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Caldon closed, low water levels


Dave123

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Caldon  Canal closed,     Trent & Mersey at risk

Notice Alert

Caldon Canal
Location: Lock 10 Hazelhurst Top Lock to Froghall, Caldon Canal
Starts At: Lock 10 Hazelhurst Top Lock
Ends At: Bridge 55, Foxt Road Bridge
Up Stream Winding Hole: Winding Hole, Hazelhurst

Wednesday 22 September 2021 09:00 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure 
Reason: Water resources

Original message:

Due to low water levels along the majority of Caldon Canal and Trent & Mersey Canal, the section of navigation from Lock 10 Hazlehurst Top Lock to Froghall will be closed from Wednesday 22nd September until further notice. We will review regularly and provide update as situation changes.

 

 

 

Apparently Harecastle tunnel has been closed on and off too for the same reason. Is this connected to reservoir draw down for post-Toddbrook maintenance checks?

Edited by Dave123
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I did note that levels were a little down this week, the tunnel took me 30 minutes instead or the usual 26-27 on Sunday morning.

 

Its not surprising when you see the gate leaks all the way down Cheshire locks.  Many by-washes were running hard with nothing coming in from the Macclesfield canal.

Quote

 

 

Edited by Tracy D'arth
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20 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I did note that levels were a little down this week, the tunnel took me 30 minutes instead or the usual 26-27 on Sunday morning.

 

Its not surprising when you see the gate leaks all the way down Cheshire locks.  Many by-washes were running hard with nothing coming in from the Macclesfield canal.

 

Doesn't the stop lock stop water coming into the T&M from the Macc? The bit below it to the junction always seems very shallow.

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Just now, Arthur Marshall said:

Doesn't the stop lock stop water coming into the T&M from the Macc? The bit below it to the junction always seems very shallow.

Kent Green stop does but at the top of the Red Bull T&M flight there is a sluice that takes from the Macc.  A couple of years ago when the idiot C&RT employees ran off too much down the flight one night and we ended up listing in the second pound down, the guy who came out topped up the T&M with this sluice which is in a fenced area next to the top lock. He had to communicate with another guy at Bosley  to get the water.

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46 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Kent Green stop does but at the top of the Red Bull T&M flight there is a sluice that takes from the Macc.  A couple of years ago when the idiot C&RT employees ran off too much down the flight one night and we ended up listing in the second pound down, the guy who came out topped up the T&M with this sluice which is in a fenced area next to the top lock. He had to communicate with another guy at Bosley  to get the water.

There were two blue-shirted chaps peering through that fence as we came up the top lock. Monday, I think.

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1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

Do I risk heading up towards Middlewich from Great Haywood on the weekend then or should I head towards Autherley Junction ?

The Shroppie is supplied by the good folk of Wolverhampton via their loos, it very rarely suffers water shortages and is a safer bet providing the Staffs & Worcs is running well.

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2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

The Shroppie is supplied by the good folk of Wolverhampton via their loos, it very rarely suffers water shortages and is a safer bet providing the Staffs & Worcs is running well.

We have just come of the Llangollen, and decided to come back to the Midlands via the Shroppie, the warnings about the T&M in the Harecastle area seemed to rule that out as we did not have to go that way.  We are still planning on using the T&M from Great Haywood to Fradley, so I hope that is ok, as that decision is just based on cutting out the lock count by not going up to the Birmingham plateau.

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4 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I did note that levels were a little down this week, the tunnel took me 30 minutes instead or the usual 26-27 on Sunday morning.

 

Its not surprising when you see the gate leaks all the way down Cheshire locks.  Many by-washes were running hard with nothing coming in from the Macclesfield canal.

 

For the past few years, the badly leaking locks through Stone on the southern route from the summit at Stoke have been constantly reported to CRT but nothing has been done. Because of the differential depths of these very early locks, and of course lack of dredging,  Yard Pound in the town, most of all, runs low. Yard Lock is far deeper than the others so it's sorry state is a major factor in all of this.

This year, or certainly before I left on my travels in early June, a substantial feed from the Caldon reservoirs has mainly kept up with the traffic and leakage, a situation for which we were grateful but unsustainable. 

Within weeks of my leaving, by chance,8 I met up with Richard Parry and Julie Sharman,  CRTs Chief Operations Director.

She appeared appalled that she didn't know of this and agreed that water supplies would run scarce if nothing was done as I predicted. Repairs to Yard Lock is at last to be tackled over the winter.

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We are going to need to move from the Soar to Market Drayton at some point. It's a bit tricky as we can't move yet but if the T&M closes we are stuck, and when there is enough water for it to re-open that probably means the Trent will be in flood.

 

Not quite sure how to play that one.

 

Alec

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1 minute ago, agg221 said:

We are going to need to move from the Soar to Market Drayton at some point. It's a bit tricky as we can't move yet but if the T&M closes we are stuck, and when there is enough water for it to re-open that probably means the Trent will be in flood.

 

Not quite sure how to play that one.

 

Alec

The low water level is further up the T&M, you should be fine to get to Great Haywood and then down the Staffs and Worcs and up the Shroppie.

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3 minutes ago, agg221 said:

We are going to need to move from the Soar to Market Drayton at some point. It's a bit tricky as we can't move yet but if the T&M closes we are stuck, and when there is enough water for it to re-open that probably means the Trent will be in flood.

 

Not quite sure how to play that one.

 

Alec

My understanding is that it is the summit area around Harecastle tunnel that is impacted by water shortage, therefore you should be fine with that trip as you don’t need to go near that area.

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7 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I've booked Harecastle for Sunday afternoon so hoping we will be ok to pass through the summit level.

I went through last week and booked an afternoon slot with the intention of getting there in the morning and hopefully going through early.

At about 9am CRT phoned me and asked if I could get there early (I was already nearly there) as they felt they would probably need to shut it in the afternoon- which they did. The boat I passed at Etruria who pulled out just after me also had the same call and went early too.

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2 hours ago, PaulJ said:

I went through last week and booked an afternoon slot with the intention of getting there in the morning and hopefully going through early.

At about 9am CRT phoned me and asked if I could get there early (I was already nearly there) as they felt they would probably need to shut it in the afternoon- which they did. The boat I passed at Etruria who pulled out just after me also had the same call and went early too.

Hopefully they won't do the same on Sunday as I am planning on overnighting at Barlaston so we will be a few hours away.

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Thanks for the comment - I wasn't sure how much of the T&M was at risk of closure. If it's only up around the summit then there shouldn't be a problem, although annoyingly it does mean I can't go the other way around as planned in order to visit Dick Goble to take a look at the engine. That will have to wait until another time.


Alec

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7 hours ago, Dave123 said:

The T&M from Great Haywood down is fine as it's fed by the staff's and Worcs which is fed by Wolverhampton sewage works😅

Nice. The section near the Hatherton branch is exceptionally clear so I hate to think what one might see floating about...! It reminds me of Roger Moore's story of the filming of the waterways sequences in The Man with the Golden Gun.

 

Alec

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8 hours ago, agg221 said:

Thanks for the comment - I wasn't sure how much of the T&M was at risk of closure. If it's only up around the summit then there shouldn't be a problem, although annoyingly it does mean I can't go the other way around as planned in order to visit Dick Goble to take a look at the engine. That will have to wait until another time.


Alec

I'd be surprised if it closed for any length of time.  If you see Mr Goble, give him my regards. I'm still recovering from the shock of learning he'd sold his boat - it was his evil influence that started me off on this poverty trail...

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1 minute ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I'd be surprised if it closed for any length of time.  If you see Mr Goble, give him my regards. I'm still recovering from the shock of learning he'd sold his boat - it was his evil influence that started me off on this poverty trail...

Will do - I have only spoken to him on the phone, but he knew the previous owners of the boat very well and is keen to see what has been done with it since. I fear my own poverty trail will be accelerated by the presence of the Kelvin, but it's a nice way to go...!

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Not sure why you think the Kelvin will accelerate you into poverty.   If you look after it properly,  sacrifice a bottle of  Teacher's  each  solstice and read it Rabbie Burns poetry  from time to time it will not let you down and cost you only the oil to lubricate it, the petrol to start it and the diesel you burn.

 

Mine has run for 30 years  since it was reassembled and installed. It has been from Sharpness to Bristol , down the Trent and round most of the canal network.   There have been two breakdowns:   a magneto coil failure and an impulse drive failure.

 

 If you need help with sacrificing Teachers PM me.  If you need help with Rabbie Burns, dont!

 

N

 

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1 hour ago, BEngo said:

Not sure why you think the Kelvin will accelerate you into poverty.   If you look after it properly,  sacrifice a bottle of  Teacher's  each  solstice and read it Rabbie Burns poetry  from time to time it will not let you down and cost you only the oil to lubricate it, the petrol to start it and the diesel you burn.

 

Mine has run for 30 years  since it was reassembled and installed. It has been from Sharpness to Bristol , down the Trent and round most of the canal network.   There have been two breakdowns:   a magneto coil failure and an impulse drive failure.

 

 If you need help with sacrificing Teachers PM me.  If you need help with Rabbie Burns, dont!

 

N

 

It's not the Kelvin per se, it's my daughter's compulsion to make, and keep, it shiny which will bankrupt me as I spend all my money on Brasso!

 

I am aware of the need for Teachers. What happens if you read it the works of William McGonagall though?

 

Alec

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Get her to use Peek, it is much better than the c@rp that passes for modern Brasso.  It is also cheaper in 1l tins on line.

 

I should think that anything from McGonagall is likely to cause multiple simultaneous failures!  Sea shanties and fishermen songs might be an alternative to Rabbie.

 

N

 

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