Jump to content

Weed Hatch Prop Fouls


dmr

Featured Posts

As far as I have seen there are no boats moored between New Islington and Littleborough.

What’s that 10 mile? 

It’s very much a no go area. 

You boat to get through it. 
It a shame, lots of boozers on the way too. 

edit to add:

it’s 15 mile!

(and canalplanner reckons it’s 12hr 😃)

 

Edited by Goliath
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Goliath said:

As far as I have seen there are no boats moored between New Islington and Littleborough.

What’s that 10 mile? 

It’s very much a no go area. 

You boat to get through it. 
It a shame, lots of boozers on the way too. 

edit to add:

it’s 15 mile!

(and canalplanner reckons it’s 12hr 😃)

 

 

It was a bad couple of days. Last time we did New Islington to the Ship (top of Slattocks) in a single long day, then the ship through Littleborough to the Summit in a single day. Even with a pre-dawn start in summer I think New Islington to Littleborough in a day would be a challenge.

We did manage two pubs with you, and between SillyTown and the top of Slattocks we managed a good drink every evening (ok, two of them were afternoon).

 

There is one Rochdale Continuous Cruiser who ventures quite a way to get his distance in, we passed him just below Rochdale, and I know a boat or two sometimes stops for a few days at the top of Slattocks. New Islington to the bottom of Slattocks is the real "no mooring" bit. I suppose a determined boater could include the Boat and Horses and even Failsworth, but winding in the Failsworth pound could be difficult and New Islington is then the Next winding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So pretty much a no go area. 
If one stops it’s for a night or two only at a well known spot. 
 

At some point we need to start a new thread to get a group together who are willing to make a week or more of it and do a clearance on the way up. Whether that means towing a hopper or two borrowed of crt or whatever, it could/should be done. 


 

  • Greenie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It needs CRT or some serious volunteers to pull the big stuff out (we went over something huge in Rochdale, dunno how I got over it, thought the boat was going to jump right out of the water) but just having more boats using the canal would really help. More boats made a "transformation" in Liverpool. I suspect part of the reason for all the recent prop fouls in because so few boats have gone through the 18 this past year.

Its early days and I'm not holding my breath but I hear that CRT just might be doing something positive.

 

I reckon you want to test out the pub in Newton Heath but want to round up a gang to go in with you 😀

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just had a quick look in Nicholsons. A pub called Spanking Roger (children welcome) just by Anthony lock (the deep one). That would have been worth a visit just for the name but its gone.

 

I suspect a night moored right in Newton Heath is a step too far and probably foolish. Lots of pubs at Failsworth but thats already a "last resort" safe spot (if you can get in to the side). Did you investigate the pubs when you stopped there?

 

Castleton (Rochdale) always looks interesting but that not on the Manchester 18.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Goliath said:

So let’s get a group of boats together. 
 

 

Which is what HNBC did a couple of years ago. A couple of dozen deep drafted boats were good for the canal, although a few had to be towed through some of the difficult bits.

 

2 hours ago, dmr said:

New Islington to the bottom of Slattocks is the real "no mooring" bit. I suppose a determined boater could include the Boat and Horses and even Failsworth, but winding in the Failsworth pound could be difficult and New Islington is then the Next winding.

Not sure I'd be keen to leave a boat unattended at the Boat and Horses, although I have overnighted there a couple of times. But the moorings either side of the Irk Aqueduct are fine and close to the Rose of Lancaster (where the bank is too broken down and the water too shallow to moor). Cracking Indian takeaway just across the bridge from the Rose too.

Edited by David Mack
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Which is what HNBC did a couple of years ago. A couple of dozen deep drafted boats were good for the canal, although a few had to be towed through some of the difficult bits.

 

Not sure I'd be keen to leave a boat unattended at the Boat and Horses, although I have overnighted there a couple of times. But the moorings either side of the Irk Aqueduct are fine and close to the Rose of Lancaster (where the bank is too broken down and the water too shallow to moor). Cracking Indian takeaway just across the bridge from the Rose too.

 

We left New Islington at 6:45am and got to the Boat at 8pm in the pitch dark. It was quiz night and very loud and lively. Despite the no dogs rule that were quite happy to have our two dogs in the main bar though in the corner behind the door. After the terrible food we had there in July I confirm that their cheese pie is now back on form.

I don't think I would leave a boat unattended at the Rose either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We spent a quiet night this year moored on the long pound between Newton Heath and Islington basin , not sure I would leave a boat unattended. The morning sunrise was lovely. 
spotted a terrapin in a Newton Heath pound plus lots of orchids too. Then there were a group of children canoeing at Newton Heath. The idea of a clean is a great one. Perhaps the development by Newton Heath will help too. 

The whole area is frustrating in that so many seem not to care, some do though, including one nice guy feeding daily 6 moorhen chicks. He swore it wasn’t to eat them 😂

3D3052D8-6345-4E45-BEC6-D5A5C4191C1E.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 18/10/2021 at 18:27, Detling said:

I have had good results go with a tree pruning saw, it copes with most things but doubt it would win with a chair frame. It was great for a big builder tonne bag which are virtually indestructible.

 

That is what I carry, along with bolt cutters.

 

However I have never had a camping chair around the prop, so couldn't comment on how they would cope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

We spent a quiet night this year moored on the long pound between Newton Heath and Islington basin , not sure I would leave a boat unattended. The morning sunrise was lovely. 
spotted a terrapin in a Newton Heath pound plus lots of orchids too. Then there were a group of children canoeing at Newton Heath. The idea of a clean is a great one. Perhaps the development by Newton Heath will help too. 

The whole area is frustrating in that so many seem not to care, some do though, including one nice guy feeding daily 6 moorhen chicks. He swore it wasn’t to eat them 😂

3D3052D8-6345-4E45-BEC6-D5A5C4191C1E.jpeg

 

Do you mean Miles Platting, or maybe Failsworth? Newton Heath is the place with the pub with the huge security fence round it, and the "narrows" where it is just possible to get a boat through the black stuff that passes for water. I don't think you can even get to the side for much of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems that there is a vicious circle of lack of use, lack of maintenance and dredging, lots of junk and a general idea that the Rochdale to Manchester stretch is one of the dodgiest on the network and therefore not advisable to moor up, inevitably leading to even less use and yet more of the same. 

 

It is a real shame as I remember the canal when it was still infilled as a broken bottle littered linear water feature. A few bits in water had old pallets and polystyrene and all kinds of detritus floating in them. At one of the restoration rallies I went to as a kid we had dinghies and kayaks paddling around amongst it all up near Hollinwood. However, as stated by a previous poster, the restoration could only complete the bare minimum for narrowboat navigation. A lot of the infill concrete is still there and when the level drops substantially it becomes visible again, a shelf going out to the excavated channel, definitely not the usual profile of a canal.

 

The idea of a boaters' cleanup is a good one. There is a local group that try to collect rubbish on the towpath or floating at the side but that doesn't really help to keep the channel itself navigable. However, there is so much large stuff in the cut that can be got out with a bit of effort but can't easily be transported for disposal, and this means that it has to be left at the side once retrieved. Things like trolleys, mattresses, scooters etc often just get kicked back in again by the local kids.

 

Of course, I'm as guilty of underusing the Rochdale as much as most boaters. My mooring, less than an hour away by road is something like 50 locks distant by water and I just don't have time or inclination to cruise down the Ashton to Manchester and then up the Rochdale. It's a lot easier to just throw in a kayak in the bits that I like for a few hours of paddling than it is to bring the bpat, only just to turn round and return through all those locks again. Also, the boat being outboard powered, I imagine a healthy supply of shear pins would be in order.

 

As for mooring up going down into Manchester, occasionally I've seen decent private narrowboats overnighting in Failsworth, near the flats at Failsworth basin.

 

(edit to add: The pub in Newton Heath is called The New Crown. If at 5'7" and nine stone, I can walk in as a non-regular on my own, without feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, then I'm sure that most people should be fine. Just don't be an obnoxious prat and antagonise the local wildlife!)

 

Another pic of the Rochdale near Failsworth from last year

 

IMG_20200624_140557.jpg.0719869405c49897590aa0e21115f23f.jpg

Edited by BilgePump
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

That is what I carry, along with bolt cutters.

 

However I have never had a camping chair around the prop, so couldn't comment on how they would cope.

I do as well but you have to get them right out of the bottom of the weed hatch to get them open wide and then two arms down to work them. Probably be great if you can dryout and get underneath 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, dmr said:

It needs CRT or some serious volunteers to pull the big stuff out (we went over something huge in Rochdale, dunno how I got over it, thought the boat was going to jump right out of the water) but just having more boats using the canal would really help. More boats made a "transformation" in Liverpool. I suspect part of the reason for all the recent prop fouls in because so few boats have gone through the 18 this past year.

Its early days and I'm not holding my breath but I hear that CRT just might be doing something positive.

 

I reckon you want to test out the pub in Newton Heath but want to round up a gang to go in with you 😀

Between bridge 62 and 61 there was a huge dead tree in the water Midnight had to leap-frog over it. Two visits down the weed hatch within a 100 yards. Rochdale is a sh*thole. How will we persuade boats to use the canal when C&RT don't seem to be able to keep it open for more than 7 consecutive days. Whilst we were trying to escape back into Yorkshire there were 4 stoppages in 5 days. Last year was even worse, not to mention Punchbowl Bridge which seemed to me like mothballing by stealth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

It seems that there is a vicious circle of lack of use, lack of maintenance and dredging, lots of junk and a general idea that the Rochdale to Manchester stretch is one of the dodgiest on the network and therefore not advisable to moor up, inevitably leading to even less use and yet more of the same. 

 

It is a real shame as I remember the canal when it was still infilled as a broken bottle littered linear water feature. A few bits in water had old pallets and polystyrene and all kinds of detritus floating in them. At one of the restoration rallies I went to as a kid we had dinghies and kayaks paddling around amongst it all up near Hollinwood. However, as stated by a previous poster, the restoration could only complete the bare minimum for narrowboat navigation. A lot of the infill concrete is still there and when the level drops substantially it becomes visible again, a shelf going out to the excavated channel, definitely not the usual profile of a canal.

 

The idea of a boaters' cleanup is a good one. There is a local group that try to collect rubbish on the towpath or floating at the side but that doesn't really help to keep the channel itself navigable. However, there is so much large stuff in the cut that can be got out with a bit of effort but can't easily be transported for disposal, and this means that it has to be left at the side once retrieved. Things like trolleys, mattresses, scooters etc often just get kicked back in again by the local kids.

 

Of course, I'm as guilty of underusing the Rochdale as much as most boaters. My mooring, less than an hour away by road is something like 50 locks distant by water and I just don't have time or inclination to cruise down the Ashton to Manchester and then up the Rochdale. It's a lot easier to just throw in a kayak in the bits that I like for a few hours of paddling than it is to bring the bpat, only just to turn round and return through all those locks again. Also, the boat being outboard powered, I imagine a healthy supply of shear pins would be in order.

 

As for mooring up going down into Manchester, occasionally I've seen decent private narrowboats overnighting in Failsworth, near the flats at Failsworth basin.

 

(edit to add: The pub in Newton Heath is called The New Crown. If at 5'7" and nine stone, I can walk in as a non-regular on my own, without feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, then I'm sure that most people should be fine. Just don't be an obnoxious prat and antagonise the local wildlife!)

 

Another pic of the Rochdale near Failsworth from last year

 

 

That just about sums it up.

 

We did have a little trouble going past the pub a couple of years ago, but mostly get a little crowd as seeing boats is still unusual. Getting a pint there is on the todo list but we usually just don't have the time. We also got a little trouble in Newton Heath last week but it was trivial compared to the navigational difficulties.

We are trying to build a group of boaters  who want to get something done about the state of the Manchester 18 but there is a long way to go.

Its not always bad, as I have posted before, in July we went down the 18 (19?) and up the Ashton 18 in the same day, and the previous time up the 18 and up Slattocks in the same day, though on both occasions we had Ian Mac (of this forum) helping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Between bridge 62 and 61 there was a huge dead tree in the water Midnight had to leap-frog over it. Two visits down the weed hatch within a 100 yards. Rochdale is a sh*thole. How will we persuade boats to use the canal when C&RT don't seem to be able to keep it open for more than 7 consecutive days. Whilst we were trying to escape back into Yorkshire there were 4 stoppages in 5 days. Last year was even worse, not to mention Punchbowl Bridge which seemed to me like mothballing by stealth.

 

Whatever I went over was fully submerged and somewhere near 62A I think. I hit something similar a couple of years ago a bit further up so maybe its moving slowly downstream. It was odd both times, did not feel any impact but then the boat just rose up out of the water so I suspect something round that is possibly rolling along the canal bed.

 

Punchbowl Bridge stoppage was very odd, I think it was CRT playing politics to point out to somebody the problems of third party structures, but that's not any excuse for a long stoppage, especially just after lock down re-opening. Boats were getting through unofficially but again that's no good unless you know.

 

Compared to the Mancheter 18 and Newton Heath, Rochdale is actually quite pleasant. We had difficulties at the top lock and a local man assisted us. The new volunteer group has made a significant improvement at the "drinking club" lock.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, dmr said:

The new volunteer group has made a significant improvement at the "drinking club" lock.

 

Yes they have, the boyz weren't there when we went past although it was about 2pm - very disappointed they were the only highlight of the passage through Rochdale

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, dmr said:

 

Do you mean Miles Platting, or maybe Failsworth? Newton Heath is the place with the pub with the huge security fence round it, and the "narrows" where it is just possible to get a boat through the black stuff that passes for water. I don't think you can even get to the side for much of it.

Thats right, Miles Platting way-  the pound that the A6010 crosses, the other end,2 locks up from Victoria Park, surprisingly quiet for an overnight stop- it was getting too late to go further. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Thats right, Miles Platting way-  the pound that the A6010 crosses, the other end,2 locks up from Victoria Park, surprisingly quiet for an overnight stop- it was getting too late to go further. 

 

I believe Miles Platting was a really bad area once , and some say the inspiration for "Shameless", but its gone quite a bit upmarket more recently with the young professionals from New Islington spreading outwards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

I believe Miles Platting was a really bad area once , and some say the inspiration for "Shameless", but its gone quite a bit upmarket more recently with the young professionals from New Islington spreading outwards.

We once did a fundraising dinner in a conference hall that was an old converted gala bingo hall near miles platting….the great & good of the north west turned up in Bentleys/rollers/lambos etc….ended up the local plod forming a ring round the venue and the feral youth trying to break through to nick said motors…it was amusing…..load out was behind a big fence in a secure compound…plod advice was to drive fast well out the area and don’t worry too much about red lights or speed limits…they knew it would be our truck & cars…..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may well have said this before and I may well have to say it again, but please be fery, very careful how you criticise the mainrensncevof the restored canals, especially Rochdale and Huddersfield. Both if the were completed, if that us a meaningful term, on the cusp and with funds running out. One consequence if this has been noted on this thread a short while back. In reality, CaRT should never have taken them on without an enormous dowry to cover the cost if bringing them up to scratch over a period of time. 

 

Too much sniping at this stage may well simply lead to difficulties when current restorations come to the point of possible handover. CaRT are much more likely to turn them down or insist on works that set the completion back by years.

 

We have just navigated the Avon - the last time was three years ago and the difference is alarming. We get the impression that the Trust us in considerable difficulty and its only answer is to establish significant cutbacks rather than look for innovative ways if moving forward. Thus is a navigation  that was restored with much higher engineering standards than others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is another way of looking at this. If the Rochdale fails, in that nobody uses it and the maintenance is so bad that nobody can use it, then that really will be bad. CRT will not want to take on new canals just to get a load of bad publicity by closing them, and so its our duty as boaters to keep them open.

CRT do get some things wrong and need challenging when they do, but myself, and a few others, want to work with CRT to improve the Rochdale. That is not sniping 😀

 

The Rochdale will always be a hard canal to navigate and will always have problems, it has a lot of big locks going up a big hill, and does not have enough water, but its mostly in pretty good condition. It needs more boats and it needs some boaters or other volunteers to work with CRT and help look after it.

 

The lack of water is a big issue but it was not CRT or even BW, who sold the reservoirs, the private Rochdale Canal Company sold them when the canal was abandoned, If there is a chance to buy back one of the spare reservoirs then CRT should do it, and they certainly won't if there are not enough boats using the canal, and there won't be enough boats if the Manchester bit is too difficult.

 

The South Oxford was looking a bit rough in places this year. 😀

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

The Rochdale will always be a hard canal to navigate and will always have problems, it has a lot of big locks going up a big hill, and does not have enough water, but its mostly in pretty good condition. It needs more boats and it needs some boaters or other volunteers to work with CRT and help look after it.


I’ll agree although I’ve limited knowledge of this stretch, most of it appears in good condition. I think all paddle gear work? Which is a rarity. 

How do you fancy volunteering as a lockie?

It’s something I’ll consider doing when I come back next Spring. 


(and yea, most common name for a lockie is?……Dave! You’ll fit right in 😃)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.