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K&A problems


MrsM

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12 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

Since I refuse to listen to his programme, because he loves to sensationalise everything, what was this all about?

Im guessing the failed sluice incident.

 

(I cant stand him either)

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Yup: "A row of boats were left stranded on a canal bed after the water was mistakenly drained.

Bizarre pictures show a number of canal boats stuck in mud or tipped partially onto their sides after a mechanical fault with the sluice gates at Kennet and Avon Canal in Twerton, Bath on Tuesday evening.

Crews from Avon Fire and Rescue attended the scene with their specialist water rescue unit after water levels dropped by two metres in an hour-and-a-half just before 7pm."

I don't mind JV and even occasionally listen to Radio 1 when I'm feeling a bit trendy!

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1 hour ago, Graham Davis said:

Since I refuse to listen to his programme, because he loves to sensationalise everything, what was this all about?

I just don't think he's clever enough for the programmes they give him, so key points of the discussion go over his head and he isn't capable of guiding the conversation. His brother is probably the sharper of the pair.

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The Environment Agency has issued an update on a situation which left barge owners stranded on the River Avon in Bath.

River levels began to drop after an Environment Agency sluice gate failure near Lower Bristol Road, in Twerton, at around 6pm on Tuesday (September 15) leaving boats stuck in the mud and boaters effectively homeless.

 

A statement from the Environment Agency late on Wednesday (September 16) revealed that the sluice gate will remain closed for "several days" as an investigation takes place.

"Stricken" boaters have been offered temporary accommodation and have been advised not to attempt to access their vessels.

 
 

Ian Withers, of the Environment Agency, said: “This is very distressing to see so many people who rely on their boats as their home to suddenly become stricken and unable to access their property.

 

"Fortunately, it appears no one was harmed and the hard work of righting this situation has begun.

“An incident like this is unprecedented. But with the support of B&NES, the Canal & River Trust and Avon & Somerset Police steps are being taken.

 

"The first is welfare and accommodation, which has been offered to those in need of a place to stay, with facilities now on site for those who have chosen to be near their property.

“We are holding the river upstream while engineers contracted by the Canal & River Trust begin inspecting each boat to see if it will float or if repair is needed first.

 

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/environment-agency-issues-canal-update-4523249

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1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

I thought it was the sluices at Twerton which is on the River Avon not the K&A.

Technically, it is still the K&A although it is actually on the Avon, but there is a canalised section at Twerton.

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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2 hours ago, MrsM said:

Yup: "A row of boats were left stranded on a canal bed after the water was mistakenly drained.

Bizarre pictures show a number of canal boats stuck in mud or tipped partially onto their sides after a mechanical fault with the sluice gates at Kennet and Avon Canal in Twerton, Bath on Tuesday evening.

Crews from Avon Fire and Rescue attended the scene with their specialist water rescue unit after water levels dropped by two metres in an hour-and-a-half just before 7pm."

I don't mind JV and even occasionally listen to Radio 1 when I'm feeling a bit trendy!

Correction - RIVER Avon. 
 

Edited by Graham Davis
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3 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

Correction - RIVER Avon. 
Nothing to do with the canal

Although it is part of the much older Avon Navigation, it is part of the K&A Canal, administered by C&RT up to Hanham Lock where it becomes the responsibility of the Bristol Harbour Trust.

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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Ive heard the term 'Kennet and Avon navigation' used in the past to encompass all the waterways, used in the same way the 'Aire and Calder navigation' is.

 

Not sure how widespread its use is though.??

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1 hour ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Ive heard the term 'Kennet and Avon navigation' used in the past to encompass all the waterways, used in the same way the 'Aire and Calder navigation' is.

 

Not sure how widespread its use is though.??

Yes, the whole thing, Reading to Bristol, is correctly called the Kennet and Avon Navigation. I don't think there is such a thing as the K&A canal, though the term is increasingly used, it could be used to refer to the man made section between Newbury and Bath, though this also includes a few sections of River Kennet. Most likely the term "canal" is used by people who don't understand the difference between a canal and navigable river, which is not always a clear distinction. I note that the CRT "carved graffiti" on a Birmingham lock refers to a river so its an easy mistake to make ?

 

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

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19 minutes ago, dmr said:

Yes, the whole thing, Reading to Bristol, is correctly called the Kennet and Avon Navigation. I don't think there is such a thing as the K&A canal, though the term is increasingly used, it could be used to refer to the man made section between Newbury and Bath, though this also includes a few sections of River Kennet. Most likely the term "canal" is used by people who don't understand the difference between a canal and navigable river, which is not always a clear distinction. I note that the CRT "carved graffiti" on a Birmingham lock refers to a river so its an easy mistake to make ?

 

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

The 1794 Act of Parliament to authorise a navigation between the already existing River Kennet navigation between Reading and Newbury and the River Avon navigation between Bristol and Bath was titled the Kennet and Avon Canal Act.

 

I don’t know whether it also covered additional works on the earlier sections but like many other navigations there are both legal names and names in common usage. There are no absolute conventions in naming modern day canals. We shouldn’t get too precious about it.

 

JP

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7 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

The 1794 Act of Parliament to authorise a navigation between the already existing River Kennet navigation between Reading and Newbury and the River Avon navigation between Bristol and Bath was titled the Kennet and Avon Canal Act.

 

I don’t know whether it also covered additional works on the earlier sections but like many other navigations there are both legal names and names in common usage. There are no absolute conventions in naming modern day canals. We shouldn’t get too precious about it.

 

JP

I believe in general a canal is a man made waterway whilst a navigation is a river made navigable, but there are all sorts of exceptions to this "rule", the BCN is probably the most interesting ?

 

The St Helens canal was proposed as a navigation but built as a canal, but oddly called a canal????

 

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

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2 minutes ago, MrsM said:

Whatever its proper name, a bit flipping sad for those who have had their boats sunk or damaged.

On the local news tonight the EA were apologetic, they are starting the recovery tomorrow and filling the river back up.

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1 minute ago, dmr said:

I believe in general a canal is a man made waterway whilst a navigation is a river made navigable, but there are all sorts of exceptions to this "rule", the BCN is probably the most interesting ?

 

The St Helens canal was proposed as a navigation but built as a canal, but oddly called a canal????

 

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

It doesn’t hold.
 

I technically moor my boat on the Droitwich Canal Navigation as that is how it was titled in the enabling act. My guess would be it was to deliberately distinguish it from the river navigation which it joined.

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2 minutes ago, MrsM said:

Whatever its proper name, a bit flipping sad for those who have had their boats sunk or damaged.

The Avon can be a nasty river and is getting busier and busier with liveaboards. Its really best not to leave a boat unattended but those who did would likely have been prepared for some changes in level, but nobody would anticipate a drop of 2 metres,.

 

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

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8 minutes ago, dmr said:

The Avon can be a nasty river and is getting busier and busier with liveaboards. Its really best not to leave a boat unattended but those who did would likely have been prepared for some changes in level, but nobody would anticipate a drop of 2 metres,.

 

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

Very true. I was quite braced for someone to say it was the boaters' fault for not mooring properly or using the right knots (for some reason I've got my most argumentative head on this week (cf Worzel Gummidge)). I perceive the inland waterways as being so benign compared to the sea but this is a sober reminder of how careful we need to be. 

 

Edited by MrsM
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9 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

It doesn’t hold.
 

I technically moor my boat on the Droitwich Canal Navigation as that is how it was titled in the enabling act. My guess would be it was to deliberately distinguish it from the river navigation which it joined.

Maybe its a Navigation because its still closely connected to a river, a sort of inland extension to the Severn? whilst many canals are "isolated" inland waterways, or built to connect rivers (like the T&M)?

 

Wikipedia sort of says that a canal needs its own water supply rather then using river water, but then Wikipedia is not always the definitive source of knowledge.

 

...............Dave 

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3 minutes ago, dmr said:

Maybe its a Navigation because its still closely connected to a river, a sort of inland extension to the Severn? whilst many canals are "isolated" inland waterways, or built to connect rivers (like the T&M)?

 

Wikipedia sort of says that a canal needs its own water supply rather then using river water, but then Wikipedia is not always the definitive source of knowledge.

 

...............Dave 

Like I say I don’t think there’s any convention or particular logic to names of inland waterways. There’s too many evident variances. You referenced the BCN yourself. Anyway it’s a bit of a red herring in relatIon to the topic which was kind of the point of my initial post on this thread.

Edited by Captain Pegg
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3 minutes ago, MrsM said:

Very true. I was quite braced for someone to say it was the boaters' fault for not mooring properly or using the right knots (for some reason I've got my most argumentative head on this week (cf Worzel Gummidge)). I perceive the inland waterways as being so benign compared to the sea but this is a sober reminder of how careful we need to be. 

 

 

Maybe not the best time to say this, but more and more liveaboards are moving onto the Avon as its likely less well patrolled than the rest of the K&A, and some of them maybe don't have enough experience to be out on a risky river. I don't blame them at all as the Avon can be a lovely place to be, and even experienced boaters would not have coped with this, but we travel the the Avon most years and always see a few sunk boats though usually due to flooding. There are so many people moving onto boats just now, you can buy a boat, put everything you own onto it (including the children) and go out onto a river. I can't really see CRT doing anything about this so really its going to be up to the boating community to find a way to pass on experience to new boaters, but this now happens less than it used to.

I think you are spot on saying the inland waterways feel benign, they do, but most of the rivers can get pretty unpleasant pretty quickly, and there are quite a few canal sections were a sudden loss of water level (like this one) could put a boat into real danger.

 

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

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Have just seen the latest info from EA and it looks that EA (with input from CRT and RCR) and handling this disaster really well, including likely to compensate boaters for any losses. 47 boats involved with 3 severely damaged.

 

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

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