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All routes out if Yorkshire closed ...again


Midnight

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44 minutes ago, MartynG said:

So what's the problem?

 

You know what the problem is. If you dont you've not done it yourself. I have done it but many others would be very hesitant it's not a route for the faint hearted.

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8 hours ago, Midnight said:

I did think that at least the Huddersfield Broad stoppage is only a day but then read on here that the Standedge Tunnel has disappeared off the Booking system.Had a look and sure enough its not there at least at the moment.

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8 hours ago, Midnight said:

You know what the problem is. If you dont you've not done it yourself. I have done it but many others would be very hesitant it's not a route for the faint hearted.

Yes agreed, much better done in a boat shaped boat.

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8 hours ago, Midnight said:

You know what the problem is. If you don't you've not done it yourself. I have done it but many others would be very hesitant it's not a route for the faint hearted.

Yes I have done out of Goole to Hull. Another boat with us at the time turned up the Trent . But this was not in narrowboats.

I agree the trip takes some courage , especially in a slow boat, and would need careful planning with regards to tides and fair weather . 

Out of Keadby is the far easier and safer option of course but obviously not possible if Thorne is closed and you are on the wrong side of Thorne.

 

It's a shame they have not done Thorne off season  as they did with Newark Town Lock recently. I guess it's the same site team who did Newark as there cant be too many choices for personnel and equipment like work boats capable of replacing lock gates.

 

I guess we should be grateful C&RT are doing work like replacing lock gates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I expect the Rochdale summit stoppage will only last a couple of days, till somebody else lets all the water out. Of more concern is that it appears impossible to book a passage through Tuel lane lock. It shows as fully booked till well into May. I am not seeing loads of boats going up the Rochdale so I suspect the "fully booked" thing is really CRT saying they can't be organised to supply staff or volunteers to man the lock.   It's open without booking at weekends but in my experience this is to get the hire boats through and CRT give priority to the hire boats (which is correct)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another one for the Huddersfield Narrow - lock 30W.

With the extended stoppage at Thorne Lock, Rochdale lock 72 still ongoing and Gargrave we may escape by June notwithstanding further disasters - don't hold your breath!

Suppose it could be worse we could be moored at Ripon!

 

Yorkshire Boaters Matter

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55 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Another one for the Huddersfield Narrow - lock 30W.

With the extended stoppage at Thorne Lock, Rochdale lock 72 still ongoing and Gargrave we may escape by June notwithstanding further disasters - don't hold your breath!

Suppose it could be worse we could be moored at Ripon!

 

Yorkshire Boaters Matter

 

 

Yorkshire must be a terrible place, give how keen you are to get out...

 

 

 

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34 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Yorkshire must be a terrible place, give how keen you are to get out...

 

 

 

Yorkshire is God's own county!

It's just the fact that there are lots of hills.

Canals that transit hilly country have lots of locks that need maintainance, which they are not getting.

I fully understand Midnight's frustration, having parted with a load of money for a boat, a licence,mooring and insurance, then only being able to cruise to the nearest pub, is really annoying.

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25 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

Yorkshire is God's own county!

It's just the fact that there are lots of hills.

Canals that transit hilly country have lots of locks that need maintainance, which they are not getting.

I fully understand Midnight's frustration, having parted with a load of money for a boat, a licence,mooring and insurance, then only being able to cruise to the nearest pub, is really annoying.

 

 

Sounds like a special sort of hell to me. 

 

I'm pleased CRT elect to spend my license fee (and yours) maintaining the heavily used bits i.e. the Oxford and K&A to a passable standard instead of hosing it up the wall on canals that only see one boat passage a day. (If that, from what I read on here!) 

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9 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Sounds like a special sort of hell to me. 

 

I'm pleased CRT elect to spend my license fee (and yours) maintaining the heavily used bits i.e. the Oxford and K&A to a passable standard instead of hosing it up the wall on canals that only see one boat passage a day. (If that, from what I read on here!) 

 

What an idiotic but rather typical comment from the OBF - old boiler fixer.

 

All boaters that pay their licence fee deserve the same level of consideration and level of service.

 

No wonder you had a whole thread dedicated to you on Thunderboat.

 

 

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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In an ideal world where there was enough money to maintain every bit of the waterways to a perfect standard then yes, you would be correct. In this real world some sort of rationing of resources is inevitable and locks like Bradford on Avon and Hillmorton are more economucally important, several hire fleets depend upon them, so it makes sense that they are a priority. MTB is correct rather than idiotic.  What about those locks in Chester on the Dee Branch that go nowhere? In the grand scheme of things these are even less important than the Rochdale and the HNC,

The Rochdale goes over a big hill, was not really fully restored and is not heavily used. A lock has failed and CRT are fixing it, but maybe won't fix it quite as quick as they would on the Llangollen. The critical thing is that it is getting fixed.

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2 minutes ago, dmr said:

In an ideal world where there was enough money to maintain every bit of the waterways to a perfect standard then yes, you would be correct. In this real world some sort of rationing of resources is inevitable and locks like Bradford on Avon and Hillmorton are more economucally important, several hire fleets depend upon them, so it makes sense that they are a priority. MTB is correct rather than idiotic.  What about those locks in Chester on the Dee Branch that go nowhere? In the grand scheme of things these are even less important than the Rochdale and the HNC,

The Rochdale goes over a big hill, was not really fully restored and is not heavily used. A lock has failed and CRT are fixing it, but maybe won't fix it quite as quick as they would on the Llangollen. The critical thing is that it is getting fixed.

 

Canal repair Triage

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4 minutes ago, dmr said:

What about those locks in Chester on the Dee Branch that go nowhere? In the grand scheme of things these are even less important than the Rochdale and the HNC,

 

They replaced those last year shortly after I went through them ...

 

The CRT bod who asked us to get off the branch asked if we couldn't tell the locks were broken just by looking at them.  He was quite startled when I told him we are quite used to using locks in much worse condition on some of the more Northern canals.  All paddles worked and all gates opened - we didn't think there was much wrong with that!

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14 minutes ago, dmr said:

In an ideal world where there was enough money to maintain every bit of the waterways to a perfect standard then yes, you would be correct. In this real world some sort of rationing of resources is inevitable and locks like Bradford on Avon and Hillmorton are more economucally important, several hire fleets depend upon them, so it makes sense that they are a priority. MTB is correct rather than idiotic.  What about those locks in Chester on the Dee Branch that go nowhere? In the grand scheme of things these are even less important than the Rochdale and the HNC,

The Rochdale goes over a big hill, was not really fully restored and is not heavily used. A lock has failed and CRT are fixing it, but maybe won't fix it quite as quick as they would on the Llangollen. The critical thing is that it is getting fixed.

 

I dont buy it. Last time I checked there was hire fleets on the Northern Canals too. Or do they not count?

 

The issue here is the cumulative nature of the stoppages. That should re define the priority for fixing them.

 

Leveling up my @rse.

 

 

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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18 minutes ago, dmr said:

In this real world some sort of rationing of resources is inevitable and locks like Bradford on Avon and Hillmorton are more economucally important, several hire fleets depend upon them, so it makes sense that they are a priority.

 

I'm pretty sure Gargrave Eshton Road lock on the L&L matters to hire fleets like Silsden, Pennine, Snaygill, Reedley, Riley Green and Bear a lot and to a few others (like Shire) occasionally.

 

Still not open since last year though! 

 

Mind you I was talking to a Kate boats hirer (out on a six week hire) last week who wanted to do the L&L but couldn't.  I did comment we don't often see Kate Boats on the western L&L.

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1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I'm pretty sure Gargrave Eshton Road lock on the L&L matters to hire fleets like Silsden, Pennine, Snaygill, Reedley, Riley Green and Bear a lot and to a few others (like Shire) occasionally.

 

Still not open since last year though! 

 

The thing about that one is that it blocks access to the very best part of the crossing to hire boats based to the east of it.

 

I certainly wouldnt hire a boat that couldnt do that bit. Some of course may not be aware of what they will miss but anybody who has done it previously will.

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5 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I'm pretty sure Gargrave Eshton Road lock on the L&L matters to hire fleets like Silsden, Pennine, Snaygill, Reedley, Riley Green and Bear a lot and to a few others (like Shire) occasionally.

 

Still not open since last year though! 

 

Mind you I was talking to a Kate boats hirer (out on a six week hire) last week who wanted to do the L&L but couldn't.  I did comment we don't often see Kate Boats on the western L&L.

Is Eshton Road incompetance on the part of CRT or just one of those unfortunate things that happens from time to time? The Pennine routes are never going to be as reliable as the lowland canals, but then I remember a couple of K&A stoppages that went on for ages, one for almost a complete summer.

I am more worried about things like the very restricted openings of Tuel Lane lock and Standedge tunnel because these are just down to CRT not putting enough effort into boating.

I think if I was doing a six week hire I would not include any of the Pennine crossings in my route which is a sad state of affairs, dunno what can be done. What is really needed is a very big lump of levelling up money to get the Rochdale and HNC properly restored, and this likely means buying back resevoirs which is not going to be easy to justify after Todbrook,

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

Sounds like a special sort of hell to me. 

 

I'm pleased CRT elect to spend my license fee (and yours) maintaining the heavily used bits i.e. the Oxford and K&A to a passable standard instead of hosing it up the wall on canals that only see one boat passage a day. (If that, from what I read on here!) 

 

Its boating season now and even though the Rochdale is not currently a through route, TWO boats went over the summit yesterday.

 

.........none today though 😀

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It's a vicious circle - low use due to poor maintenance = less maintenance due to low use and on and on. Maybe if these beautiful canals were in a better state more people would be inclined to use them but when there's every chance you'll be marooned somewhere few will see it as a viable holiday if there are safer bets.

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5 hours ago, Midnight said:

Another one for the Huddersfield Narrow - lock 30W.

With the extended stoppage at Thorne Lock, Rochdale lock 72 still ongoing and Gargrave we may escape by June notwithstanding further disasters - don't hold your breath!

Suppose it could be worse we could be moored at Ripon!

 

Yorkshire Boaters Matter

Thorne extended by 4 day’s, the area isn’t too bad a place to be restricted too, big electric locks, little boat movement, no queuing for locks, wide deep canals, ample moorings.

  Far better to be restricted in a large quiet area, then somewhere busy and overcrowded like the K&A or T&M.

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People don't use the Rochdale, so CRT don't put money into it. CRT won't put money into the Rochdale, so people won't use it

 

It seems reasonable to think if money was put into maintaining (and dare I say, upgrading) the northern canals, more people would use them. As it stands, people know they're a nightmare and that's gotta be off putting for certain boaters.

 

As it stands, I can't recommend going over the Rochdale as is to boaters interested in that stretch.

 

I wish I could, it's really nice up the summit, but going down into Manchester (or coming up) isn't fun and isn't relaxing.

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