Jump to content

Leeds & Liverpool Canal Major Stoppage


Nightwatch

Featured Posts

Just escaped from Skipton for a few days towards Wargrave. A lady in a passing boat yelled out to me that the locks ahead don’t open until the 29th! I haven’t seen any notices to that effect. Has anyone else?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

As the opening poster I am aware of the closure. After the lady comments earlier I wondered if I had missed an announcement of a reopening, be it temp or not.

The notice only undertakes to review by 29th - given weather conditions it is likely to be extended I would have thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

The notice only undertakes to review by 29th - given weather conditions it is likely to be extended I would have thought.

I agree. Just knocked me a bit with the comment

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Pie Eater said:

Wigan junction pound and Poolstock locks will be open again tomorrow and Thursday but must be booked in advance.

 

The junction pound was full to the brim this morning but the Poolstock pound was empty as usual.

Everyone seems to blame the problem on a lack of maintenance of the lock gates however, when we came through just after the first closure a short while back (before our Ribble crossing booking was cancelled!) the visible leakage through the gates did not seem to be unduly worse than many a lock (and remember that he canals were designed with quite a significant leakage in mind)  it was the middle pound that was the main issue. It left me wondering if there is a problem that is not talked about ('cos it is expensive to fix? no-one knows how to fix it?) with water leaking out of the pound itself. The problem with the junction pound seems to be mainly from boats running water down to get into the upper Poolstock as there is IIRC a notice asking boats to use both side's paddles. Anyone know more about what the real issue may be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 27/08/2022 at 14:51, Pie Eater said:

Poolstock pound empty as usual this morning and top and bottom gates both open on lock 2 sending what little water there was in the direction of the Bridgewater Canal.

Top and bottom locks both open on a lock? That’s an achievement.

 

I looked at booking passage through Poolstock in the next few weeks to get our boat back to Scarisbrick. There is only one passage free up to the end of September and it’s on a day we can’t make.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, JohnEW2912 said:

Top and bottom locks both open on a lock? That’s an achievement.

 

I looked at booking passage through Poolstock in the next few weeks to get our boat back to Scarisbrick. There is only one passage free up to the end of September and it’s on a day we can’t make.

We crossed Ribble Link today. Only three boats out of possible 6. Yesterday only 4. In the past you had to book as soon as open for bookings in order to get a slot. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

All the by washes on the Wigan Flight were running yesterday after the heavy rain on Wednesday but the lock gates were leaking worse than ever due to the timber drying up in the dry summer.

 

I hope the Canal and River Trust are able to open the flight for a short spell before the winter stoppages to enable stranded boaters to move.

 

At the top of the flight pennywort has now covered some of the pounds.

 

The Poolstock pound was completely empty as it is every morning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Pie Eater said:

All the by washes on the Wigan Flight were running yesterday after the heavy rain on Wednesday but the lock gates were leaking worse than ever due to the timber drying up in the dry summer.

 

I hope the Canal and River Trust are able to open the flight for a short spell before the winter stoppages to enable stranded boaters to move.

 

At the top of the flight pennywort has now covered some of the pounds.

 

The Poolstock pound was completely empty as it is every morning.

I drove over the canal bridge at New Springs yesterday and can confirm the canal there was covered in what looked like pennywort.

Edited by Ianws
Typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

September's reservoir watch highlighted L&L losses whilst closed for three months as levels continued dropping to historical record low despite no locks being used. No significant rainfall during that time. This last week or two, the canal level has risen to the point we're floating again on the long pound between Barrowford and Blackburn. Still early days I imagine for recovery of the reservoir levels though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Psychalist said:

September's reservoir watch highlighted L&L losses whilst closed for three months as levels continued dropping to historical record low despite no locks being used.

Evaporation and leakage will always be a significant proportion of water loss from both canals and reservoirs. Given the temperatures we have had this summer they continued fall in reservoir levels is not really surprising.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a graph of the water being supplied in 1913, which shows the water required then in addition to boats crossing the summit. The blue line gives an idea of usage in 2009, though it is very difficult to compare pleasure use with commercial use, as the later was much greater during the winter. The graph does give an idea of the additional water required because of evaporation during the summer.

1913 boats-water.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. That 1913 graph looks like 50-70 lock fulls per week supplied whilst no traffic. I don't know if that can be compared to the drop in reservoir levels recorded in the Reservoir Watch report, which in the three months from July to September whilst it has been closed, reduced from 27% to 16%. I would imagine in 1913 they started the year in a much better position than this year (Barrowford lower reduced due to maintenance).

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.