When the ice came

[14skipper]

We love this time of year,autumn coming.Canals quieten down .Time to get out Cruising!

We have a base to cruise from and intend to travel for next few months and return Christmas or maybe in the new year.

Question is how long did the canals take to freeze over so no travel was possible last winter ?(not to say they will this one ).

thanks

14Skipper

[churchward]

We love this time of year,autumn coming.Canals quieten down .Time to get out Cruising!

We have a base to cruise from and intend to travel for next few months and return Christmas or maybe in the new year.

Question is how long did the canals take to freeze over so no travel was possible last winter ?(not to say they will this one ).

thanks

14Skipper

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string question" as it depends on the weather conditions. However, given consistently low and sub-zero temperatures the canal can freeze quickly as most are shallow still water. The ice can get inches thick in just a few days. You can of course use your boat as an ice breaker but that will get more difficult and tiring as the ice gets thicker to the point of not getting anywhere once it is a few inches thick.

 

The last few years we have looked forward to the possibility of a New years cruise on the boat but have been thwarted by not being able to get off the mooring each time due to the ice.

[casper ghost]

Well, I was out cruising when the ice came. It was just very cold, and in the morning the ice was about 2" think so I stopped the night and the next day the ice was about 4" thick. Like many others I was stuck for several weeks about 300 yards from the nearest bridge or road. I just left the boat there and went home.

Casp'

[matty40s]

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string question" as it depends on the weather conditions. However, given consistently low and sub-zero temperatures the canal can freeze quickly as most are shallow still water. The ice can get inches thick in just a few days. You can of course use your boat as an ice breaker but that will get more difficult and tiring as the ice gets thicker to the point of not getting anywhere once it is a few inches thick.

 

The last few years we have looked forward to the possibility of a New years cruise on the boat but have been thwarted by not being able to get off the mooring each time due to the ice.

 

 

The ice came remarkably early last winter, and became very thick quickly. The weather conditions were immensly cold and prolonged from the very start of December, catching many boats out who were out heading to winter moorings or just out cruising. Jan and Feb were pretty dismal but not too cold, however, the ice had built such a thickness that it was slow to clear.

[NB Alnwick]

We love this time of year,autumn coming.Canals quieten down .Time to get out Cruising!

We have a base to cruise from and intend to travel for next few months and return Christmas or maybe in the new year.

Question is how long did the canals take to freeze over so no travel was possible last winter ?(not to say they will this one ).

thanks

14Skipper

 

Stop?

 

[casper ghost]

Stop?

 

That only looks to be about 2" thick. My little boat with only 21" draft and little engine wouldn't even get through that..

Casp'

[NB Alnwick]

That only looks to be about 2" thick. My little boat with only 21" draft and little engine wouldn't even get through that..

Casp'

 

For the most part it was three to four inches thick and people had been walking on it - even building a snowman on it near Sovereign Wharf - the journey from Cropredy to Banbury didn't really take any longer than it usually does - and we didn't make a breaking wash . . .

 

It was blooming cold though!

[luctor et emergo]

Ahh, but how many plastic boats did you slice in half? Not to mention frozen in duck legs?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(for the avoidence of doubt, please insert irony smiley...)

[Athy]

Probably not enough.

[Proper Job]

Similar experience to Casp'

 

A friend who has many years experience (live a board for 20+ years) went cruising for a few days late last November.

 

Went to bed one night with a thin film of ice on the cut. Next morning about 2". Left Aynho and was eventually forced to stop just below Somerton.

 

We rescued him and managed to get him back to Thrupp just before Christmas when there was a slight thaw (the ice went from >4" to < 4"). By then he was living off bottled water and melting snow to wash etc.

 

It was exceptional that it happened so early in the season and so quickly. It caught a lot of people out.

[mrsmelly]

Similar experience to Casp'

 

A friend who has many years experience (live a board for 20+ years) went cruising for a few days late last November.

 

Went to bed one night with a thin film of ice on the cut. Next morning about 2". Left Aynho and was eventually forced to stop just below Somerton.

 

We rescued him and managed to get him back to Thrupp just before Christmas when there was a slight thaw (the ice went from >4" to < 4"). By then he was living off bottled water and melting snow to wash etc.

 

It was exceptional that it happened so early in the season and so quickly. It caught a lot of people out.

 

That'l be young Mr P then...........

[Chalky]

I'd have thought the main issue wasn't when does the ice start but when will there be enough water in the cut so I can go boating.

[alan_fincher]

Well we now own "Sickle" - a boat specifically adapted in 1942 to break ice, although no longer sporting its "ice ram".

 

I suppose it gives us a bit more chance of keeping going than we ever had with "Chalice" !

 

[Smelly]

Stop?

 

 

Us Birminghamites know that Sherborne do their best to keep the ice broken on that stretch so they can service George... Where had you come in from?

[churchward]

I'd have thought the main issue wasn't when does the ice start but when will there be enough water in the cut so I can go boating.

Depends where you want to go and where you start from.

 

Interestingly I was talking to a chap at the weekend that just came back (to Rugby) from Oxford. He said it was great on the Oxford canal through Napton etc. to Oxford. There was the issue of the Napton and Claydon locks closing times but because the hire companies are generally directing folk away from that route (and other folk put off) there were no bad delays and visitor moorings aplenty.

[adam1uk]

Us Birminghamites know that Sherborne do their best to keep the ice broken on that stretch so they can service George... Where had you come in from?

 

The photo is Banbury, not Birmingham, isn't it?

[Secret Garden]

The photo is Banbury, not Birmingham, isn't it?

Yup, just along from Tooley's yard I'd say

[David Mack]

The photo is Banbury, not Birmingham, isn't it?

 

But post-redevelopment these places all look the same...

 

David

[TimD]

A more useful response would be how to predict when a canal will freeze over. Obviously the first day's frost won't freeze the canal, but something like "3 days frost in a row" or "the night after the frost remains all day" or "once it snows" would be a good guide (yes I know that there will be a lot of variance, but I'm after a rule of thumb). I presume that there is a big North-South differential, last year when it snowed in Exeter the canal was snow covered but was supported by slush, not ice.

[casper ghost]

I presume that there is a big North-South differential, last year when it snowed in Exeter the canal was snow covered but was supported by slush, not ice.

Even the river Severn froze over in Bridgnorth last year, that doesn't happen very often..

 

I took this video just after Christmas.

 

Casp'

Edited September 20, 2011 by casper ghost

[Ange]

The ice certainly took us by surprise last year - we were moored in the middle of Lancaster which is great as a short stay but not brilliant as an iced-in stay. We tried to make a break for it when it thawed slightly - ice breaking looks very exciting when you watch videos of it but it's not so good in practice. I was sat in the cabin with a quivering dog (the noise inside the cabin is unbelievable), we managed about 200 yards and then the drive plate broke. We had to bow haul the boat back to the Lancaster Basin and then spend lots of money and lots of time sorting the boat out. We were lucky that we could get the car right next to the boat so we could charge the boat batteries up from the car (much quieter than running the boat engine!)

 

Next time Dave wants to go ice breaking I'm off to visit my mum and leave him to it!

[nbfiresprite]

Here in the Fens, we were frozen in from late November through to mid March. The ice at one point was over 9 inches thick with the lowest overnight temperature of -17 degrees recorded which when combined with wind, we had a wind chill of below -25 degrees.

 

In mid December we had only one outside tap working on my side of the marina, To fill the tanks we were joining half a dozen hoses together. Boats with diesel heating had real problems with waxing, Even people with stoves had trouble with coal running out. I am taking no chances this year and stocked up over the summer. One good thing that come out of last winter was that Foxes have at last put heating in the shower

block (Been waiting since the 1980's).

 

With the new pumping station, we did not have the flooding of the year before.

 

Firesprite

 

In front of a warm fire

Edited September 20, 2011 by nbfiresprite