Overhanging trees

[larryjc]

Not sure this is the right place but here goes. As a newbie we've been afloat for a month now and done the Macc,T&M, Coventry and are now at the top of the Oxford. What has amazed us (apart from the two wrecks almost blocking the Coventry) is the number of places where overhanging trees on the non towpath side almost block the canal. We've seen one party of chaps strimming the tow path side today but no one seems to do anything about the other side. One CRT chap told me it was done by contractors almost as a reason why nothing was done. Sods law says you always meet another boat just as a bloody great tree overhangs where you need to be. Seeing the amount of scratches down the sides of other boats clearly this catches many people out.

Is anything meant to be done? Or is it down to the individual landowners on that side? There's a bit of the Oxford just above us (Rugby side) that will be un-navigable in a year or two.

[BenC]

Moan, complain and moan again to CaRT, its the. Only way that it will get done. People moaned constantly in our stretch as the Willows were pollarded 10 years ago an had become ridiculous again, they cut them back (probably a temp measure as need pollarding again, but a lot better for now).

[Paul C]

The key word in your post is "almost". Almost block a canal --> canal isn't blocked. When the canal's blocked, something will be done about it.

 

I guess a navigable channel only needs to be one boat width, not two, so long as its possible to pass oncoming boats in the wider bits. If it got to the stage where long lengths of canal were restricted to one boat width it may be an issue.

 

AFAIK the landowner on that side has the responsibility to keep their trees from blocking the canal.

[grahame r]

 

AFAIK the landowner on that side has the responsibility to keep their trees from blocking the canal.

Surely it's the CaRT's responsibility to keep the navigation open?

[Paul C]

Surely it's the CaRT's responsibility to keep the navigation open?

 

I'm not 100% sure...........

[Dave-Shrop]

AFAIK the landowner on that side has the responsibility to keep their trees from blocking the canal.

In some cases when the canal was built an agrement was made with the farms it went through for the canal company to install hedges/tress and would be maintained by them, they have now deciced not to cut the top of hedges and so they are growing higher and only the side up to six feet is being cut by the contractors.

 

David

[andy3196]

You'll find it a lot better on the Oxford south of Rugby down as far as Braunston as that is the length that they were doing extensive offside tree work on last winter. Hopefully they will have the necessary funds to do from Rugby up to Hawkesbury this coming winter, as there are a few places that could do with it.

 

Some bits of the Coventry were cut back a few years back, through Polesworth and around Marston Junction, which made a huge difference, meeting an oncoming boat at the Polesworth VM used to be a nightmare.

 

It's a shame that you didn't go up the Ashby as the whole length was cut back on the offside last winter so is in the best condition (in terms of offside vegetation) that it has been in the 10 years that I have known it. At present there is nowhere where you would be anywhere near branches when passing an oncoming boat.

 

So tree work does get done, but I suppose how much depends on what other priorities they have in terms of maintenance, there isn't an unlimited budget.

 

Edited to add: and how could I forget the Grand Union above Hatton, it would have been very unpleasant back in March if the supply of logs wasn't there

Edited June 14, 2013 by andy3196

[cheshire~rose]

Moan, complain and moan again to CaRT, its the. Only way that it will get done. People moaned constantly in our stretch as the Willows were pollarded 10 years ago an had become ridiculous again, they cut them back (probably a temp measure as need pollarding again, but a lot better for now).

 

I disagree! There is another way to get it done.

 

While I know not everyone has the resources available to do so people could actually volunteer to clear overhanging vegetation for CRT themselves.

 

Earlier this year a group us (all volunteers for The Chesterfield Canal Trust) offered to use The Trust's historic (Ex BW) Workboat Python to clear overhanging vegetation on The Chesterfield Canal for CRT.

 

CRT lent us a pan to put the cuttings in, did a risk assessment, lent us all the equipment and H&S gear required to do the job and off we went. A small group of us got involved with the task over a couple of days. It was hard work but a huge amount of fun. We were not allowed to attempt to remove anything really big of course. We were working with loppers and bow saws only but if it is done regularly then you shuold never need anything larger than loppers and a bow saw! It was hard work and we all found a few muscles we didn't know we had got but we all had tremendous fun! While we were doing it we came across the local CRT guys repairing the bank further along the cut so us doing the non skilled stuff of trimming the vegetation freed them up to do the more serious stuff.

 

Python and her volunteers will be continuing with the work when she returns to The Chesterfield Canal after the festival season and it is likely that weather permitting this is something we hope to start doing on a regular basis.

 

If your local area would benefit from a bit of trimming offside and there is a canal society covering it perhaps they have access to a suitable vessel to do the same? Why not suggest it? Or perhaps you know someone with a boat that would be suitable? Something with a tug deck would be great. Form a group of willing volunteers and get on with it yourself.

 

Or of course you could complain and moan to CRT about it.

 

Anyone interested in reading about our bit of volunteer pruning can do so here:

 

http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/index.php/latest-news/press-releases/444-canal-a-river-trust-gets-help-from-python

[LoneWolf]

'ave a greenie chesh

[luctor et emergo]

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust volunteers do just that. They have the use of a small BW/CRT workboat, and have cleared vast lengths of both sides of the canal around here.

[blackrose]

I guess they must have started from the Bristol end because parts of the Kennet are some of the worst I've seen. Not so much overhanging trees, more like fallen trees across half the river on both sides. It's like a slalom course with a current.

[KJT]

Not only overhanging trees but also a large number of fallen trees which restrict the navigation. I passed no less than five such trees today on a four mile stretch the Leicester section of the Grand Union, extending to at least half of the canal width. Two of which clearly had been there a long time, probably since the winter, as they were completely devoid of any foliage!

Edited June 14, 2013 by NB Ellisiana

[PhilR]

I wonder whether we expect too much these days. There is an adequate depth and width of water on most waterways and an absence of floating/growing weeds in the channel

In most instances. Anyone who scratches the paintwork on their own cabin sides is probably being too impatient, rather than holding back?

 

If all vegetation is cut back we would have a sterile environment?

 

But, I do reckon that BW/CART have had a history of spending too much cash and resources on infrastructure that is not used by licence paying users. Doggie walkers and cyclists do seem to get a good deal.

[scrumpylurcher]

The stretch of the GU down from the marina towards the A45 road bridge at Braunston was cleared earlier this year by a joint effort from Friends of Raynond, Blisworth Canal Partnership and Braunston Canal Society with the help of CRT. We are at present making plans to start again in October. The problem in the past is that it has not been done regularly, we hope to make ours regular attention and to also work down towards Blisworth. this should make the work easier and to require less specialised equip. Hard work but very enjoyable and satisfying

[Athy]

If all boaters carried a pair of shears on board, and snipped off overhanging bits of bush or tree as they went slowly past, it would make a considerable difference. I know that some do. Our last bit of snipping was cutting back the overhanging weeping willow just below Cropredy Lock (if left, it grows so low that you have to stoop down to see under it, and there is a narrow bit, the site of a former bridge, just below it.) Doubtless next time we pass it it will need snipping again - unless somebody else has turned their shears on it before we get there!

[comfortably numb]

Whilst having just a boat width navigable is adequate, it can be a pain when you have to keep slowing/stopping to let oncoming boats come through. One of the problems if offside vegetation is allowed to grow too long is that it can become more of a job than just lopping a few small branches. I think another rpoblem has been that BWW/CRT's limited rescources in the past have been concentrated on towpath maintenance rather than the offside.

 

I would imagine that offside cutting back would be very costly as well and perhaps this is why it only gets done when a situation becomes desperate.

[Doorman]

We have overhanging trees on our LT mooring that are a pest. Ever tried removing pigeon poo from your paintwork? It's harder than getting a pound off a Scotsman!

[larryjc]

Ho hum, I've got some shears and so will start snipping. But why is it that the worst vegetation is always on a blind bend and hiding a boat coming the other way??!!

[Athy]

Because it is unsafe for people to stop and snip there?

[Scholar Gypsy]

After passing though the wooded cutting just south of Husbands Bosworth tunnel recently, which was quite close to impassable, I dropped an email to the regional office, and got this helpful reply within 24 hours:

 

"We cut offside vegetation in the winter outside of nesting season, we covered around 15 kilometres this winter in the worst affected areas of the South East waterway. This area is on the to do list now for next season. However I will make sure we visit this area sooner to assess and define works we can carry out specifically to maintain safe navigation sooner."

[Doorman]

After passing though the wooded cutting just south of Husbands Bosworth tunnel recently, which was quite close to impassable, I dropped an email to the regional office, and got this helpful reply within 24 hours:

 

"We cut offside vegetation in the winter outside of nesting season, we covered around 15 kilometres this winter in the worst affected areas of the South East waterway. This area is on the to do list now for next season. However I will make sure we visit this area sooner to assess and define works we can carry out specifically to maintain safe navigation sooner."

I was wary about trimming our trees with a chain saw because a family of Great tits have nested in one of our many bird boxes. But thankfully the birds are quite resilient to my racket and simply wait for me to finish before feeding time resumes. We have never seen so many varieties before and it's lovely to see them feeding. We also had a family of cheeky grey squirrels visit our mooring until our lab scared them off.

 

Country life, you can't beat it! :-)

[Phil Ambrose]

Interesting comments about overhanging trees, just thought I'd mention this. It is sometimes necessary in our marina (if the wind is wrong) to go down to our lake and turn there. The problem is that there is a narrow section to pass through with a 90deg turn to make to get round. The only way is to take a leap of faith and head straight into a willow that hangs down into the water, totally blind, there has never been any attempt to trim this tree back though getting the reed cutter in to tackle the reed growth that grew up into the tree did help a little.

 

Phil

[ditchcrawler]

Interesting comments about overhanging trees, just thought I'd mention this. It is sometimes necessary in our marina (if the wind is wrong) to go down to our lake and turn there. The problem is that there is a narrow section to pass through with a 90deg turn to make to get round. The only way is to take a leap of faith and head straight into a willow that hangs down into the water, totally blind, there has never been any attempt to trim this tree back though getting the reed cutter in to tackle the reed growth that grew up into the tree did help a little.

 

Phil

Is that your landlord's tree?

[MtB]

The constant improvements in the state of the navigation ove the last 40 years seem to have caused expectations to grow sky high recently.

 

The thought of complaining to BW 20 years ago that your car-shiny paintwork boat was being scratched overhanging trees would simply have been universally laughed at.

 

Be careful what you wish for. If the cut were maintained to the impossibly high standard you seem to expect, boating would be about as interesting as driving up the M1 and a licence would cost £15k a year. And still people would find stuff to complain about.

 

MtB

The constant improvements in the state of the navigation ove the last 40 years seem to have caused expectations to grow sky high recently.

 

Complaints to BW 20 years ago that your car-shiny boat paintwork was being scratched overhanging trees as you passed would have been universally aughed at.

 

Be careful what you wish for. If the cut were maintained to the impossibly high standard you seem to expect, boating would be about as interesting as driving up the M1 and a licence would cost £15k a year. And still people would find stuff to complain about.

 

MtB

 

 

(Edit to improve my aweful sentence construction.)

[pete23]

The constant improvements in the state of the navigation ove the last 40 years seem to have caused expectations to grow sky high recently.

 

The thought of complaining to BW 20 years ago that your car-shiny paintwork boat was being scratched overhanging trees would simply have been universally laughed at.

 

Be careful what you wish for. If the cut were maintained to the impossibly high standard you seem to expect, boating would be about as interesting as driving up the M1 and a licence would cost £15k a year. And still people would find stuff to complain about.

 

MtB

 

could,nt of put it better meself.

 

the odd bit i pull off now and then meself, but hey ho its a canal not a motorway, even if a lot of folk treat it like one!!