Where have all the boats gone?

[Tom and Bex]

This is the bottom of Foxton locks on a Friday afternoon at the end of June - mid summer.

 

 

 

We were there for about 3 hrs having lunch with some work colleagues and only saw 1 boat moving. Not a single boat on any of the visitor moorings except ours.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eut8iumxtjkuodt/2014-06-27%2014.34.41.jpg

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s0zdv4a9rwlll7q/2014-06-27%2014.32.02.jpg

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/utx9nwzu4qsb7q8/2014-06-27%2014.30.40.jpg

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Is that where they found the 2nd world war unexploded Ordinance yesterday !.

 

 

 

 

 

(Aaahhh, only joking, you enjoy, it won't be like that for long).

[adam the wanderer]

come and have look at llangollen canal on a saturday and sunday its like the M25

[Tuscan]

Looks like the no return rules and penalty charges are working keeping all the riff raff away , we hope to stop over on the way back to Debdale next Wed/Thursday doesn't look like I need to book.... Being serious it looks like it's now been crossed off as a stopping point by many continous cruisers.

 

The local businesses are suffering and I feel for many of the tourists with no boats to look at

[junior]

It's like the M25 here in Braunston (frequency and speed) at the moment.

 

I was in Foxton last weekend and down the bottom of the locks there were so many different little square plastic signs on the posts that all seemed to contradict each other, I couldn't work out where I could or couldn't moor.

 

I can't see anyone being put off by overstay charges, apart from people who are planning to overstay. What put me off was that the signs were just too bloody confusing to work out if I was or wasn't allowed to moor there.

[Kwacker]

They have heard about the erratic steering on the new trip boat ! Gave me a hearty clout when I was on the water point earlier in the month (no apology), and word has it that I'm not alone.

[Detling]

There were several boats there when I moored a few weeks ago, all only stayed the night and moved on next day. When I returned a few days later there were 4 boats moored as I passed to go up the locks.

[J R ALSOP]

Just come up the Thames from Brentford, now at Newbury on K & A very quite only seen 5 boats on the move today, hope it continues all the way to Bristol and back!.

[pearley]

All the boats are here in Birmingham!

[MtB]

Just come up the Thames from Brentford, now at Newbury on K & A very quite only seen 5 boats on the move today, hope it continues all the way to Bristol and back!.

 

That's normal. I've cruised for days on end only seeing one or two other boats a day moving on the eastern end of the K&A in August. It's one of the things I love about the K&A.

 

Total contrast to here in Braunston, about 20 boats an hour passing me here earlier this evening on the Puddlebanks!

 

MtB

[blackrose]

Here on the Warks. Avon it's very quiet. I went down from Bidford to Pershore a couple of weeks ago and on the way back I only saw one other boat coming the other way all day. That was a Monday, but even on the weekends there aren't many boats moving.

[NB Alnwick]

We noticed that it was unusually quiet earlier this week on the GU above Wigrams - only a couple of boats moored at Long Itch and hardly any on the towpath side above Stockton and Calcutt Locks. OTOH it seems as if everyone is here at Braunston!

[Ssscrudddy]

About 3 weeks ago, from Rowington to Birmingham (Star City) I only saw 2 boats all day (not including the sunken burnt out NB in the middle of the cut near Acocks Green.

[b0atman]

Well Fenny Compton was full on Thursday but as I have said on previous topics Foxton is a ghost mooring.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

come and have look at llangollen canal on a saturday and sunday its like the M25

Lots of traffic cones and average speed cameras?

[patty-ann]

They have heard about the erratic steering on the new trip boat ! Gave me a hearty clout when I was on the water point earlier in the month (no apology), and word has it that I'm not alone.

I quite often sit at Foxton and having witnessed some not sporting behaviour I suggest the trip boat has "attitude" particularly towards hire boats and inexperienced people.

I have also noticed declining numbers moored here.

[junior]

 

That's normal. I've cruised for days on end only seeing one or two other boats a day moving on the eastern end of the K&A in August. It's one of the things I love about the K&A.

 

Total contrast to here in Braunston, about 20 boats an hour passing me here earlier this evening on the Puddlebanks!

 

MtB

Are you still down the puddlebanks?

[George94]

Seems that all CART's efforts to make life unpleasant are paying off. For a short time the nimby boaters from the Peak will have the canals to themselves, then CART will close it all down citing "Not enough demand".

[Tom and Bex]

I can't remember a time this year when the visitor moorings below Foxton locks have been full. Even for the Foxton locks festival we cruised down from Debdale late Saturday morning and managed to easily find a free mooring and there was still plenty of space left. I've never seem it this empty though.

 

Agree with the comments about the new trip boat, and they don't like to slow down even when there are boats moored!

[Ange]

Just met up with mum & dad today at the Red Bull pub in Church Lawton and they remarked that they'd seen remarkably few boats whilst working through Heartbreak Hill (I deliberately avoided any up or down references there - they were working their way south but despite having worked our way through those locks on at least four occasions I still can't think whether they will have gone uphill or down - my brain just seems to freeze up sometimes!)

[Johnnie Mackem]

It`s not just Foxton.

We`ve just completed a trip to Skipton and back from Great Haywood.

There were hardly any boats on the Bridgewater , it was eerily quiet.

Once up the Wigan flight it was unbelievably quiet.

(Had some great company up the flight with Chris and Claire by the way, and Alan and Peter on the way down).

We went for five hours one day without seeing another boat moving.

Other days we only saw a couple of boats.

Same on the way back until Middlewich when it got busy.

I prefer it when it`s quiet but I do like to see the odd boat now and again.

 

[Peter-Bullfinch]

I think everyone must have headed towards Llangollen this year then. Here at Wrenbury its wonderfully busy. The canals from Lancaster to Llangollen have been buzzing this year in my experience...I love it...lots of enthusiastic folk to chat to. Mind you....we did go for a quiet break away from it all up the Monty..blissfull!

Edited June 30, 2014 by Peter Corbett

[junior]

Ive been moored at Hillmorton for the last 24hrs and there has been a boat through every 10 mins or sO for most of the day so it's certainly not quiet here. Last night there were boats on the go right up until 10pm, although that was mostly post Braunston traffic.

[Kwacker]

I can't remember a time this year when the visitor moorings below Foxton locks have been full. Even for the Foxton locks festival we cruised down from Debdale late Saturday morning and managed to easily find a free mooring and there was still plenty of space left. I've never seem it this empty though.

Agree with the comments about the new trip boat, and they don't like to slow down even when there are boats moored!

The bottom moorings were full when I was returning to Debdale in early June, had to moor beyond the footbridge, and very lovely it was too.

[Timleech]

It`s not just Foxton.

We`ve just completed a trip to Skipton and back from Great Haywood.

There were hardly any boats on the Bridgewater , it was eerily quiet.

Once up the Wigan flight it was unbelievably quiet.

(Had some great company up the flight with Chris and Claire by the way, and Alan and Peter on the way down).

We went for five hours one day without seeing another boat moving.

Other days we only saw a couple of boats.

Same on the way back until Middlewich when it got busy.

I prefer it when it`s quiet but I do like to see the odd boat now and again.

We followed five narrow boats up Wigan last week, painfully slowly, with at least one more somewhere behind, but I don't know where they went at the top as there were very few boats moving until we got past the summit, where things suddenly seemed to wake up. Mind you, Silsden Boats must have had many more boats 'in' than out, which is not good for the end of June, lots of money tied up doing nothing. Lock keeper at Bingley reckoned numbers were around half those of last year. My feeling is that the succession of emergency stoppages last year on the Leeds & Liverpool will have put some people off.

 

Tim