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Audlem Flight


Hastings

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The Audlem flight (Shropshire Union Canal) is closed at lock 2, as the bumper on the cill was lifted out of position this morning by a boat going uphill.  CRT have inspected, and will report more tomorrow.  By late pm, there was a total of 21 boats waiting to go through.

Edited by Hastings
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8 hours ago, David Mack said:

If a boat going uphill can lift the bumper, that would suggest either the bumper was already out of position, or that the boat in question had some sort of low level projection on the bow that could hook under it. Both seem a bit unlikely.

David - I could be wrong, of course, but that's what two separate people who'd been there told me.  No doubt we'll hear more later.

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Among the uphill queue are friends of mine who are supporting the bow hauling of Stratford, a 22’ maintenance boat, from the Boat Museum to Hawne Basin, raising funds for charity as they do so. This is their second hold up, a stoppage at Chemistry lock being the first. I hope that the volunteers involved have some leeway in their schedules to accommodate these delays, they were supposed to complete the trip by Tuesday next. Fingers crossed.......

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1 hour ago, dave moore said:

Among the uphill queue are friends of mine who are supporting the bow hauling of Stratford, a 22’ maintenance boat, from the Boat Museum to Hawne Basin, raising funds for charity as they do so. This is their second hold up, a stoppage at Chemistry lock being the first. I hope that the volunteers involved have some leeway in their schedules to accommodate these delays, they were supposed to complete the trip by Tuesday next. Fingers crossed.......

Since you brought it up, if any forum members would like to donate to the effort:

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/pulling-stratford-back-to-the-midlands

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Update to the stoppage notice saying that navigation should resume tomorrow afternoon.

 

Initial investigations are now complete, and a plan of repair has been organised for Lock 2, Audlem on the Shropshire Union Canal.

Our contractors have attended site today to measure up and prepare a design to fabricate a free-floating scaffold to assist with the lifting of the cill buffer from within the chamber. Works are currently continuing off site to fabricate the scaffold and our teams will be back onsite tomorrow from 6.30am to undertake the lift and re-secure the cill buffer. Once this is complete, our teams will demobilise site and navigation can resume.

 

We anticipate the repair will be complete tomorrow and an update will be provided tomorrow afternoon.

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Sounds like, rather than being lifted off by an ascending boat, the buffer was one of those supported on chains which were slowly rusting away, and a possibly quite gentle nudge from the boat was enough to break the chain with the result the bumper fell into the bottom of the chamber.

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On 23/09/2021 at 23:59, David Mack said:

If a boat going uphill can lift the bumper, that would suggest either the bumper was already out of position, or that the boat in question had some sort of low level projection on the bow that could hook under it. Both seem a bit unlikely.

Lots of boats have the base plate sticking out at the bows, ask @maffi mushkila

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23 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Lots of boats have the base plate sticking out at the bows, ask @maffi mushkila

I think David was implying the base plate would have to stick out as far as the button

 

On 25/09/2021 at 20:19, Simon Pooley said:

(This is our somewhat delayed spring 2000 trip!)

21 years! That's some delay!  😉 

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Just now, magpie patrick said:

I think David was implying the base plate would have to stick out as far as the button

 

 

 

But not if the button was already over the bumper (so trying to hit the gate) and the base plate caught on the bumper.

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12 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

I think David was implying the base plate would have to stick out as far as the button

 

21 years! That's some delay!  😉 

Oops! I meant, of course, delayed from 2020.

Although there is some relevance to the timescale in that we haven't been up to Chester and beyond since 1996.

Simon.

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On 25/09/2021 at 20:19, Simon Pooley said:

It's good to hear that Audlem is open again...we're hiring from Norbury Wharf next weekend with the intention of getting to Ellesmere Port.

 

(This is our somewhat delayed spring 2000 trip!)

 

Simon.

 21yrs would have been a considerable delay! Funnily enough, we were last up near Chester around 1996 and hired from Norbury a few weeks ago. Not sure whether you are following us or we are following you!

 

Which boat are you hiring?

 

Alec

Edited by agg221
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49 minutes ago, agg221 said:

 Which boat are you hiring?

We've booked /Meadow Dew/ from Norbury https://www.facebook.com/norburywharfltd/posts/4868434433209525

Looks like being a smart new boat, and the stove well be useful if the weather continues to be much the same as this week!

 

Did you go North or South from Norbury?

 

Simon. 

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2 minutes ago, Simon Pooley said:

We've booked /Meadow Dew/ from Norbury https://www.facebook.com/norburywharfltd/posts/4868434433209525

Looks like being a smart new boat, and the stove well be useful if the weather continues to be much the same as this week!

 

Did you go North or South from Norbury?

 

Simon. 

We had Phoenix which is one of their older boats but tidy, with a stove and diesel central heating, neither of which was used as it was too warm. It came back with very shiny brasswork courtesy of my elder daughter. They will have to put a tin of Brasso on board from now on!

 

We went North round the Four Counties and also up the Caldon to Consall Forge. Not possible at the moment it seems. If it's relevant to your plans, we arrived early, at around 12.45, and had lunch at the cafe. They had us on the boat by 13.30 and we were underway by 14.00 - we were meeting friends for dinner at the Shroppie Fly so the extra time helped.

 

Alec

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Several times over the past few weeks I've thought "this is good weather to be on a boat".

We're used to hiring in late Apr/early May so are well used to the vagaries of UK weather - with the stove and good coats I'm sure we'll have a fine time,

 

Thanks for the confirmation that the boatyard are amenable to early departures. We've got a rendezvous for shopping beforehand, lunch at the pub, and no specific target for Saturday night so we'll probably proceed in a relaxed manner.

 

Our plan is to head for Ellesmere Port, then back to Autherley. If we're making good time, then the Middlewich branch will probably get visited, or maybe we'll nip up the Wolverhampton locks and call in at the Black Country Museum. 

 

Simon.

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6 hours ago, agg221 said:

We had Phoenix which is one of their older boats but tidy, with a stove and diesel central heating, neither of which was used as it was too warm. It came back with very shiny brasswork courtesy of my elder daughter. They will have to put a tin of Brasso on board from now on!

 

We went North round the Four Counties and also up the Caldon to Consall Forge. Not possible at the moment it seems. If it's relevant to your plans, we arrived early, at around 12.45, and had lunch at the cafe. They had us on the boat by 13.30 and we were underway by 14.00 - we were meeting friends for dinner at the Shroppie Fly so the extra time helped.

 

Alec

 

Norbury to Audlem in half a day?

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15 minutes ago, StephenA said:

 

Norbury to Audlem in half a day?

Not quite.

 

Left Norbury at 2pm, tied up at Audlem top lock at 8pm. This was the last week of August so it was still light until around 8.20pm. We walked down the flight to the pub (20mins).

We went down the flight the following morning which took 1.5hrs from the top lock to the bottom. Only 2 locks were with us.


Alec

 

 

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