Ivy House Road Bridge, Caldon canal - single handed

[Dave-Shrop]

How can you get your boat through Ivy House Road Bridge, Caldon canal - single handed. It has no access on offside, and because it lifts up it is not possiblr to pull boat through on ropes.

[Idunhoe]

There are a full set of controls on the towpath side. This has been the case for the best part of a year. The two lift bridges between engine lock and the Stockton Brook flight pose a bit more of a problem

[Dave-Shrop]

There are a full set of controls on the towpath side. This has been the case for the best part of a year. The two lift bridges between engine lock and the Stockton Brook flight pose a bit more of a problem

Thanks for that information.

[David Mack]

I managed it single handed when it was operated from the offside. Basically motor right up to the bridge. Leaving the boat mid channel, climb off bow of boat with bow rope onto the offside, tie bow rope to handrail. Open bridge. Use bow rope to pull bow into offside. Clime on bow. Steer boat through bridge, and back stern up to the offside adjacent to the bridge. Climb off with stern rope, tie to handrail. Close bridge. Use stern rope to pull stern into offside. Clime onto stern. Away you go. What's the problem?

[captain birdseye]

The new bridge at Wood End on the Peak Forest has one of the Towpath side posts to operate it from. I wondered what was happening when I came up to it and my wife was still on the towpath side leaning on a post doing nothing, when all of a sudden the bridge went up on its own. I was that used to her doing the umpteen winds of the hydraulic pump.

[Arthur Marshall]

I can remember doing the Caldon on singlehanded twenty odd years ago. Last time I went through before they put the controls on the towpath I didn't even try - I just waited till a friendly bloke came by with his dog and asked him to push the buttons for me. It's a doddle now...

[b0atman]

Maybe some of these swing bridges that are for pedestrians only could be cut down to size.

[ditchcrawler]

There are a full set of controls on the towpath side. This has been the case for the best part of a year. The two lift bridges between engine lock and the Stockton Brook flight pose a bit more of a problem

I have only seen the controls on the opening end of the bridge, not seen them on the hinge side, are they obvious?

[Idunhoe]

The 'hinge side' is in the off side. The control box is on the right hand side of the bridge, standing in the middle of the road and looking uphill (not recommended as a place to stand for too long)

[ditchcrawler]

The 'hinge side' is in the off side. The control box is on the right hand side of the bridge, standing in the middle of the road and looking uphill (not recommended as a place to stand for too long)

I will tell her to look next time we go up there, Thanks

[rupertbear]

As someone who has boated this route single handed many times, I was delighted when the new controls were fitted last year. I had to do the climb on and off method previously.Although the climbing is obviously not without risk it's the time spent under the bridge on the pivot side that used to worry me.

 

As for the two manual lift bridges, nowadays I usually ask a passing walker to operate them for me. As long as the weather is reasonable, most are enthusiastic to have a go. I started to do this after a scary occurrence a couple of years ago.

 

I was underneath the raised bridge on the pivot side, manually passing the boat through. I had hold of the bow rope, waiting to exchange it for the stern rope as it came into reach. At this point, some one opened paddles. The trough was only very slightly larger than the boat, so it started to take off *very* quickly, like a pea in a peashooter.

 

I just managed to hold it by taking the rope across the edge of a piece of steelwork but it was a close thing. I might have temporarily lost the boat, which would have been a real pain, but what makes me shudder is the thought of any of the slack bow rope catching round any part of me on its way out.