Harecastle jobsworths.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

On 08/04/2023 at 22:01, dmr said:

We had an afternoon session in the Holy Inadequate then boated up to the tunnel entrance for the night and had a bit of cider. Next day I did not feel so good and forgot to take the chimney down. The very new tunnel keeper failed to spot it.  Everytime I go through the tunnel I think how on earth did I get through with the chimney up without even touching. When we got out the other end the keeper went bonkers and said he was going to get the new tunnel keeper sacked, which was a bit harsh as it was totally my fault.

I would have thought going through Harecastle with the chimney up would be a piece of cake, bags of room. My first time through Gorsty Tunnel however I didn't realise that the size of the entrance is not the same as the size halfway through. Still managed to get through with the chimney up.....but it was close

[ditchcrawler]

20 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I would have thought going through Harecastle with the chimney up would be a piece of cake, bags of room. My first time through Gorsty Tunnel however I didn't realise that the size of the entrance is not the same as the size halfway through. Still managed to get through with the chimney up.....but it was close

I wouldn't get through with it up on ether tunnel

[alan_fincher]

I have never understood stories about not being able to have the chimney on when passing through Harecastle.

 

SICKLE presents no problems in normal boating mode, and chimney and cans stay in place for the passa

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-89AVuefCsT8/T4v-mOhJquI/AAAAAAAABPA/uYZC_rWIP_c/s1600/IMG_1623.JPG

Edited April 10, 2023 by alan_fincher

[Arthur Marshall]

10 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I have never understood stories about not being able to have the chimney on when passing through Harecastle.

 

SICKLE presents no problems in normal boating mode, and chimney and cans stay in place for the passa

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-89AVuefCsT8/T4v-mOhJquI/AAAAAAAABPA/uYZC_rWIP_c/s1600/IMG_1623.JPG

I've noticed the the roof of my tub is dwarfed by most others, so some folks chimbleys are going be about a foot higher than mine. And the level in the tunnel does go up and down a bit.

[MtB]

55 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

My first time through Gorsty Tunnel however I didn't realise that the size of the entrance is not the same as the size halfway through. Still managed to get through with the chimney up.....but it was close

 

Astounding. When I went though the low bit the roof took my hat off!!

 

Obviously I engaged full astern to stop and retrieve it, which scared poor Tree Monkey sitting on the tug deck witless as he had no idea what was going on....

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

I scraped the top of my hood along the roof of Harecastle a couple of times and I'd taken the chimney down earlier. The tight bit for the cabin edges is entering and leaving where the towpath still remains through the portal so it depends on which way you're going and which side your chimney is on. I can though well imagine a tall chimney being problematic in the central section of the tunnel where the roof dips.

 

I won't have any problems with Vulpes in Harecastle and never have in Gosty Hill.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[Paul C]

I broke a chimney trying to remove it in preparation for going through some tunnels (northern end of T&M), it was kinda worn out and due for replacement anyway. Didn’t want to compromise it further so left it on. It didn’t hit in the end, but on a few bridges it could have done had I not gone through the middle.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I won't have any problems with Vulpes in Harecastle and never have in Gosty Hill.

 

Gosty Hill seems to me to be in a different league to Harecastle when it comes to being a tight fit. 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Astounding. When I went though the low bit the roof took my hat off!!

 

Obviously I engaged full astern to stop and retrieve it, which scared poor Tree Monkey sitting on the tug deck witless as he had no idea what was going on....

 

 

It is a mistake that you only make the once, I seem to recall dragging the starboard side against the tunnel wall in an effort to keep the chimney on.

 

Have to say you were brave to put the boat into full astern whilst in Gorsty, I can usually find some crud to wrap around my prop in there even without engaging reverse.

[Captain Pegg]

Just now, Paul C said:

I broke a chimney trying to remove it in preparation for going through some tunnels (northern end of T&M), it was kinda worn out and due for replacement anyway. Didn’t want to compromise it further so left it on. It didn’t hit in the end, but on a few bridges it could have done had I not gone through the middle.

 

Funny you say that because I noted that it seems to be about as difficult to get to Harecastle as it to get through it. There really are some very low bridges on the central T&M.

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

Gosty Hill seems to me to be in a different league to Harecastle when it comes to being a tight fit. 

 

Overall I'd say yes it is, but the roof is very low in the middle of Harecastle.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

Gosty Hill seems to me to be in a different league to Harecastle when it comes to being a tight fit. 

I think its in the same league as Froghall, the only one I haven't been through.....yet.

[ditchcrawler]

5 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

Funny you say that because I noted that it seems to be about as difficult to get to Harecastle as it to get through it. There really are some very low bridges on the central T&M.

 

Thats true

4 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I think its in the same league as Froghall, the only one I haven't been through.....yet.

Thats tighter, height wise

[Captain Pegg]

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Thats true

Thats tighter, height wise

 

I've not done Froghall yet either. Maybe if I escape the north without undue delay and the water hasn't run dry I'll get the cahnce on the way back south. 

[MtB]

7 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I think its in the same league as Froghall, the only one I haven't been through.....yet.

 

Then if you think Harecastle is low/tight, stand by to have your impressions revised by Gosty Hill....

 

 

And Gosty only goes to a basin so unlike Harecastle there is no flow through it. This means if say, a log or a railway sleeper finds its way into the tunnel it stays there for months on end, jamming boat after boat after boat after boat. Apparently.

[Tony Brooks]

2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Emily Anne has a nice sounding steam whistle.  Problem is, I didn't recognise it as a boat signal so carried on round the bend and very nearly literally bumped into @DHutch ...

 

Agreed, I thought it had more than a hint of factory/mill whistle. When I heard it on the L&L I thought a mill engine was having a steaming day.

[ditchcrawler]

43 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Then if you think Harecastle is low/tight, stand by to have your impressions revised by Gosty Hill....

 

 

  This means if say, a log or a railway sleeper finds its way into the tunnel it stays there for months on end, jamming boat after boat after boat after boat. Apparently.

Thats what bothers me, I normally let a friend know I am coming

[Paul C]

Put simply, there's 3 categories of tunnel(/bridge hole):

 

1. Fits

2. Fits with care, ie aligned right and driven straight through

3. Doesn't fit

 

Its not so much the max height available but the profile vs the profile of the boat. Northern T&M has a really shallow profile of bridge (but they're quite wide, most are about 12-14 feet) so some of them, including the entrances of the tunnels, are (2) "fits with care". We hit the roof on entering one tunnel. Once in it, the tunnel itself keeps the boat straight enough so it fits. There's a lot of variation amongst boats though, so it doesn't necessarily lend itself to simple comparisons.

 

Harecastle, Gosty Hill, all the Llangollen ones etc are in the "fits" category. And Froghall is in the "doesn't fit" category.

[tree monkey]

8 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Astounding. When I went though the low bit the roof took my hat off!!

 

Obviously I engaged full astern to stop and retrieve it, which scared poor Tree Monkey sitting on the tug deck witless as he had no idea what was going on....

 

 

And I was only sitting because that unexpected (to me) middle bit nearly took my head off

It was a very nice hat certainly worth the sudden manoeuvre 

[Ange]

Our tightest fit was on the Droitwich, it was a while ago but I think it was a road bridge just after a lock had emptied so the water level was high. It was the only place we had to take the tiller pin off to fit under.

We regularly filled our cabin temporarily with our roof furniture to fit under bridges and through tunnels 🙂

I do miss it.

[Rob-M]

59 minutes ago, Ange said:

Our tightest fit was on the Droitwich, it was a while ago but I think it was a road bridge just after a lock had emptied so the water level was high. It was the only place we had to take the tiller pin off to fit under.

We regularly filled our cabin temporarily with our roof furniture to fit under bridges and through tunnels 🙂

I do miss it.

That would be going under the M5 on the Droitwich which is quite low.

[Mike Todd]

2 hours ago, Rob-M said:

That would be going under the M5 on the Droitwich which is quite low.

And one paddle is now locked off to avoid the worst of that effect. Route can be closed when Body Brook is too high. 

[Ronaldo47]

The lowest one I can remember was the old road bridge between the canal and the canal basin at Stratford-on-Avon, but that has now been rebuilt. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Ronaldo47

[Richard T]

We got stuck on a hire boat in Gosty Hill - a railway sleeper got jammed between the boat and the tunnel wall. It took a lot of effort to clear it - I ended up using the gang plank to bludgeon the sleeper down past a rubbingstrake. We then picked it up and took it to Hawne basin where it went in the back of a BW truck. The family were starting to panic and i was getting ready to walk out and ring the emergency services.

[alan_fincher]

Froghall is ridiculously tight...

 

... though I have no idea why we decided to attempt it, despite the height gauge indicating we were several inches too tall.

 

Link to our blog.

[Captain Pegg]

48 minutes ago, Richard T said:

We got stuck on a hire boat in Gosty Hill - a railway sleeper got jammed between the boat and the tunnel wall. It took a lot of effort to clear it - I ended up using the gang plank to bludgeon the sleeper down past a rubbingstrake. We then picked it up and took it to Hawne basin where it went in the back of a BW truck. The family were starting to panic and i was getting ready to walk out and ring the emergency services.

 

Walk out of Gosty Hill, is there something important you haven't told us?

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Captain Pegg