Escape time...

[matty40s]

CRT latest news...

Pretty much what was expected...

The Leicester Line reservoirs are drastic!

 

01998132-b5b2-7f43-856d-97064bd84849.pdf

Edited September 27, 2025 by matty40s

[Jon57]

6 minutes ago, matty40s said:

CRT latest news...

Pretty much what was expected...

The Leicester Line reservoirs are drastic!

 

01998132-b5b2-7f43-856d-97064bd84849.pdf 193.29 kB · 4 downloads

Start your engines. Wacky races is about to start soon hopefully. 

[nealeST]

Interesting to read, takes much of the guess work and Chinese whisper/anecdotal factor out of the situation. I spoke to people in both camps yesterday, some thrilled about the opening and set to go and brimming with optimism, others shaking heads and saying it’s ridiculously stupid to open up as it won’t work. 
That document grounds the initiative and offers rational consideration. 
Still a bit iffy though if this can be pulled off? I do worry that the opening interval will prove to be too long. Better to wait a little longer?
 

(Are we allowed to say ‘Chinese whisper’ these days or is it horrible and pejorative?).

[StevieN]

If it's goal is to ensure those with a home/winter mooring get there having been stuck somewhere with limited access to services, it can only be a good thing as it means someone isn't left high and dry (literally) whilst winter works are going on.

 

If, however, some decide it's an opportunity to go for a little cruise, causing unnecessary wasted water, it runs the risk of the window of opportunity being shortened jeopardising those in genuine need.

 

Lets hope common sense prevails.

[matty40s]

I really do think they should have done bookings only...for home moorers and hire/share boats getting back to bases.

Otherwise there will be plenty more folks thinking...oh, we can go to the New Inn for  the weekend..or other idiots just moving and leaving gates open and paddles up as they do nowadays.

1 hour ago, nealeST said:

Still a bit iffy though if this can be pulled off? I do worry that the opening interval will prove to be too long. Better to wait a little longer?

If you do want to go, be there on the first day, as I dont think the water will last to the last day...

[Jon57]

6 hours ago, matty40s said:

I really do think they should have done bookings only...for home moorers and hire/share boats getting back to bases.

Otherwise there will be plenty more folks thinking...oh, we can go to the New Inn for  the weekend..or other idiots just moving and leaving gates open and paddles up as they do nowadays.

If you do want to go, be there on the first day, as I dont think the water will last to the last day...

While I agree on both counts. I think it would be beyond the capability of CRT to implement all the manpower to man lock fights and check who has booked and who hasn't. We will have to see if they are going to react to this suggestion possibly in future announcements. 

[robtheplod]

Yelvertoft stop planks now removed....

[Andyaero]

So do we think we're looking at the new year or April before "normality" is resumed?

[nealeST]

I think April, really. I’m going to have to leave my boat down here for the duration….

8 hours ago, matty40s said:

If you do want to go, be there on the first day, as I dont think the water will last to the last day

Yes. I just need to get to Barby….and return in April. Unfortunately the time I had planned to move my boat to the Northwest has all been spent in this lovely pound between Stoke B and Whilton since mid August I need to return to the Northwest to get some wages earned. Family commitments clash a bit now with the schedule ahead. Time to revise plans yet again.

Edited September 28, 2025 by nealeST

[Cheese]

Perhaps it is just the pedant in me, but  negative values for "m below top level" logically ought to mean that they are all over full!

[matty40s]

A slight concern is that our pound, which has slowly recovered to almost its normal level over the last 3 weeks, has dropped by several inches this weekend!!!

 

[nealeST]

3 hours ago, matty40s said:

has dropped by several inches this weekend!!!

Yes puzzling that and I’ve noticed also…I think possibly Friday. It’s possible they have stopped back pumping water in? But I saw something not to good on Thursday as I cycled up the Northampton arm which could affect the pound.  A few locks were empty with gates left open, first two pounds were down to the mud. Things improved as I progressed along but a boat had moored  travelling up. it could explain where some of the water has gone if someone had been working the locks and leaving gates open?

[matty40s]

29 minutes ago, nealeST said:

Yes puzzling that and I’ve noticed also…I think possibly Friday. It’s possible they have stopped back pumping water in? But I saw something not to good on Thursday as I cycled up the Northampton arm which could affect the pound.  A few locks were empty with gates left open, first two pounds were down to the mud. Things improved as I progressed along but a boat had moored  travelling up. it could explain where some of the water has gone if someone had been working the locks and leaving gates open?

Those locks were all full a week ago apparently?? So someone has cut the bottom lock chains and tried to come up.

 

It shouldnt be too difficult to identify the culprit!! Tupperware by any chance?

Edited September 28, 2025 by matty40s

[nealeST]

9 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Those locks were all full a week ago apparently??

Yes it was all looking very good. CRT man responsible all the way up to Leicester had been on hand. I was very disappointed to see the state of things. Not Tupperware! But whoever they were they weren’t at home. I mean I dunno…it struck me as a bid to escape and things had gone pear shaped. It was messed up.

[matty40s]

Just now, nealeST said:

Yes it was all looking very good. CRT man responsible all the way up to Leicester had been on hand. I was very disappointed to see the state of things. Not Tupperware! But whoever they were they weren’t at home. I mean I dunno…it struck me as a bid to escape and things had gone pear shaped. It was messed up.

It is the leaving the gates open and paddles up on that flight which always causes the problems. I mentioned plastics as it was 2 of those that drained virtually the whole flight in July....yes, they were reported, but what can CRT do about idiots with no money or brains.

[nealeST]

Might take a gander over there tomorrow and then I’m gone for a week or so. If it’s back to ‘normal’ we know where the water went to fix the problem.

The boat in question was parallel to the Jaguar / Land Rover site.

[Quatre_Bougies]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

It is the leaving the gates open and paddles up on that flight which always causes the problems. I mentioned plastics as it was 2 of those that drained virtually the whole flight in July....yes, they were reported, but what can CRT do about idiots with no money or brains.

Maybe they should install temporary cameras with night vision and bloody fine them.

[matty40s]

Probably working shifts at Morrisons warehouses then, it's the last long pound before the top locks clump together to get up the hill.

[StevieN]

14 hours ago, matty40s said:

It is the leaving the gates open and paddles up on that flight which always causes the problems. I mentioned plastics as it was 2 of those that drained virtually the whole flight in July....yes, they were reported, but what can CRT do about idiots with no money or brains.

Did I read somewhere a widebeam on the GU had cut through the chain at Buckby, went through Braunston tunnel without booking and similarly cut through the locks there apparently to get to Birmingham???

Police were called but CRT didn't press charges allegedly.

If true, It rather begs the question, what sort of damage do you have to do before CRT take any action against you?

[Mike Todd]

2 hours ago, StevieN said:

Did I read somewhere a widebeam on the GU had cut through the chain at Buckby, went through Braunston tunnel without booking and similarly cut through the locks there apparently to get to Birmingham???

Police were called but CRT didn't press charges allegedly.

If true, It rather begs the question, what sort of damage do you have to do before CRT take any action against you?

May be a comment on them being a strawman, or having a reason/excuse that a court is likely to accept - ie not worth taking civil action. Up to the police if they assess it as criminal damage.

Edited September 29, 2025 by Mike Todd

[StevieN]

4 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

May be a comment on them being a strawman, or having a reason/excuse that a court is likely to accept - ie not worth taking civil action. Up to the police if they assess it as criminal damage.

Wanted to get to Birmingham for work purposes, was the apparent excuse.

Forgive me for being nieve, but would it not have been simpler to have contacted CRT and asked for help before allegedly damaging their property (which, last I heard was 'criminal damage?') 

If true, and there's a number of witnesses to confirm the story, it shows that in times like this it brings out the best and the worst in people.

[Mike Tee]

All they have to do is decline them a licence next time it's up for renewal, and if they really feel vindictive, have a quiet word with the prats insurer - describe it as 'dangerous navigating' or some such! 

[Wafi]

16 hours ago, StevieN said:

Forgive me for being nieve, but would it not have been simpler to have contacted CRT and asked for help before allegedly damaging their property (which, last I heard was 'criminal damage?') 

It's easier to obtain forgiveness than permission; in this case, they didn't even need forgiveness, just an absence of any real consequences.

 

I very much doubt CRT would have assisted them in the manner they wanted, though they might have given them a heads-up of the October reopening. I also doubt they'll face any real consequences. CRT's down a few padlocks and a bit of water, the only benefit from pursuing them would be pour encourager les autres.

 

I have to admit, if I was in some sort of real-life action movie situation that required me to get my boat through the stoppages to Birmingham, to secretly defuse a bomb that was going to obliterate humanity, I'd do the same thing (out of working hours) and expect little resistance. Like much of society, the whole thing relies on the overwhelming majority of people being decent, and to a certain extent we just have to tolerate the underwhelming minority.

[dogless]

Does anyone know if the incident ACTUALLY took place ?

 

The story has been bandied around on various 'socials' without anyone being identified as either a direct witness or the 'offender'.

 

Sounds like an urban myth along the lines of the man who tethered his dog to a railway crossing barrier, only to hang the dog once it lifted 😊

 

Rog

[IanM]

13 minutes ago, Wafi said:

It's easier to obtain forgiveness than permission

 

A phrase used by people who have no care or thought regarding their actions on others.