River Kennet Red Boards

[Billyboy]

I'm currently on the Thames, but will be relocating on to the K&A soon. 

Now, I have an app that shows me which reaches of the Thames are on red boards, but is there a similar app so I can immediately see if the Kennet or the Avon are on red boards?

[dmr]

No, the Thames conditions website is very good. CRT are increasingly adpting a "red boards" type system but I don't think there is a single place to find this info. I suspect the number of "non boaters" living on the K&A is a factor in CRT publishing more information. In some ways the Kennet is a much more complicated river than the Thames and so the "red boundary" is not so well defined. There are bits that a fairly experienced boater can tackle in high flow if they have a bigger engine, and other bits that can go wrong even in a gentler flow.

[Francis Herne]

Most of the CRT 'red boards' information, including the Kennet and Avon, is on this page:

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/notices-and-stoppages/strong-stream-warnings

 

Some northern waterways (Weaver, Aire & Calder, ??) aren't included yet and only appear as stoppage notices.

Edited March 2 by Francis Herne

[Mac of Cygnet]

I'm only familiar with the height gauges at the lock tails of river locks on the C&H, A&C etc, and the fact that flood gates/locks may be closed (with a stoppage notice) when the rivers are high, but have always wanted to ask: Are actual red boards hoisted at Thames locks, like storm cones in harbours?

[magnetman]

6 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 Are actual red boards hoisted at Thames locks, like storm cones in harbours?

 

There are aluminium holders each end of the lock with slots for two boards. One board is white (lock keeper on duty) or blue (self service). The other board is red (strong stream), yellow (stream increasing), yellow (stream decreasing) or green.

 

The downstream approach to each lock was assessed by the navigation authority and the number of weir gates open dictates which boards are put out. All locks are different because some weirs are more dangerous. For example Marlow will still be on red boards even when the locks both sides of it are on yellow boards. 

 

 

 

 

[matty40s]

You must also remember with CRT red warnings, that rivers only flood in office hours, not weekends or bank holidays, and never over the Christmas 2 week shutdown.

[Mac of Cygnet]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

 

There are aluminium holders each end of the lock with slots for two boards. One board is white (lock keeper on duty) or blue (self service). The other board is red (strong stream), yellow (stream increasing), yellow (stream decreasing) or green.

 

The downstream approach to each lock was assessed by the navigation authority and the number of weir gates open dictates which boards are put out. All locks are different because some weirs are more dangerous. For example Marlow will still be on red boards even when the locks both sides of it are on yellow boards. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you.  I went the length of the Thames between Lechlade and Brentford in 2011 and never even noticed them!

[Dave123]

The Kennet is tricky, it is complicated as some stretches do not really change in height (eg Newbury) with extra rain, as they have sufficient weir capacity to simply allow the flow to get faster and faster. I think CRTs automatic system for specific reaches relies on a flow gauge (which are scarce) or a height board (which is sometimes uninformative on the K&A, as I said above). CRT have a few locations on the K&A on their new strong stream website (click on the canal to see the sub sections, Newbury, Woolhampton and County lock if I recall) but other sections are not covered, eg Widmead lock to Bulls, Ham lock to Greenham, these sections can have a very strong flow even when Newbury or Woolhampton are only yellow. CRT email updates if you subscribe to their system but again only for those three locations or the whole Kennet navigation from Kintbury (actually from above Newbury lock the river gets much more manageable). Using various maps to work out which bits are river will help!