Kelpie is on her travels again.

[haggis]

4 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Don't rush, Stanthorne lock will be closed for a while yet and there is a large Q.

We are hoping it will be fixed tomorrow as the email seemed to suggest. We have our fingers crossed as it is a long was round by Autherley or the Shop Canal. 

[Ken X]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

We are hoping it will be fixed tomorrow as the email seemed to suggest. We have our fingers crossed as it is a long was round by Autherley or the Shop Canal. 

Blimey, if OC Domestic catches wind of the Shop Canal it'll be curtains for our cruising programme.  I'll never get her out of it. 😆. 

 

Hope the lock opens soon for you. 🙂

[haggis]

13 minutes ago, Ken X said:

Blimey, if OC Domestic catches wind of the Shop Canal it'll be curtains for our cruising programme.  I'll never get her out of it. 😆. 

 

Hope the lock opens soon for you. 🙂

Blast , I should check my messages more closely in future 😄..i can spell I just can't type!

[Mac of Cygnet]

3 hours ago, haggis said:

Nice to chat to the owners of Border Riever, fellow Scots at the foot of the staircase.

 

That would be Jimmy Turnbull & his wife Helen.  He is universally known as Jimmy the Rabbit round here, having owned an excavation company.

[PCSB]

5 hours ago, haggis said:

We are hoping it will be fixed tomorrow as the email seemed to suggest. We have our fingers crossed as it is a long was round by Autherley or the Shop Canal. 

I took a walk up there earlier today with the pooch. Several CaRT boats with excavators etc on and a large pump on the lock offside. The bottom gates were open but couldn't see much.

 

Not sure what the repair involves but it would be good if it is completed tomorrow. We are in Middlewich for a few days and moored above the Big Lock which is ok but not my favoured spot. May take another walk up there tomorrow, at least keeps the pooch happy

[haggis]

1 hour ago, PCSB said:

I took a walk up there earlier today with the pooch. Several CaRT boats with excavators etc on and a large pump on the lock offside. The bottom gates were open but couldn't see much.

 

Not sure what the repair involves but it would be good if it is completed tomorrow. We are in Middlewich for a few days and moored above the Big Lock which is ok but not my favoured spot. May take another walk up there tomorrow, at least keeps the pooch happy

If you do walk up there tomorrow I would appreciate an update. If it is open and the queue has got through we hope to be there on Tuesday 

[PCSB]

16 hours ago, haggis said:

If you do walk up there tomorrow I would appreciate an update. If it is open and the queue has got through we hope to be there on Tuesday 

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but ... just back from walking up there and speaking to the chaps doing the work. They haven't been helped by someone cutting away the rope that was holding the damaged steel work up and a problem with the stop planks so that has caused a delay. They said all being well the work will be finished close of play Wednesday but maybe best to plan for Thursday. They have a concern there may be damage to the cill as well so they had just started to pump the lock out so they can inspect better. If damage is found that could cause a longer delay  There is an awful lot of boats waiting to go through too with many hire boats have been abandoned above the lock.

 

 

Sorry

 

ETA: There should be an update from CaRT tonight, hopefully it is better news than I have given.

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by PCSB

[haggis]

Not good news but thank you for letting me know. 

[Tracy D'arth]

23 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Don't rush, Stanthorne lock will be closed for a while yet and there is a large Q.

They have some bobbins, hoping for Wednesday opening but there are a lot of boats to move. Many will want to turn at the junction and the abandoned hire boats from Anderton and Anderton will want to go down.

[PCSB]

57 minutes ago, haggis said:

Not good news but thank you for letting me know. 

Just got the notification through :

 

"

Update on 09/10/2023:

Work is progressing well at Lock 2, Stanthorne Lock, on the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal.

We received all the necessary materials and the fabricated parts over the weekend which has allowed our North West Reactive team to commence the repair work today.

We’re hopeful to resume navigation by the afternoon of Wednesday 11 October.

A further update will be provided Tuesday 10 October. "

[haggis]

Thank you. For some reason I am not getting emails. Plan is to moor at Barbridge tonight then move  along the branch and join the queue tomorrow. Knowing we will have a long wait.

Edited October 9, 2023 by haggis

[Ken X]

Good luck with the lock.

 

We have had some great mini banters waiting for C&RT to work their magic over the years.  Met some very interesting bods.  One was a retired Microsoft Engineer.  He was new to boating so we exchanged lots of mutually useful ideas.  Another worked in the next building to me at BA Engineering Heathrow.  Can be a small world at times. 🙂

[haggis]

That's us arrived at the end of the queue and prepared for a long wait.

[haggis]

The lock is open !!!

[Hudds Lad]

28 minutes ago, haggis said:

The lock is open !!!

I bet it's like the Whacky Races there now  

[PCSB]

39 minutes ago, haggis said:

The lock is open !!!

Just had the notification through. Give us a beep if you pass

[Tracy D'arth]

There were 23 boats waiting to go, it will take a while. Hopefully the hire boats  that were tied up abandoned will let the other boats go first.

[haggis]

Had a leisurely cruise to join the end of the queue and when we walked up to the lock we noticed that few of the boats were actually occupied. We got to the lock just as they were removing the Heras fencing and they said " yes, the lock is open ". We walked back to kelpie passing on the good news to the occupied boats and we were actually about 6 th through with Iain helping every boat before us. It was painfully slow because the paddles have limiters on them and boats waiting to come up had to wait for the exiting boat to pass the three moored work boats there for the repair. 

We eventually  moored at the play park in Middlewich at 5.45 A long day, not in miles and locks but in time. 

A carry out meal is on the cards ! 

2 hours ago, PCSB said:

Just had the notification through. Give us a beep if you pass

Sorry, didn't read this till after we moored. Thanks for the info you gave us over the last few days. It was very helpful although we had thought the lock wouldn't open till tomorrow and our plan was to wash Kelpies roof and one side. Didn't happen 😄

[haggis]

The last day ! Stayed put in Middlewich yesterday as it was raining and now that we were through Stanthorne lock there was no urgency. 

Returned to Park Farm this morning and will go home tomorrow.

We both enjoyed our time on KELPIE  and although it wasn't a very ambitious trip we achieved our aim of travelling on a new to us bit of canal  and swapping roles at locks worked reasonably well. 

Hope to be back to spend Christmas on the boat. 

[MoominPapa]

Came down Stanthorne this morning. The queue was what I'd describe as normal. Three boats in front of us when we arrived, and three more had arrived behind by the time we were going into the lock. The repair looks pretty tidy and durable.

 

MP. 

[haggis]

10 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Came down Stanthorne this morning. The queue was what I'd describe as normal. Three boats in front of us when we arrived, and three more had arrived behind by the time we were going into the lock. The repair looks pretty tidy and durable.

 

MP. 

Yesterday we saw several hire boats which were caught by the stoppage going  past , presumably being driven by folk from the hire bases. It must have been a nightmare for them when the lock closed and they had boats unable to get back to base for the next changeover.

[MoominPapa]

4 hours ago, haggis said:

Yesterday we saw several hire boats which were caught by the stoppage going  past , presumably being driven by folk from the hire bases. It must have been a nightmare for them when the lock closed and they had boats unable to get back to base for the next changeover.

Today, between Aqueduct Marina and Wheelock, we've been past an empty hire boat or two at pretty much every road bridge with access to the canal. It looks like the hirers were told to get within luggage-carrying distance of a road and collected with their stuff. I imagine that there are not that many hire boats out at this time of the year, so the boats themselves can be collected as the companies have available staff.

 

MP.

[haggis]

5 hours ago, MoominPapa said:

 

Chatting to the guy who was retrieving one of the Andersen boats, this has been an " odd ," year for hire companies. Some weeks all boats are booked yet the next week None might be. We noticed this at Wrenbury. When we went up all their boats were in but when we car back, almost all the boats were out. 

[Ken X]

We noticed it in late June. 

 

Popped into Anderson Boats for a pump out on a Wednesday and were surprised to see six boats moored up.  They very kindly handballed two boats around to get us in near enough to pump out. Chatting away, it became apparent they were having a funny year then.

 

Anglo Welsh have been bunging out email offers like confetti this year so I assume they are the same.

 

Didn't see as many Black Prince boats out as normal but their livery appears to have changed so we might have missed a few.

[Cheshire cat]

We've noticed this at Anglo Welsh Great Haywood base too.