Jump to content

Watford and Foxton Staircases


MrsM

Featured Posts

Quick reminder that the Watford and Foxton Staircases are on restricted hours. We arrived at the bottom of Watford at 2:15pm and were warned we might not get through. We have just passed through the top lock at 4pm so it was tight! Boats need to check in with the lock-keeper on arrival and be in the system by 3:15. Apparently not all hire companies are passing this info on to customers, which could impact scheduling. This info is posted on balance beams, notice boards etc but I didn't get an email alert about it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And don't annoy them, when I was told recently by one volunteer I would be able to drop down after 5 boats had come up I asked the other volunteer with the book if I could drop down the top lock after the 4th boat and wait in the top pound.  He wasn't agreeable and we ended up in a bit of a heated discussion so he then let 3 more boats in the bottom to make we wait longer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

And don't annoy them, when I was told recently by one volunteer I would be able to drop down after 5 boats had come up I asked the other volunteer with the book if I could drop down the top lock after the 4th boat and wait in the top pound.  He wasn't agreeable and we ended up in a bit of a heated discussion so he then let 3 more boats in the bottom to make we wait longer.

Hopefully you complained about the abuse of power?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

And don't annoy them, when I was told recently by one volunteer I would be able to drop down after 5 boats had come up I asked the other volunteer with the book if I could drop down the top lock after the 4th boat and wait in the top pound.  He wasn't agreeable and we ended up in a bit of a heated discussion so he then let 3 more boats in the bottom to make we wait longer.

Ah so you knew better than the guy in charge of the lock flight eh. Yeh always pays to let the person in charge be in charge (cue the volunteer bashing)  

Edited by Chris John
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, roland elsdon said:

They were happy to see us last week and once they realised we knew what we were doing left us alone. Weren’t there in 1981 on a soggy October day for our first passage through.  🤪.   
Back up tomorrow if it’s not too hot to cycle over to the boat in the morning.

 

 

Quite. They are only ever there on nice days, not when you'd actually be glad of them.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Chris John said:

Rubbish they are there all through winter 

 

 

I was just doing some general volly-bashing, as you seemed to be encouraging it. 

 

Are they actually vollies nowadays on Watford? I've only ever done it twice and both times the CRT/BW bods there were controlling, officious and generally rude. This was before vollies were invented though...

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Chris John said:

Ah so you knew better than the guy in charge of the lock flight eh. Yeh always pays to let the person in charge be in charge (cue the volunteer bashing)  

Not at all.  I merely said to the volunteer in charge as his colleague had told me I could drop down after 5 boats had come up should I come down after number 4 so as not to waste a lock of water as another boat was now waiting behind me so I presumed he would drop down after boat 5 had exited the top.  This was when he told me I shouldn't have been told a number and that I just wait until he tells me.  So I wasn't questioning his ability to manage boats through the staircase but did suggest that he managed messages better, his view was don't tell anyone anything.

42 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Hopefully you complained about the abuse of power?

I didn't on this occasion.

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

I was just doing some general volly-bashing, as you seemed to be encouraging it. 

 

Are they actually vollies nowadays on Watford? I've only ever done it twice and both times the CRT/BW bods there were controlling, officious and generally rude. This was before vollies were invented though...

 

 

All vollies at Watford and Foxton.  We had very different experiences going one way compared to the other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, MtB said:

deleted

50 minutes ago, Rob-M said:
51 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

I was just doing some general volly-bashing, as you seemed to be encouraging it. 

 

Are they actually vollies nowadays on Watford? I've only ever done it twice and both times the CRT/BW bods there were controlling, officious and generally rude. This was before vollies were invented though...

 

 

Yes they are all volunteers. I came through this morning and it was all handled very efficiently and as speedy as possible 

Edited by Chris John
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Chris John said:

Yes they are all volunteers. I came through this morning and it was all handled very efficiently and as speedy as possible 

That was our experience going up, unfortunately not the experience coming back down.

Edited by Rob-M
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

That was our experience going up, unfortunately not the experience coming back down.

Therein being the problem - zero standardisation and you have no idea what sort of person you are going to get until you get it. Some are fine. Some aren’t.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, MrsM said:

We arrived at the bottom of Watford at 2:15pm and were warned we might not get through. We have just passed through the top lock at 4pm so it was tight!

We arrived at a similar time last year and didn't get through. Instead, we spent an unexpected night at the bottom of the locks and it was an absolute delight. 

 

The Watford lock staff were also a delight. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/08/2022 at 20:06, roland elsdon said:

I have never had issues at Watford or foxton, many there are interested and informed.

Unlike Hatton where they do not understand the most basic request,  namely to be left alone.

Also never had issues at Foxton and Watford. The ones at Napton are a bit useless and don't tend to leave the first/bottom lock. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're going through foxton, my advice is arrive early. We've been through twice this week - both times wait + traversing the locks was about 4 hours. We arrived and booked in before they opened, and there were already 5 boats ahead of us at our end - about the same to come through first at the other end. They opened early that day, a bit past 9 - we booked in at 9.20am and didn't get through until 1.30.

 

On the volunteers, some are great, I've been sassed for turning up just at "last boat through" time though 😄 More concerningly I've done a flight where the locky dissapears after opening the paddles. Did not appreciate that.

Edited by DShK
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, DShK said:

If you're going through foxton, my advice is arrive early. We've been through twice this week - both times wait + traversing the locks was about 4 hours. We arrived and booked in before they opened, and there were already 5 boats ahead of us at our end - about the same to come through first at the other end. They opened early that day, a bit past 9 - we booked in at 9.20am and didn't get through until 1.30.

 

On the volunteers, some are great, I've been sassed for turning up just at "last boat through" time though 😄 More concerningly I've done a flight where the locky dissapears after opening the paddles. Did not appreciate that.

A few weeks back we arrived at Foxton at 5:15pm and there was no one about.  We went straight through and came out the bottom just after 6pm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

A few weeks back we arrived at Foxton at 5:15pm and there was no one about.  We went straight through and came out the bottom just after 6pm.

Ha when I turned up at 5:15pm there was a couple confused as to why there was no one there - they had decided to go up by themselves regardless, and were about halfway up. I managed to catch the lockies going in and out of the cottage - I'm sure I heard one say "it says closed on the door!" They then scolded the couple trying to make up by themselves, all of us having got there for last boat through time...

 

I thanked them profusely for letting me through, because I bet they were hoping no one to be there at 5.15 so they could go home an hour early. However, it is hard for me to pass through the locks on a workday any earlier, I had scrabbled through the two swingbridges solo to get there on time, I would have been very disheartened to have no been let through!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we went through Foxton during Jubilee Week in 1977, it was very much a case of DIY, no lockies, just the information boards at each end telling you what to do. On arrival at the bottom lock,  we found a boat stuck in the passing pound who couldn't enter the bottom half because the pound water level was too low for it to cross the lock entrance cill (obvious from the "tide mark" on the pound walls).  In the absense of official help (no mobiles then), I reasoned that the only way to get it clear was to let down more water.  So I went up to  the top of the top  half, and  opened all the paddles as I came back down.  Once  the passing pound level was high enough, I went back up again and closed them all. My recollection is that it was a very wet week, so no problem with water supplies.  Possibly the bottom five leaked more than the top five.

Edited by Ronaldo47
typos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Circa 1968, on our Anglo Welsh hire boat from Market Harborough, we arrived back at the bottom of Foxton at lunchtime on the Friday. As we had half a day to spare before returning the boat, and we had turned at the top of the flight on the previous year's trip from Linslade (Duchess of Athol from Wyvern Shipping), we decided to go up the flight, wind and come straight back down again. Don't think we'd get away with that these days!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, David Mack said:

Circa 1968, on our Anglo Welsh hire boat from Market Harborough, we arrived back at the bottom of Foxton at lunchtime on the Friday. As we had half a day to spare before returning the boat, and we had turned at the top of the flight on the previous year's trip from Linslade (Duchess of Athol from Wyvern Shipping), we decided to go up the flight, wind and come straight back down again. Don't think we'd get away with that these days!


In 2014 we arrived on a hire boat at the top at about 1130 and I had no intention of travelling to Foxton and not working through the locks. We were offered “straight in immediately or wait for four boats to ascend”. We took the former and turned straight round at the bottom, where we then waited four hours in the queue to ascend. I now know there’s nothing unusual in that.

 

In my experience Watford is controlled somewhat cautiously. That may be down to the particular lockies on duty at the times I’ve been there.

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.