Interesting times at Grindley Brook

[Arthur Marshall]

No lock-keeper at Grindley today and a lot of extremely bad temper. Boats waiting to go down and about seven on the trot coming up,  mostly but not all hire boats. Most didn't seem to understand how a staircase works, at least one wasn't even aware it was a staircase. I did mention in passing that the usual rule is three up three down but a remarkable number of boats decided they were third in the queue. 

I understand there's now no paid lockie there,  just volunteers,  should they bother to turn up.

[booke23]

If the CRT bothered to ask the opinion of boaters who have been through Grindley Brook about the possibility of not having a paid lock keeper, I imagine most would say it is one of the last places on the network that you would to dispense with a lock keeper. 

You better get your wellies out Arthur, it's only a matter of time before someone floods the bottom chamber and turns the towpath into a river!

[Arthur Marshall]

16 minutes ago, booke23 said:

If the CRT bothered to ask the opinion of boaters who have been through Grindley Brook about the possibility of not having a paid lock keeper, I imagine most would say it is one of the last places on the network that you would to dispense with a lock keeper. 

You better get your wellies out Arthur, it's only a matter of time before someone floods the bottom chamber and turns the towpath into a river!

It's ok, I came up at a quiet time when no-one else was about and I suspect I'll go back down at 6 in the morning before they all wake up. Barmy not having a permanent lockie here though, early in the season though it is.

[Tony1]

23 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

It's ok, I came up at a quiet time when no-one else was about and I suspect I'll go back down at 6 in the morning before they all wake up. Barmy not having a permanent lockie here though, early in the season though it is.

 

 

I did a similar thing when I came back through there last August. I moored on the 48 hour moorings near to the facilities the afternoon before, and then set off through the locks at 8am. There were still two boats ahead of me even then.

I would frequently see the odd boat passing at 7am or earlier during the summer, clearly people looking to get through a potential bottleneck early doors.

 

I did the same thing at Ellesmere facilities last summer, but I was a bit late and didnt get there till 9.30am, but which time there were two boats filling up and a couple of others milling around at various points around the junction.

 

I tried crossing the Pontcysyllte (yes I know, but can you pronounce it?) at 7.00am and that was fine, so the early bird thing depends on where you are, and just how early you do your bird thing.

6am is a remarkably bracing hour to be out boating, well done that man. By then I'm usually working out whether I'm still alive. 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Tony1

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Tony1 said:

yes I know, but can you pronounce it?

 

Yes.

 

Maybe this will help you

 

 

[Tony1]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Yes.

 

Maybe this will help you

 

 

 

I have the T shirt, the hat and the flip flops already- but thank you for the thought. 

 

[Rob-M]

When we went through last summer we aimed to get to there late afternoon going up and moored above coming down.  The 2nd trip up the full time lockie had us through in next to no time.  I think it is a location that really warrants a full time lockie as a lot of today's boaters don't seem to consider others and don't want to respect a 3 up, 3 down.

 

[Machpoint005]

45 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

the Pontcysyllte (yes I know, but can you pronounce it?)

 

Well, this ignorant Saesnag can. Welsh pronunciation is very logical but you have to know how it works.

[Arthur Marshall]

24 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

When we went through last summer we aimed to get to there late afternoon going up and moored above coming down.  The 2nd trip up the full time lockie had us through in next to no time.  I think it is a location that really warrants a full time lockie as a lot of today's boaters don't seem to consider others and don't want to respect a 3 up, 3 down.

 

Only partly lack of consideration, the rest is ignorance - they simply don't know how many have gone up and don't realise they need to walk up and ask. Nor do they understand the notice saying how it works, so they are afraid to empty the bottom lock while there's a boat in the middle lock. Most boaters going through have never met another staircase and never will again, so it takes twice as long as necessary anyway.

And as for the boat (private) moored on the bollards that say in big red letters "LOCK", having his lunch, with two big bags of dog muck on the towpath beside him that he can't be bothered to walk five yards to put in the bin... Weird canal, the Llangollen. 

[rgreg]

I'm chuckling to myself as I remember the time I was in the queue and assisting passage when the lockkeeper went for his lunch. For some reason everyone then looked to me for direction to which I felt duty-bound! Tempers were beginning to fray a little and I was pleased when it was my turn to go so I could relinquish the responsibility! 

[PeterScott]

40 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

...boaters don't seem to consider others and don't want to respect a 3 up, 3 down.

"It's not busy your way, so we need the seven to come up  one after the other"

 

Probably now has a floating-tyre version.

[Pie Eater]

I thought that the volunteers only started this weekend.

[AndrewIC]

Predictable… Have they had two boats staring each other down bow-to-bow in the middle yet?

 

The daughter and I narrowly averted a hire boat cilling there once. We were milling around lock side waiting to start down, and observed the hire boat in the top lock starting to adopt a worrying downward slope. Dropped the upper intermediate paddles a bit sharpish, somewhat to the surprise of the chap who had raised them and was no longer paying attention. Fortunately it wasn’t too far gone.

[Rob-M]

1 minute ago, AndrewIC said:

Predictable… Have they had two boats staring each other down bow-to-bow in the middle yet?

 

The daughter and I narrowly averted a hire boat cilling there once. We were milling around lock side waiting to start down, and observed the hire boat in the top lock starting to adopt a worrying downward slope. Dropped the upper intermediate paddles a bit sharpish, somewhat to the surprise of the chap who had raised them and was no longer paying attention. Fortunately it wasn’t too far gone.

One of the vollies last year tried cilling the boat in front of us going up by opening the paddles to fill the bottom lock that we were in whilst the boat in front was only half way between the middle lock and the top lock.  The steerer on the boat didn't look too happy as he started getting dragged back in to the lock.

[john6767]

I agree that Grindley Brook is a massive bottle neck. Last summer going up it took us hours, probably over 3, starting with something like a four boat queue below the bottom lock, and then a very long wait in the pound below the staircase.  This was with a couple of volunteers on, which really is not enough.  A very high proportion of the boats are hire boats with inexperienced crew and it needs someone on each of the single locks as well as a couple on the staircase.  Coming down we moored overnight above the lock and went through I think second boat, and we’re through the flight in probably less than an hour.

 

What also amazes me is that CRT do not have any volunteers on New Marton locks.  For a lot of hirers on the Llangollen these are the only locks that they will go through, which is why they have one of the highest lockage numbers on the system, second only to Hillmorton if I remember correctly.  The typical hire boat approaches the bottom lock, moors up on the lock bollards, locks the boat up and the crew walks up to the lock to have a look as they have never seen a lock before.  There are big queues as each boat is slow, and no one helps anyone else, they don’t know what to do basically.  It would be a very good use to have volunteers there to organise and assist.

[The Bearwood Boster]

2 hours ago, Pie Eater said:

I thought that the volunteers only started this weekend.

I read Easter weekend but I could easily be wrong(often am😁).I also read that quite a few regular vollies won't be returning without a paid lockie in charge as they don't want to be in charge/responsible.We're there in 3/4 days so could be interesting..

 

[Tony1]

10 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I agree that Grindley Brook is a massive bottle neck. Last summer going up it took us hours, probably over 3, starting with something like a four boat queue below the bottom lock, and then a very long wait in the pound below the staircase.  This was with a couple of volunteers on, which really is not enough.  A very high proportion of the boats are hire boats with inexperienced crew and it needs someone on each of the single locks as well as a couple on the staircase.  Coming down we moored overnight above the lock and went through I think second boat, and we’re through the flight in probably less than an hour.

 

What also amazes me is that CRT do not have any volunteers on New Marton locks.  For a lot of hirers on the Llangollen these are the only locks that they will go through, which is why they have one of the highest lockage numbers on the system, second only to Hillmorton if I remember correctly.  The typical hire boat approaches the bottom lock, moors up on the lock bollards, locks the boat up and the crew walks up to the lock to have a look as they have never seen a lock before.  There are big queues as each boat is slow, and no one helps anyone else, they don’t know what to do basically.  It would be a very good use to have volunteers there to organise and assist.

 

There were a couple of unofficial helpers at New Marton when I went up last summer. 

They were two really nice and helpful women who seemed to have decided to bring their own windlasses, and just stay there for an hour or two, helping any boats who asked. Maybe they were aware of the queueing issue that sometimes arises. 

I can always be relied upon to ask for help at locks if I spy a potential labourer standing there with a windless and looking keen, so of course I did.

Then I asked if they were volunteers, and they said no- but I didnt catch their full explanation with the water noise.

 

I remember typically being among mainly hire boats at swing bridges, and these craft were often swarming with teenagers who were only too keen to do a bit of graft with a windlass. 

I cruised serenely through several swing bridges around Wrenbury and barely got off the boat, so keen were the youngsters on the boats around me to work the bridges and generally lark about. 

It would have been churlish to spoil their fun by doing any of the work myself. 

 

 

[booke23]

1 hour ago, Tony1 said:

There were a couple of unofficial helpers at New Marton when I went up last summer. 

 

I encountered an unofficial helper a couple of weeks ago. They were a great help and I was more than happy for them to assist, but wonder if CRT have a stance on this? 

 

Grindley Brook is certainly a bottleneck, however on my multiple trips on the Llangollen canal, as busy as it is, one observation that I made is that practically nobody moves after 5pm. Go to Grindley Brook at 6pm and it's deserted!

Edited April 6, 2022 by booke23

[rgreg]

1 hour ago, john6767 said:

 

 

What also amazes me is that CRT do not have any volunteers on New Marton locks.  For a lot of hirers on the Llangollen these are the only locks that they will go through, which is why they have one of the highest lockage numbers on the system, second only to Hillmorton if I remember correctly.  The typical hire boat approaches the bottom lock, moors up on the lock bollards, locks the boat up and the crew walks up to the lock to have a look as they have never seen a lock before.  There are big queues as each boat is slow, and no one helps anyone else, they don’t know what to do basically.  It would be a very good use to have volunteers there to organise and assist.

Very true. This was exactly the case once when we went through;  we ended up giving a training session to hirers who were working out what to do from both directions and helped them through.

[David Mack]

Getting on for 40 years ago I was boating with a bunch of WRGie friends when we arrived at Bratch to find utter chaos with long queues of boats above and below the locks, and those working their boats through seeming to have little idea.  It was clear we would have a long wait if we left the others to it. So as we had a large crew and 3 or 4 of the WRG radios with us, we ended up posting crew at each lock, coordinating the operations by radio. The other boaters mostly stayed on their boats, and in the end we got the waiting boats, from both directions, through in a reasonably short time.

[Tony1]

34 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

I encountered an unofficial helper a couple of weeks ago. They were a great help and I was more than happy for them to assist, but wonder of CRT have a stance on this? 

 

Grindley Brook is certainly a bottleneck, however on my multiple trips on the Llangollen canal, as busy as it is, one observation that I made is that practically nobody moves after 5pm. Go to Grindley Brook at 6pm and it's deserted!

 

I'll try this next time I'm there, but I do recall the traffic seemed to slow right down after 5pm. But as lovely as it is, I won't go back to the Llan for a while yet.

Certain family commitments are keeping me in the Cheshire region for a couple of months, and after that I want to try the Macc and then head south towards the Sharpness, and maybe then go eastwards. 

Its still all very new for me at the moment, so my priority when I start proper cruising will be new canals. 

But if I was ever forced to 'retire' to one canal, it might well be the Llan.

 

 

[wandering snail]

7 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

 

Certain family commitments are keeping me in the Cheshire region for a couple of months, and after that I want to try the Macc and then head south towards the Sharpness, and maybe then go eastwards. 

 

 

Keep an eye on stoppages on the Macc as if May is not a very wet month, CRT may well close it altogether by June. They will endeavour to give 2 weeks notice and will help through any boater stranded. From 25th April they are only operating Bosley from 8.30 - 1pm Sun/Thurs.

[Tony1]

6 minutes ago, wandering snail said:

Keep an eye on stoppages on the Macc as if May is not a very wet month, CRT may well close it altogether by June. They will endeavour to give 2 weeks notice and will help through any boater stranded. From 25th April they are only operating Bosley from 8.30 - 1pm Sun/Thurs.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye on it. 
I've heard that there are fewer than normal moorings spots on the Macc, and that news would normally incline me towards trying it in winter, but if I start south from the Chester/Tattenhall area in early June, I can't really just go right past it, so if its looking good for a month or two I'll give it a try. 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Tony1

[Arthur Marshall]

3 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye on it. 
I've heard that there are fewer than normal moorings spots on the Macc, and that news would normally incline me towards trying it in winter, but if I start south from the Chester/Tattenhall area in early June, I can't really just go right past it, so if its looking good for a month or two I'll give it a try. 

 

The mooring is tricky on the Macc because it was cut on a V shape rather than a bowl  so the sides are shallow. There are plenty of places you can get in, though.

[Tony1]

24 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The mooring is tricky on the Macc because it was cut on a V shape rather than a bowl  so the sides are shallow. There are plenty of places you can get in, though.

 

It strikes me that our canal building ancestors were by no means as hard working and industrious as history would have us believe. 

One imagines that a few more strokes of the shovel and this unsatisfactory V shaped canal becomes a U, and your innocent 21st century visitor would have been able to find a nice mooring within a civilised range of a restaurant. 

I know its too late for regrets, but surely there were children who could have been hauled out of the local mines to do the extra spadework required? 

Its this lack of lateral thinking that is so disappointing about the 19th century.

But all may not be lost.

Who knows, perhaps the recalcitrant youths of today could be extracted from their luxurious centrally-heated classrooms, and instead of wasting time on gender studies, they could be put to work making the Macclesfield into a canal that us poor retired boaters can actually use? 

This is modern Britain. We're better than V shaped canals.

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Tony1