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Stoke Lock, River Trent


Naughty Cal

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1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

Not a stoppage as such but the shoal below the weir on the lock approach has moved again.

 

https://www.facebook.com/rivercanalrescue/posts/4173067589380059

Yeah, we're currently moored above the lock and trying to work out how to go through without a resident locky when there's no way to pick up the crew operating the lock once we're downstream. I have a fairly good idea where some of the shoal is, having carefully watched the boat we arrived with find lots of it as they attempted to leave :). The tricky bit is that to get far enough out to miss the shoal you have to get out into the flow from the weir, which then pushes the bow back leftwards and onto the shoal again.

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19 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Yeah, we're currently moored above the lock and trying to work out how to go through without a resident locky when there's no way to pick up the crew operating the lock once we're downstream. I have a fairly good idea where some of the shoal is, having carefully watched the boat we arrived with find lots of it as they attempted to leave :). The tricky bit is that to get far enough out to miss the shoal you have to get out into the flow from the weir, which then pushes the bow back leftwards and onto the shoal again.

Get back on in the lock and leave the gates open.

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1 hour ago, pearley said:

Get back on in the lock and leave the gates open.

I had assumed the controls were like Holme, where you have to close everything to release the key, but in fact it seems that here you just need to close the control cover, and can leave the lock in any state, so that would work.

 

Looking more closely, it looks like a NB could probably just sneak down between the shoal and the lower landing, which is a better tactic to try first than the the Do or Die option of blasting out to the right to get outside the shoal before the weir current pushes you back in. If that one goes wrong you'd be very stuck.

 

MP.

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2 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

It won't give you your key back if you do that.

I know that Hazleford and probably Holme have new operating controls but last year Stoke could definitely br left open and key removed. If was like that when we arrived and that's how we left it.

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I got stuck on this yesterday and needed 2 other narrowboats to pull me free! You can get past if you head hard right into the weir stream as you leave the lock. Pretty annoyed there wasn't even a note warning about it with directions as to how to avoid it on the lock control panel, as anyone self operating the lock (as I did, no lock keeper on duty at all yesterday) would be totally unaware of it! CRT said the buoys get dragged away by boats! Hugely grateful to the two boats who helped if they are on here!? One of them also got stuck briefly.

And yes you can leave gates open with key removed at Stoke. Suggest this is what you do if going downstream. Coming upstream (if on self service) then stop as far downstream on the landing as possible and then turn right out into the weir stream away from the landing to go into the lock. Had about an hour and a half working out most of the extent of the gravel bank!?

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3 hours ago, Dave123 said:

I got stuck on this yesterday and needed 2 other narrowboats to pull me free! You can get past if you head hard right into the weir stream as you leave the lock. Pretty annoyed there wasn't even a note warning about it with directions as to how to avoid it on the lock control panel, as anyone self operating the lock (as I did, no lock keeper on duty at all yesterday) would be totally unaware of it! CRT said the buoys get dragged away by boats! Hugely grateful to the two boats who helped if they are on here!? One of them also got stuck briefly.

And yes you can leave gates open with key removed at Stoke. Suggest this is what you do if going downstream. Coming upstream (if on self service) then stop as far downstream on the landing as possible and then turn right out into the weir stream away from the landing to go into the lock. Had about an hour and a half working out most of the extent of the gravel bank!?

Greetings (ex) pontoon neighbour!

 

MP.

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23 hours ago, MoominPapa said:

Yeah, we're currently moored above the lock and trying to work out how to go through without a resident locky when there's no way to pick up the crew operating the lock once we're downstream. I have a fairly good idea where some of the shoal is, having carefully watched the boat we arrived with find lots of it as they attempted to leave :). The tricky bit is that to get far enough out to miss the shoal you have to get out into the flow from the weir, which then pushes the bow back leftwards and onto the shoal again.

There should have been a  lock keeper on duty .  

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There was a lock keeper on duty. 

 

I tried my carefully worked-out tactic, and it came good. In a narrowboat if you stay _very_close to the downstream lock landing - literally touching, you can sneak between the shoal and the landing. You have to stay right in all the way until the back reaches the very high piling and then swing out before you reach the shallow stuff on the corner, but the whole thing is much more controlled than a hail-Mary dash out towards the right where the flow is trying to push you sideways back onto the shoal. We're deep, so pretty much any NB should have enough depth if we did, but anything wider than a narrowboat won't fit this way.

 

MP.

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Surprisingly the way you describe it now does't seem all that much different to the way it was last year after dredging  - except the marker buoys have gone missing. Maybe the dredging contractors  did know what they were doing after all .

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were instructed by the lockie to turn hard right when going downstream and not turn again until well into the weir stream. This worked for us but we didn't have to pick anyone up. Going upstream we reversed this manoeuver but the stream pushed to a point when we just touched the shoal but still managed to get into the lock. There was a lockie on duty with the gates open. The shoal does need bouying.

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10 hours ago, MartynG said:

It's  about  time C&RT sorted that .

CRT are far more interested in Wellbeing and Interaction with Towpath Engagement Groups to worry about piffling boaters and silt from floods 3 plus months ago. 

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4 hours ago, matty40s said:

CRT are far more interested in Wellbeing and Interaction with Towpath Engagement Groups to worry about piffling boaters and silt from floods 3 plus months ago. 

From the descriptions given it sounds like there has not been a great deal of change since last summer and  they just need to reinstate the marker buoys .

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