Fat boats on the North Oxford

[MtB]

I wonder what would happen if one tried to book a conflicting trip the other way, in a different widebeam. Would CRT realise there is perhaps a passing problem in the making? Or just accept the booking. 

[frangar]

28 minutes ago, MtB said:

I wonder what would happen if one tried to book a conflicting trip the other way, in a different widebeam. Would CRT realise there is perhaps a passing problem in the making? Or just accept the booking. 

Anyone fancy trying to book that with a big woolwich pair….?

[gatekrash]

On 15/08/2022 at 15:15, frangar said:

Rather makes a mockery of it just being a transit trip if they can stay overnight and just have a jolly. 

We're moored on the N Oxford near bridge 100 and the mythical 'Miles Away' is on the move. Went past us 10 minutes ago. Not sure how far down he's going but it was heaving from Wigrams up to here so could be fun. We were glad to be stopped !

[ditchcrawler]

12 minutes ago, gatekrash said:

We're moored on the N Oxford near bridge 100 and the mythical 'Miles Away' is on the move. Went past us 10 minutes ago. Not sure how far down he's going but it was heaving from Wigrams up to here so could be fun. We were glad to be stopped !

Isn't that the wide bit that is also the GU?

 

[Lily Rose]

20 minutes ago, gatekrash said:

We're moored on the N Oxford near bridge 100 and the mythical 'Miles Away' is on the move. Went past us 10 minutes ago. Not sure how far down he's going but it was heaving from Wigrams up to here so could be fun. We were glad to be stopped !

 

I was moored at bridge 100 Thursday night. I carefully heeded CRT's very imprecise (in terms of timing) warning about a widebeam movement between Dunchurch Pools and Braunston this weekend, having had "an incident" with an extremely unapologetic Miles Away almost exactly 1 year ago whilst we were stopped on the waterpoint by Braunston junction.

 

I assumed the notice was again in relation to the infamous Miles Away (he really is taking the piss and CRT don't seem to care, despite what Matthew Symonds told me) so I made sure that we got past Dunchurch Pools yesterday (Friday) in order to avoid the risk of meeting Miles Away again. Unfortunately we have to go back next week but it will be before the weekend so if we do come across him it will presumably be somewhere between Braunston and Napton junctions.

 

 

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Isn't that the wide bit that is also the GU?

 

Yes.

 

Not that wide in places though, still the potential for widebeams to cause much havoc on one of the busiest stretches of canal on the network. Especially if, like Miles Away, they care so little about anyone else.

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Lily Rose

[gatekrash]

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Isn't that the wide bit that is also the GU?

 

Yep, I was just tying up the notification from C&RT with his movements. I'm assuming he's coming back this way tomorrow, but we'll be gone by then.

[Lily Rose]

1 minute ago, gatekrash said:

Yep, I was just tying up the notification from C&RT with his movements. I'm assuming he's coming back this way tomorrow, but we'll be gone by then.

I was assuming he's out for 1 week as CRT have notice of *a* movement this weekend and another next weekend. I think it had the direction round the other way as well. Of course I could be coming up with 5 when I put 2 and 2 together.

[ditchcrawler]

This just came up on my Facebook feed, not sure where it is.

 

Braunston waterpoint

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by ditchcrawler

[Rose Narrowboats]

On the Oxford just north of Braunston Turn I think; the boat on the right is on the water point next to Midland Chandlers.

[frangar]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

This just came up on my Facebook feed, not sure where it is.

 

Braunston waterpoint

 

Is that from a group or a friend? Just want to make sure of time etc before I send it off to my CRT contact. This is just ridiculous now. 

[Tracy D'arth]

1 minute ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

On the Oxford just north of Braunston Turn I think; the boat on the right is on the water point next to Midland Chandlers.

'Tis.

Its a mad place for the services but its crazy to try to get a behemoth past there. I would obstruct him indefinitely. 

[Lily Rose]

3 minutes ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

On the Oxford just north of Braunston Turn I think; the boat on the right is on the water point next to Midland Chandlers.

 

That's exactly what happened to us last August. We were on the waterpoint there and he tried to squeeze through despite it being clear that until either us or the other boat on the waterpoint moved off he was not going to fit. That photo looks very much like a repeat of that.

 

[frangar]

1 minute ago, Lily Rose said:

 

That's exactly what happened to us last August. We were on the waterpoint there and he tried to squeeze through despite it being clear that until either us or the other boat on the waterpoint moved off he was not going to fit. That photo looks very much like a repeat of that.

 

Did you fill in an incident form on the CRT website or contact them to mention it? I’m not criticising if you didn’t but just trying to build up a picture of how much they have been informed about it. 

[Hudds Lad]

We avoided it by getting through Braunston yesterday, we were on the pub moorings after a trip to Tradline but turned out they’re only 4hrs max in summer?!? Got out of the vicinity this morning before anything big appeared, now on the 24hr mooring at Brownsover, will wind and head back to Dunchurch in the morning now the carnage is over  

[Alan de Enfield]

18 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

This just came up on my Facebook feed, not sure where it is.

 

Braunston waterpoint

 

 

 

 

 

And (allegedly) C&RT are not the slightest bit interested.

He has notified C&RT of his transit, C&RT has notified all boaters so it us up to boaters to keep out of his way - not the other way around.

[Lily Rose]

10 minutes ago, frangar said:

Did you fill in an incident form on the CRT website or contact them to mention it? I’m not criticising if you didn’t but just trying to build up a picture of how much they have been informed about it. 

 

I emailed Matthew Symonds and Jon Horsfall. Both replied but it was clear that Matthew was the one dealing with it. Or not as the case maybe. I also emailed Matthew again earlier this year when a friend of mine also had a Miles Away incident. Matthew's reply intimated they were on the case but gave no details.

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

 

 

And (allegedly) C&RT are not the slightest bit interested.

He has notified C&RT of his transit, C&RT has notified all boaters so it us up to boaters to keep out of his way - not the other way around.

 

It doesn't help us keep out of his way when CRT just say "from Saturday to Sunday" with no hint of when within that 48 hour period. I suspect they were only concerned when he wasn't notifying them. Now that he is they just don't care. Its their own fault for leaving the loophole that allows him to do this as often as he likes without any thought for all the other users of the busy Dunchurch Pools to Braunston stretch (especially at weekends.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Lily Rose

[frangar]

7 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

I emailed Matthew Symonds and Jon Horsfall. Both replied but it was clear that Matthew was the one dealing with it. Or not as the case maybe. I also emailed Matthew again earlier this year when a friend of mine also had a Miles Away incident. Matthew's reply intimated they were on the case but gave no details.

 

It doesn't help us keep out of his way when CRT just say "from Saturday to Sunday" with no hint of when within that 48 hour period. I suspect they were only concerned when he wasn't notifying them. Now that he is they just don't care. Its their own fault for leaving the loophole that allows him to do this as often as he likes without any thought for all the other users of the busy Dunchurch Pools to Braunston stretch (especially at weekends.

Thanks for the info….I shall remind them this isn’t the first time it’s happened. The loophole is ridiculous and now there’s a widebeam at welton hythe on the leicester line as well. One only has to look at the front cabin corners of these boats to see how the infrastructure is suffering….let alone other boaters. 

[Cheese]

19 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

That's exactly what happened to us last August. We were on the waterpoint there and he tried to squeeze through despite it being clear that until either us or the other boat on the waterpoint moved off he was not going to fit. That photo looks very much like a repeat of that.

 

I absolutely agree that it is daft to allow wide-beams on that stretch at all. But given that they are currently allowed, and that due notice has been given, isn't it partly the fault of the narrow boats (on the left of the picture) for being moored opposite the water point, so not allowing a wide-beam through?

[Tracy D'arth]

4 minutes ago, Cheese said:

I absolutely agree that it is daft to allow wide-beams on that stretch at all. But given that they are currently allowed, and that due notice has been given, isn't it partly the fault of the narrow boats (on the left of the picture) for being moored opposite the water point, so not allowing a wide-beam through?

No, they are recognised mooring points for narrowboats on a narrow canal.  The services are where they are.  The North Oxford is a designated NARROW canal, Miles Away is the offender and C&RT complicit in allowing any passage at all. But the allowed passage is not for out and back pleasure trips but boat deliveries one way.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Tracy D'arth

[frangar]

2 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

No, they are recognised mooring points for narrowboats on a narrow canal.  The services are where they are.  The North Oxford is a designated NARROW canal, Miles Away is the offender and C&RT complicate in allowing any passage at all. But the allowed passage is not for out and back pleasure trips but boat deliveries one way.

Exactly this!  

[John264]

We’re on the Braunston side of Napton junction and he’s just gone past us.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, frangar said:

Is that from a group or a friend? Just want to make sure of time etc before I send it off to my CRT contact. This is just ridiculous now. 

It was posted on a group  "Canals and Rivers UK£ today. here is a link  Canals and Rivers UK | Clearly that didn’t fit or go to plan | Facebook

 

[frangar]

14 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

It was posted on a group  "Canals and Rivers UK£ today. here is a link  Canals and Rivers UK | Clearly that didn’t fit or go to plan | Facebook

 

Cheers. I’ll take a look. 

[Lily Rose]

1 hour ago, Cheese said:

I absolutely agree that it is daft to allow wide-beams on that stretch at all. But given that they are currently allowed, and that due notice has been given, isn't it partly the fault of the narrow boats (on the left of the picture) for being moored opposite the water point, so not allowing a wide-beam through?

 

Given that the notice did not specify a time or a day then that would require no-one to use those designated moorings for the whole of this weekend and next. Hardly realistic in busy Braunston in August. Also, not everyone receives those notices as it is not compulsory to do so.

[Lily Rose]

This was the notice I received.

 

Note how vague the timing is making it difficult to avoid him. They say "be aware" and "take extra care". Unfortunately Miles Away does not seem to take extra care.

 

Also, this weekend's notice is *from* DP, next weekend's is *to* DP. We can probably assume he's out for a week, albeit on a canal designated as wide for most of that time. Fortunately I will be back through the DP to Braunston section before next weekend. That's just good luck though, not sure if I would have changed my plans to avoid it for the whole of next weekend.

 

 

 

Oxford Canal
Location: Between Dunchurch Pools Marina and Braunston, Wide beam passage
Starts At: Bridge 81, Borstal Bridge
Ends At: Braunston A45 Visitor Mooring

Saturday 20 August 2022 07:00 until Sunday 21 August 2022 19:00

Type: Advice
Reason: Information

---

 

Original message:

There is a planned wide-beam boat journey on the North Oxford Canal from Dunchurch Pools Marina to  Braunston taking place between Saturday 20th August to Sunday 21st August.

 

We kindly remind boating customers to be aware of a wide-beam boat and take extra care whilst navigating through this section of the canal.