South Pennine Ring

[Pelican]

Hi, new member here

 

We are thinking about doing the South Pennine ring next month in our 60ft narrow boat. We need to do it anticlockwise - so down the Huddersfield Broad Canal and up the Calder and Hebble Navigation. The CRT has a maximum length for both these waterways of 57'6" but the Nicholson guide says that the maximum length for a narrow boat is 60' - presumably because you can be diagonal in the locks. We are wondering how feasible this is in practice, particularly going down the locks.

 

So, my question is, has anyone done this stretch in a 60' narrow boat and how was it?

 

We are reasonably experienced narrow boaters. I haven't double checked the length of the boat - 60' is what it was sold as. We have been up and down the Tinsley flight (maximum length 61'1") doubled up with another narrow boat and we fitted OK with front and back fenders in place although we had to do a bit of a shuffle round the lock gates in some of the locks. Obviously we would take the fenders off in the 57'6" locks.

 

We are booked through the tunnel and will do a there and back trip on the Huddersfield Narrow if the ring proves not to be possible.

 

Thanks for your help

 

 

[David Mack]

http://penninewaterways.co.uk/calder/locks.htm

[Pelican]

Thanks that's very helpful. 

 

I think I'll be measuring the boat very carefully next time we're on it!

[TheBiscuits]

2 hours ago, Pelican said:

up the Calder and Hebble Navigation.

 

The downside to that is the very last lock you will attempt (Salterhebble Top) is the shortest one on the C&H  navigation.

 

If you don't fit through there, you're turning round and going back!

[Midnight]

I've heard of a few 60ft boats squeezing through the Broad locks and Salterhebble top so I think it is doable. It won't be stress free though. Our 57 got hung up in lock 1 on the Broad and having taken a 60ft boat through Shepley Bridge I can say there's no more than an inch or so to spare. I don't think Salterhebble top will stop you. Going up is less of a concern than coming down backwards. Watch the stern going up Elland Lock there's a fairly recent walkway inside the bottom gates already showing damage from ascending boats.

[enigmatic]

 

The Huddersfield Broad needed my 57' boat at a bit of an angle and was a right faff going down to move the boat out the way to get a gate open, and then move it back across so the boat was pointing out the gate, so I really wouldn't fancy it on a 60'. Maybe slightly easier if you have two people so you can work enginers/ropes and gates together, and easier (and less risk of hanging up going up) IIRC

 

IIRC most of the last few locks on the Calder and Hebble don't have the issue with the platforms built over the back of the lock in the corner. Certainly wouldn't want to singlehand an oversized boat through the locks that do though  at least with two people you can have someone on boat keeping the tiller out the way of the overhang and someone ready to drop paddles very quickly if there's not enough room to do so.

[Richard Fairhurst]

IIRC Jim Macdonald got Elizabeth (61ft 9in) through Salterhebble... just.

 

I know someone who had a 60-footer moored in Huddersfield and who took it through the Broad locks, but I don't think he ever particularly enjoyed it!

[Pelican]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. 

 

It sounds like it is doable, if stressful, provided  the boat is exactly 60' or less.

 

I think we'll measure the boat next time we're on it and, provided it is 60' or less (without fenders) we'll give it a go. I would say that if it's too much after the first lock or 2 we'll turn round and go back the way we came  - but it doesn't look like there is anywhere to turn. A walk down the towpath to suss it all out seems essential. 

 

I take the point about the smallest lock being the last one we come to  - I guess if we only have inches to spare in the earlier ones we'll quit at the earliest winding point. 

 

There will be at least 2 of us on the boat and we might recruit more crew!

 

Thanks again 

[IanD]

17 minutes ago, Pelican said:

Thanks to everyone who has replied. 

 

It sounds like it is doable, if stressful, provided  the boat is exactly 60' or less.

 

I think we'll measure the boat next time we're on it and, provided it is 60' or less (without fenders) we'll give it a go. I would say that if it's too much after the first lock or 2 we'll turn round and go back the way we came  - but it doesn't look like there is anywhere to turn. A walk down the towpath to suss it all out seems essential. 

 

I take the point about the smallest lock being the last one we come to  - I guess if we only have inches to spare in the earlier ones we'll quit at the earliest winding point. 

 

There will be at least 2 of us on the boat and we might recruit more crew!

 

Thanks again 

Salterhebble is doable -- just, and with care! -- in a 60' boat, but be prepared to get wet if the top gates are leaking like they were last time we went through. I wouldn't like to do that on a boat with a cruiser stern unless I was wearing a wetsuit... 😉

Edited April 10, 2022 by IanD

[Mike Todd]

We have done this in two different boats, both nominal 60 ft. It is not especially difficult with at least two crew, once you have been shown the ropd trick for going down. We found it a worthwhile journey. 

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

Salterhebble is doable -- just, and with care! -- in a 60' boat, but be prepared to get wet if the top gates are leaking like they were last time we went through. I wouldn't like to do that on a boat with a cruiser stern unless I was wearing a wetsuit... 😉

 

Less of an issue going uphill ...

 

... Or indeed backwards!

[Pelican]

2 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

We have done this in two different boats, both nominal 60 ft. It is not especially difficult with at least two crew, once you have been shown the ropd trick for going down. We found it a worthwhile journey. 

This is encouraging  - thanks. 

 

Can you explain what the rope trick going down is?

[PeterScott]

 

 

Huddersfield Broad Canal Top Lock, which is, of course a short lock (maybe a 60' boat can go all the way to Sowerby Bridge) with a 70' boat in it. Hence the pictures. This was a mile-and-a-bit reverse, and by good fortune the lock was already full, so we just opened the gates and backed in [22Jul2011]

 

Anyway, Odyssey aside, this boat Chimera (509298) said they were 60' , and listed by C&RT as 60', were very pleased to reach Salterhebble Top Lock, in 2013...

 

 

... the shape at the front, the crew thought, was significant: From the bottom corner of the 'C', and caught by the light in the photo, the front (vertical) curve has (horizontal) length (eight or ten inches) but no great breadth (an inch or so). When as far back in the lock as possible, it just gave enough space for the arc of the gate to swing by: it's a three-dimensional issue whether any given boat can get through.

Edited April 10, 2022 by PeterScott
sp

[IanD]

2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Less of an issue going uphill ...

 

... Or indeed backwards!

 

Yes, that way round the well deck fills up instead... 😞

 

Maybe it's been fixed now, but there was a veritable fountain from under the top gates when we went through, you'd have needed pretty big well deck scuppers to keep up with the flow.

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

 

Yes, that way round the well deck fills up instead... 😞

 

Maybe it's been fixed now, but there was a veritable fountain from under the top gates when we went through, you'd have needed pretty big well deck scuppers to keep up with the flow.

 

Not if you have a catch cover. 😉

[IanD]

8 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Not if you have a catch cover. 😉

Or a tug deck, like I'll have... 😉

[TheBiscuits]

5 hours ago, IanD said:

Yes, that way round the well deck fills up instead... 😞

 

Maybe, but an oversized boat can slide the stempost down that cill a lot easier than it can slide the uxter plate!

 

You may get wet and stuck, but you're unlikely to sink the boat ...

 

It's also trivial to wind below the lock.

[IanD]

9 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Maybe, but an oversized boat can slide the stempost down that cill a lot easier than it can slide the uxter plate!

 

You may get wet and stuck, but you're unlikely to sink the boat ...

 

It's also trivial to wind below the lock.

I know all that, hence the smiley 😉