Llangollen, Bridge 45w reopening delayed.

[casper ghost]

They've had to extend the stoppage to allow for further works. My brother is up by it, he had trouble going up the narrow section as it is very low, he got stuck on the bottom 3 times and his boat is not deep draughted. He says the water level is still dropping, down about a foot now. He's been to the bridge, which is planked off and dry beyond, and he says there is not a pump there, so I wonder why there isn't a pump?

Casp'

[Theo]

We are up there too and very nice it is. Free electricity for a fortnight!

 

And lots of lovely walks.

 

All the stonework is finished the man at the bridge said that they should be refilling the stanked off bit under the bridge on Monday but I don't know how long it will be before they turn on the tap at Horseshoe Falls to refill the canal. Will they worry about all the exra mud that has be stirred up or will it just settle by the time the first water gets to Hurleston?

 

I would add that they have rebuilt the wash wall in rough stone. It joins on to old brick by the bridge and concrete at the other end. I would have thought that replacing in brick would have refelcted the heritage more accurately.

 

Nick

[casper ghost]

So has the level dropped further overnight? I wouldn't have thought the canal would take long to drain away without any flow.. You can't miss my brother's boat, it has a very long front deck and loads of logs on the roof..He won't have anything to make use of the free electric..

Casp'

[Theo]

Just met your brother, Casp.

 

I don't think that the level has dropped by more than an inch or two since we arrived a fortnight ago. It's nine or ten inches down from normal. It's contimua;y topped up from the pumping below the aqueduct. The pump outlet is just byt the swing bridge by the bend before the aqueduct. I suspect that with no flow the level is constant from the aqueduct right up here wheb normally there is a gradient to cause the flow.

 

Nick

[Theo]

Latest news.

 

I went surveyed the owrk tis morning and saw that they had installed stop planks at the other end of the bridge hole! While they were working on the upstream wash wall they had the downstream set of stop planks in and a clay dam to stank off the canal where they wanted to work. All seemed sensible. BUt it appears that today they are going to flood the bit between the two sets of stop planks. Tomoorw they will get the excavator in to remove the dam and then they will have to remove the second set of stop planks. I don't get it. Why didn't they just remove the dam and then the stop planks which were already installed?

[nipper]

Any news of the bridge works Theo?

 

Was the reason why his works has overrun is that it was started late or did CART discover additional works to do?

 

Now that the tsunami that was in the Whitchurch Arm over the last few days has subsided, I fancy making my way towards Llangollen, but very slowly!

 

I'm looking at next weeks sometime, as by then the coal stock would be quite run down and delivery from the Hardware shop can be arranged as per usual.

 

Nipper

[casper ghost]

They have now reopened the canal and the water levels are back to normal. I think it would have a good idea for C&RT to at least notify boaters that they had let the Llangollen arm get very low as my brother was dragging the bottom all the time and got stuck 3 times, he thought he was never going to get free.. Their site says the extension was due to unforeseen extra work.

Casp'

[nipper]

Thanks Casper. I did manage to find C&rt's bit about the bridge, why do they make it so difficult to do so!

 

I am usually dragging the bottom through a few places on that stretch of canal and when I'm at the narrows, I can get off and clean the windows, even wash the boat side, because I'm going so slow. It takes a long time for water to get from the front to the back of a 70 footer on that shallow narrow bit!

 

Great to hear its watered, I'm at the Prees junction ( no good for internet, EE and 3 in the evenings) but will enter the metropolis of Ellesmere later to hunt and track down provisions.

 

Nipper