River Soar

[viking]

Just got an email from BW to say they have closed the Soar ufn. Just my luck I am sat just south of Leicester about to enter the Soar in order to try and return home (the Macc). There hasn't been that much rain today and the forecast for tomorrow is pretty good, so does anyone have any idea how long 'ufn' might actually mean? I have never experienced anything of this sort before in the summer, and I have to make a decision. Do I sit it out ( I happen to have a superb mooring at the moment, though nowhere near any facilities), do I turn round and go back the way I came(it is going to add a good few days to the trip and involves more lengthy queues at Foxton and Watford) or do I put the boat in a Marina somewhere and go home?

I could phone BW of course, but I despair as to the kind of answer that I may get from Darren and Sharron or whoever answers the phone.

Since I started typing this it has begun to rain heavily

[Richard T]

The problem will not be with The Soar but the Trent. The Soar was still rising tonight as I passed on my way home from work. Will look on my way in tomorrow morning and post again but I think it will be still rising. The Soar goes down quite quickly as it has a relatively small catchment area so water runs off quickly. On the other hand the Trent has a large catchment and can take several days to rise following rain on the west peak district or Cannock Chase, equally it takes time to go down. Speak to the lockie at Sawley for his predictions on when it will open again. You can of course come down the Soar when it opens and moor outside The Albion in Loughborough and get wet on the inside whilst waiting for the Trent to open.

[Richard T]

As I predicted the Soar has risen again overnight, but with a couple of dry days will soon drop. The Trent looks fairly high but there are other things to concentrate on when crossing Clifton bridge so have not got a fix on whats happening to it!!! The thread 'stuck at Shardlow' has the phone no for Sawley in it.

[viking]

Thanks for that Richard. Having had time to mull it over, I think we will turn round and retrace our steps via Foxton, Norton, Braunston etc. There are two factors involved, the first is that I hate sitting about in what is effectively a traffic jam (although there are no boats where I am at the moment!) I would rather maintain the illusion of traveling, even if it is in the wrong direction. The second is that we have the boat booked in for bottom blacking in July and so if we sit here waiting for too long we might miss that as well, that is really the deciding factor.

[Richard T]

For those members interested, checked the Soar again this morning. It is still very high and several days from reopening. The Trent also looks very high.

[Hairy-Neil]

The Trent also looks very high.

 

I crossed the Trent on the A1 yesterday near to Cromwell. I've never seen it so high in the 25 years I've regularly passed this way.

[Acumen II]

The BBC News 24 has just said the Rivers Trent and Idle have burst thier banks. Will we ever get our boat out?

[Richard T]

The Soar has now started to go down-but as far as I can guage from levels will not yet be open. I pass over Cotes bridge which is one of the un-navigable sections on my way to work and judge by the levels there if it will be open or not. I was at Thurmaston last night and levels were still high there but falling. trent still high.

[denboy]

River trent is up 5/6 foot boats queing at beeston waiting to go up more rain forcast for the weekend i cant see it going down much if any before then so stay away from the trent and soar

[Theo]

River trent is up 5/6 foot boats queing at beeston waiting to go up more rain forcast for the weekend i cant see it going down much if any before then so stay away from the trent and soar

 

My siter and her husband in Blake arrived at Belgrave lock with the level well into the red last Friday. Fortunately they decided to press on to Raynsway (Thurmaston) with the encouragment of some others with, I presume, some local knowledge. The are now safely in the marina and , by the looks af things, likely to stay there for some time. If they had decided to remain at Belgrave life would have been much more difficult for them!

 

Nick

[denboy]

My siter and her husband in Blake arrived at Belgrave lock with the level well into the red last Friday. Fortunately they decided to press on to Raynsway (Thurmaston) with the encouragment of some others with, I presume, some local knowledge. The are now safely in the marina and , by the looks af things, likely to stay there for some time. If they had decided to remain at Belgrave life would have been much more difficult for them!

 

Nick

 

thats fine for them but if something did go wrong if the markers are in the red your insuance will not pay out

[Richard T]

The Soar has gone down further but is probably not open for navigation. Given the downpour that I've just driven through it will soon be rising again!!

this will be my last post for sometime as I've now got two weeks boating. We were hoping to go to Gloucester but have abandoned that idea so will probably just potter around the black country, our baot is in Birmingham at present so down to Stourport and maybe Worcester.

[bridgit]

Friends traveling from foxton to barrow on soar yesterday say Kings lock was open to navigation and plenty traveling in opposite direction. Still got friends stuck at sawley though. Bridgit