Possible emergency Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge, Rochdale Canal!

[Peter X]

Has anyone had any recent news of Peter X and Foxy ?

 

ETA sorry just spotted a post about EEL ....glad you're ok EF

Yes, we're fine, although our food supplies are not great. We won't starve, but our menu is rather dictated by what's left in the cupboards. Foxy is a decent cook, and tonight I look forward to a combination of pasta, Taco mixed beans in a tomato sauce, and fried eggs.

[Peter X]

I should add, we've come across CRT staff walking the canal to evaluate the problems, they're aware of them.

 

As we now know the Rochdale is blocked enough for CRT to describe it as closed, maybe the mods would like to move this topic to Stoppages and perhaps alter the title with hindsight? Something like "Rochdale canal flood damage"?

[matty40s]

Keep it here, the more people see it the better.

[The Bearwood Boster]

Keep safe.

Trina

[Emerald Fox]

It looked to me that immediately topside of Lock 12 there's a mountain of silt, not sure if even a kayakist could get through. An ant in a matchbox, yes!

(A calm, dignified) Panic over - river level back to normal, but maybe another swoosh with more rain predicted?

Lock gates maybe 'locked' in place with silt - we'll see on the return trip downhill.

Have just found the whisky shop in Manchester, so things brightening up!

 

Railway now open through Todmorden/Walsden; 'twas closed due to flooding yesterday.

[John V]

Glad you and Peter are ok Foxy

[Mac of Cygnet]

Just had an e-mail from Nigel at Shire Cruisers to say that the boats and their buildings at Sowerby Bridge Wharf are OK, but various businesses nearby have been damaged.

[Peter X]

It's a tranquil scene here at Stubbing Wharf, where I'm loafing about on the boat while Foxy is in Manchester collecting his girlfriend. I had a lie-in and woke to find the fire out but there's no rush to re-start it because the boat is warm enough and it's a mild day.

 

I spoke to a passing CRT man to ask about the state of the canal, and he confirmed it's impassable in several places, some of which may take weeks to fix with work not starting until the new year, hence the stoppage notice. He mentioned a landslip near lock 15 being perhaps the worst problem, and also that there's a crack in a road somewhere a few locks down from us which means there's a risk of another landslip into the canal, and that Foxy may or may not be able to get back to base before returning to Finland.

 

We're hoping to move down a couple of locks (11 and 10) this afternoon when Foxy+1 get back, and gather that these may be operable; we shall see. When we came up on Christmas Day before the flood, the top gate of lock 11 was leaking so badly that we struggled to open the bottom gate to get into the lock.

[Peter X]

I just saw a pair of teenage boys peering into the 6 foot deep hole in the towpath here at Stubbing Wharf, and one said to the other "You won't be cycling along here for a while". As I typed this, Foxy+1 arrived back; we may be off towards Hebden Bridge at about 2pm

Edited December 28, 2015 by Peter X

[Peter X]

It's not all doom and gloom here; we got down three locks into Hebden Bridge today without much difficulty, filled the water and emptied the cassette and moored a little further on, and it wasn't raining. There's a lot of mud about of course, because most of the towpath was underwater.

 

Rumour has it there's not much available yet in the shops here, so we plan an evening train excursion to Sowerby Bridge to re-stock.

A man I met at the water point thinks there may be a boat across the cut at Mytholmroyd, but I couldn't quite understand the details because it was all in a particularly heavy Yorkshire accent.

[Ange]

It's not all doom and gloom here; we got down three locks into Hebden Bridge today without much difficulty, filled the water and emptied the cassette and moored a little further on, and it wasn't raining. There's a lot of mud about of course, because most of the towpath was underwater.

 

Rumour has it there's not much available yet in the shops here, so we plan an evening train excursion to Sowerby Bridge to re-stock.

A man I met at the water point thinks there may be a boat across the cut at Mytholmroyd, but I couldn't quite understand the details because it was all in a particularly heavy Yorkshire accent.

Ah yes I well remember the baffling towpath conversations when we were up that way!

 

Glad you're OK - stay safe and keep us posted

[Peter X]

_{We'll find out what's up at My Tholmroyd (as I gather it's pronounced) tomorrow, as we plan to press on because the BBC says it'll be SUNNY (!) in the morning.}

_{This evening we ate out in Sowerby Bridge then did our shopping before taking the train back to Hebden Bridge, so we're all sorted out now except that Foxy would like to buy coal in the morning.}

 

_{The locals in Sowerby Bridge tell us that beyond there, at Elland on the Calder & Hebble, several boats are stranded on the towpath.}

_{Where the Calder goes under the canal at lock 9 just west of Hebden Bridge, the river now features the wreckage of a yellow van smashed against a pillar of the viaduct.}

[Emerald Fox]

Heard that Elland Bridge has dropped into canal (this being Calder and t'Hebble).

 

Hebden Bridge → Sowerby Bridge canal navigable. Two new 'gravel beaches' have appeared, though.

A constant/consistent line of debris (women's knickers/wigs/Christmas Radio Times) In the trees above River Calder shows how high it got to.

 

'High Tide' mark on vehicles/shop windows/bus stops shows that, if one was walking the dog, the dog would be swimming and one's nose would just be above the water line.

 

We are/were the only boat moving boat on this side of the Rochdale; journey now over, somewhat earlier than expected but boat & crew unscathed. And no animals were harmed in this adventure.

[Midnight]

From what friends in the area tell me the Calder & Hebble is blocked at Elland as the bridge is in danger of collapse there's also a lot of damage and debris on-route to Brighouse. There were two sunken boats in the pound above Cromwell Lock.

 

CaRT issued a notice yesterday before the Elland Bridge problem was reported

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/6143/calder-and-hebble-navigation-navigation

[Mac of Cygnet]

 

We are/were the only boat moving boat on this side of the Rochdale; journey now over, somewhat earlier than expected but boat & crew unscathed. And no animals were harmed in this adventure.

 

Have you managed back to Sowerby Bridge, then? If so, I'm amazed - and so would CRT to get a booking for Tuel Lane!

[Peter X]

Yes, we're moored just above Tuel Lane on the lock landing; Foxy had booked his return trip through the lock so CRT are not amazed to have the booking, but perhaps mildly surprised we got back. We've done them a small favour in that having navigated back here we've shown that locks 11 to 5 (there is no lock 4) are working OK after the flood, and when we met Billy the Tuel Lane lockkeeper yesterday at lock 7 we told him about the silt in and above lock 12.

 

Chunks of towpath are scoured away in several places apart from the three I've mentioned between locks 11 and 12, notably just below locks 8 and 7 the towpaths are closed for repairs, and I gather work has begun on the landslip we never reached, somewhere near lock 15 up towards Todmorden.

 

Mytholmroyd turned out to be no trouble; there were some repairs going on to the road somewhere around there, which we gather has a crack in it, but so far at least the canal is OK.

 

I'm off on a train to Manchester then a coach to London tomorrow, should be arriving home in Croydon just before the New Year.

Our canal of course (all 100 yards of it) has no stoppages, nicer weather, and the same number of moving boats (when Foxy goes home) as the Rochdale; zero.

[John V]

Thanks for keeping us updated Peter.....Hope you (and Foxy of course) have a good New Year.

[The Bearwood Boster]

I think you all deserve a great new year!

Trina

[tillergirl]

I think you both deserve a medal

[Peter X]

I think you both deserve a medal

Not really, it was fun on the whole (for us floating in a nice warm boat on the canal, not for the people flooded in Hebden Bridge) and certainly a memorable experience. The combination of rain, flood and mud plus Foxy's social calendar and short daylight hours meant we didn't go far by my usual standards; we only covered about 10 miles and 19 locks in seven days, but it was all very interesting. Once home in Croydon I plan to post some photos, including a close-up of the Coastguard Rescue helicopter, but sadly I didn't capture the moment when it blew Foxy's hat off. I did rescue the hat as it flew along the towpath.

 

If someone deserves a medal it was the man in the wetsuit who went in to unblock the top gate of lock 12 for us, without whom Foxy's boat might still be there.