooring up so hadn't untied it before attempting to move off. They were all seeing the funny side though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

Not harsh, in this case it was absolutely accurate. Two hire boats each took over half an hour to get from the lock mooring into the lock. And yes I did offer my help and advice in one case, where the hirer actually gave up, turned towards me, shrugged his shoulders, and asked "Have you any suggestions?" - in the other case neither I nor anybody else dared intervene in the resulting matrimonial argument in which both captain and crew attempted to throw each other off the back deck! We did of course operate the lock for them in each case.

 

That makes more sense than the earlier post - I was a bit surprised on first reading.  Some boaters we expect that attitude from, but not the Joneses!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Possibly one of the hire boats we saw although they were in good spirits. Yesterday one couple in Braunston took about 50 backwards and forwards manoeuvres to wind in the marina entrance and today a couple were trying to leave the moorings at Rugby but had forgot he had used the centre line when mooring up so hadn't untied it before attempting to move off. They were all seeing the funny side though.

Sounds like the opener from Tim and Prue "sorry dear I forgot to untie you"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

Sounds like the opener from Tim and Prue "sorry dear I forgot to untie you"

That was my thoughts as we walked towards the boat. I asked the lady on the bows if he knew the centre line was still tied up. We had a laugh and I untied it for him and off they went.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Was it this standard 

 

Oh considerably more so. They were stood on the back deck, her holding a windlass and him holding the tiller (and stern line in the same hand) and grappling to try to throw the other overboard while screaming at each other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 03/09/2020 at 12:26, Dave123 said:

That's cos all the posh shiny boats have to turn back towards Napton/Braunston once they get as far as Cropredy/Banbury or Heyford cos they heard rumours there are scruffy liveaboards in Oxford?

Don't forget the large navies from Oxford Boats an Oxfordshire Narrowboats. Thety often do not get as far as Banbury.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 03/09/2020 at 12:26, Dave123 said:

That's cos all the posh shiny boats have to turn back towards Napton/Braunston once they get as far as Cropredy/Banbury or Heyford cos they heard rumours there are scruffy liveaboards in Oxford?

You are right, there were lots of scruffy liveaboards. We winded at Dukes Cut, then moored up and walked down the towpath rather than boating down to Isis lock.

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.