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Current state of the Witham Navigable Drains?


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In a couple of weeks we'll be going down to Boston, in company with some friends. They asked me if I thought they'd be able to visit the WNDs and I said they'd probably be too choked with weed by now but would check here for any up to date info. Anyone?

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Can I (slightly) hijack the thread and ask the same question about Kyme Eau?

 

I hope to visit there, and also the WND, on 8-10 August.

 

PS there was a weedcutter moored at Washingborough last week, but I guess that is just used on C&RT navigations?

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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I guess it may depend on the nature of one's prop and drive, but we had zero issue with weed affecting the prop etc. Torksey to Boston. The weed boat was trundling around but just over the range stamp end lock to just below Washingborough, which was a bit weedy but only at the sides.

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I think Kyme Eau is more about water levels

 

Thank you. My understanding of the various guide books (not very clear) is that:

 

a) the doors at Chapel Hill close when the Witham gets too high. There must be a pumping station somewhere to empty the Kyme Eau.

 

b ) in the winter Bottom lock is not useable, as the bottom V doors are chained open and the guillotine is used as a sluice

 

So are you saying it can get a bit shallow above Bottom lock?

 

We seem to slice quite nicely through most weed - but not in Walsall.

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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I guess it may depend on the nature of one's prop and drive, but we had zero issue with weed affecting the prop etc. Torksey to Boston. The weed boat was trundling around but just over the range stamp end lock to just below Washingborough, which was a bit weedy but only at the sides.

Our props are our lowest point on the boat and as they counter rotate they end up wrapped in a ball of weed dragging a mane behind.

 

Usually a good blast of reverse removes it all and the process starts again.

 

When it is really bad we don't bother with the Witham and head out onto the Trent instead, it sometimes just isn't worth the hassle!

 

We will gauge it on our run upstream this week as to whether or not we will be back on the Witham this summer.

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I've only been up it once in the mid 90s so others will probably correct me but I'm pretty sure that is a fine line between deep enough water and not enough air draft. When we visited we moored overnight at South Kyme but it rained hard overnight which meant we then couldn't get under one of the bridges further up. That meant we couldn't wind the boat so had to reverse back a couple of miles before finding a bit that was wide enough to wind. However we only just scraped under the road bridge just before South Kyme as the hire boat we were on had a fixed flue for the heater. As it was we bent the TV aerial, also fixed.

 

The people of South Kyme were very friendly, even bringing their children out to see us. And the pub was good.

 

Went back to Boston in 2012 but water levels were much too high to go up.

 

http://www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk/page13.html

Edited by pearley
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We navigated Kyme Eau in August 2011 with some difficulty in our full length deep drafted boat. There was continuous thick blanket weed above the first lock. We got through South Kyme as far as Kyme Tower, the remains of a mediaeval castle to the west of the village. We decided to stop at that point as it was getting extremely shallow and even weedier. We could possibly have got further with a lot of effort, but It seemed like a suitable landmark to have reached. We then had to reverse a couple of miles through the weed, clearing the propeller every couple of hundred yards. The first place we could wind was above the lock; another possible winding hole which we tried was too far shallow.

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