Slough Arm

[saltysplash]

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

 

The Slough Arm........whats the point?

 

5 miles of shallow ditch

5 miles of choking weed

3 aquaducts

5 miles of undisturbed waterway

home to over 20 families

5 miles of waterway neglect

5 miles of kingfishers, terrapins and wildfowl

5 miles of history

 

 

The last Canal to be dug excepting the MSC in the UK and all this forum has to say about the matter is 1 thread,

 

The Arm is currently Landlocked as the 'Waterways' have 'filled in' a section prior to the dodgy bridge so that naughty boaters wont be tempted to try and pass the collapsed section of towpath.

This is the death Knell of the Slough Arm.

 

How may times have you cruised past the junction at Cowley peachey and declined the challenge.

The Arm was due for dredging during this winter, It never happened despite being advertised by BW,

 

Cart have no need to restore the navigation at bridge 2a as they can claim they have no money

 

 

You have been warned, the Slough Arm is in danger of being lost, many of you would say 'good riddance' so be it.....what will follow

 

 

 

Vote Ukip.........what? ......3 days late! ....Bugger!

[roggie]

Yup - its not too good down Slough way. Saturday saw the Iver Cavalcade (10 boats were due to head down to Little Venice) and here is a timelapse video of the trip -

9 boats in total - including a broad beam. We did have the occasional stop to examine the prop but I think this would be better if more boats used it. The complete lack of any signage at the GUI end of the canal plus poor reputation about the arm doesn't help. One wonders how long the arm will be closed for - around 80 boats and 1 business affected.

 

Its stopped me from Cavalcade, and most likely Rickmansworth and I doubt I will be able to cruise for a week at the start of June which was the plan.

 

Given that there are now 2 major repairs due on the arm, plus a windy hole where the towpath is wearing away CRT will have to spend a fair amount this year - but no dredging....

[Tuscan]

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

It isn't fit for humans now,

There isn't grass to graze a cow.

Swarm over, Death!

 

The Slough Arm........whats the point?

 

5 miles of shallow ditch

5 miles of choking weed

3 aquaducts

5 miles of undisturbed waterway

home to over 20 families

5 miles of waterway neglect

5 miles of kingfishers, terrapins and wildfowl

5 miles of history

 

 

The last Canal to be dug excepting the MSC in the UK and all this forum has to say about the matter is 1 thread,

 

The Arm is currently Landlocked as the 'Waterways' have 'filled in' a section prior to the dodgy bridge so that naughty boaters wont be tempted to try and pass the collapsed section of towpath.

This is the death Knell of the Slough Arm.

 

How may times have you cruised past the junction at Cowley peachey and declined the challenge.

The Arm was due for dredging during this winter, It never happened despite being advertised by BW,

 

Cart have no need to restore the navigation at bridge 2a as they can claim they have no money

 

 

You have been warned, the Slough Arm is in danger of being lost, many of you would say 'good riddance' so be it.....what will follow

 

 

 

Vote Ukip.........what? ......3 days late! ....Bugger!

 

Top post greenie awarded - Save the Slough Arm has a good rng to it.

[matty40s]

I did try, valiantly (200M in 2 hours - weed and plastic bags), and then poling back the same way), and wouldn't bother again unless something drastic was done.

The basin at the end has to be one of the most pointless and depressing places on the network(I cycled there, just to make sure I didn't miss anything) and the whole thing needs some serious focus by the local community and CART to improve it's appeal.

[Speedwheel]

When we last went down in 2007 it was lovely. We were in a fairly deep boat 2'6"+ and while some of the bridges were a bit shallow we didn't have any other problems.

[roggie]

It seems CRT did try to crane boats out... http://whichnarrowboat.co.uk/index.php/leatest/5736-cart-try-to-help-stranded-boats

[WJM]

I did once go all the way to the end of the Slough Arm. It is a nice enough canal but my enduring memory of the trip was of the miserable and aggressive people living on boats there. I travel around a lot and I have never seen so much wide-eyed staring and grumpy shouts to slow down. It seems that nothing moves there so when a boat does come past they are all in a state of shock. Perhaps they will welcome the conversion to a long thin lake.

[roggie]

I always smile when on board and someone comes past - can't be too rude as you know they will be back in a couple of hours.... many of the residential boats don't move so perhaps they are not that well versed with the world of canals. A couple of swans have moved in recently and they leave a fair wash too. At least now 1 of them is tending a nest. Of course its a pain to have to go slow past double moored boats for just over half a mile, especially as the canal isn't that wide or deep.

[Dekazer]

We went down once for the festival. The journey to the festival site was OK, a bit slow but that's ok. Beautiful little stretch of canal.

 

However, we were unable to get any further than the festival site, and ended up having to bow haul ourselves backwards to the windy hole to escape. Ony one trip down the weed hatch that trip though, so we can't really complain.

 

I feel rather guilty that we don't use it more often, because I would certainly hate to see it get any worse. Maybe we should have a banter down there to celebrate it being reopened What's the chances of the arm being reopened before this year's festival in September?

[magnetman]

there was a suggestion made once that the slough arm could be connected to the thames somewhere around windsor, I think Tam Murrell would know about this - it would make a very handy cruising route