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Hurleston Locks closure date change


Wanderer Vagabond

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Whilst currently in the Cheshire/Llangollen canal area I thought I'd take a relaxed autumnal trip up the Llangollen, that idea now seems to have gone out of the window since CRT seem to have decided that their initial closure plans were far too sensible.

The original planned closures up the Llangollen were all set for after Christmas with Hurleston Locks due for closure from 2nd January to 2nd February 2018, so far so good. Having now checked it has been decided '...following customer feedback.....' that Hurleston will now be closed from 20th November to 20th December 2017. What 'customer feedback' has brought that about I'd be curious to know. Since Baddiley Lock 3 and a half miles further up the canal is due for closure from 8th January to 26th January 2018 it effectively means that, unless you want to race up and back the Llangollen over Christmas the have installed a blockage on the canal from 20th November until 26th January. Rather than co-ordinating all of the closures for the same period as previously, they have now introduced an annoyance factor for no real purpose. Does anyone know of why 'customer feedback' required the change? 

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This is what really Pi€€es me off about CRT now, the last 3 years they have changed planned winter stoppages at a whim (translated-customer feedback) and messed around with my plans.

If they had shut the Leicester Line in mid September and said, we will open it for a day before the stoppages kick in, I would hav planned accordingly. Instead,  I have planned to move the long way round before the Leicester Ring shuts completely losing several days work. Yesterday they announce a 3 hour opening on 4th November, not only is it announced too late, anyone planning will already be moving, but you cannot guarantee that CRT will actually open it(customer feedback said we don't need to bother) therefore leaving you with no chance of getting round the other way.

The worst example was when I made an 8 hour cruise to get to a booked winter mooring and they had shut the river lock which was 500 yards from the mooring 3 days early as they had finished the previous lock work early!! 

If you announce stoppages, bloody stick to them.

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19 hours ago, dor said:

There was a thread about this several weeks ago.

I would always check for stoppages before venturing onto any canal after the start of November.

I did check for stoppages which was why the plans have been axed. What I couldn't figure out was any rationale for it. Previously it was loads of stoppages on the Llangollen after Christmas, simple, avoid the canal for that period but to now close the most crucial locks on the canal at a totally different time seems to me to be contrary just the sake of it. If the change had been,say, New Marton Lock (due for closure 2nd to 26th January 2018) then so be it, cruise the rest of it, but since you cannot get onto the canal without going through Hurleston (and Baddiley 3 miles further on) and both these locks are now closing at different times it doens't look like much active thought has gone into it. 

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  • 1 month later...

Time for the consumption of some humble pie here. Having spoken with a fellow boater who is currently in Swanley Marina, it was explained to me what the 'customer feedback' was, and I will accept that, not being privy to the argument at the time, my criticism was wrong. Those in Swanley apparently pointed out to CRT that if all of the locks on the Llangollen were done at the same time they'd be trapped in the marina from January until March. By fixing Hurleston first (it has now been completed) it has meant that from November until now they could cruise up the Llangollen and from January they will be able to come down the Llangollen to cruise on the Shroppie. There was actually logic to the arrangement.

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12 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Time for the consumption of some humble pie here. Having spoken with a fellow boater who is currently in Swanley Marina, it was explained to me what the 'customer feedback' was, and I will accept that, not being privy to the argument at the time, my criticism was wrong. Those in Swanley apparently pointed out to CRT that if all of the locks on the Llangollen were done at the same time they'd be trapped in the marina from January until March. By fixing Hurleston first (it has now been completed) it has meant that from November until now they could cruise up the Llangollen and from January they will be able to come down the Llangollen to cruise on the Shroppie. There was actually logic to the arrangement.

I haven't met meany of them out yet, only seen 2 boats today and one of those was a CRT work boat heading for New Marton  with equipment.

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2 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Time for the consumption of some humble pie here. Having spoken with a fellow boater who is currently in Swanley Marina, it was explained to me what the 'customer feedback' was, and I will accept that, not being privy to the argument at the time, my criticism was wrong. Those in Swanley apparently pointed out to CRT that if all of the locks on the Llangollen were done at the same time they'd be trapped in the marina from January until March. By fixing Hurleston first (it has now been completed) it has meant that from November until now they could cruise up the Llangollen and from January they will be able to come down the Llangollen to cruise on the Shroppie. There was actually logic to the arrangement.

Does this mean that those in Swanley can now be termed Limbys - Lock in my back yard........

Still pretty bad planning as quite a few CCers head for the LLangollen as it is usually (I did say usually PaddyR) ice free.

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On 19/12/2017 at 19:15, matty40s said:

Does this mean that those in Swanley can now be termed Limbys - Lock in my back yard........

Still pretty bad planning as quite a few CCers head for the LLangollen as it is usually (I did say usually PaddyR) ice free.

The main line was/is fine just cat ice.Rumour control says that next year they will actually fix the bottom lock,and not just stop the flight,drain it, take pictures and refill It! But then it says oxo on the side of busses but they don't sell It! 

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6 hours ago, paddy r said:

The main line was/is fine just cat ice.Rumour control says that next year they will actually fix the bottom lock,and not just stop the flight,drain it, take pictures and refill It! But then it says oxo on the side of busses but they don't sell It! 

Still working there now boring holes along the towpath

DSCF9954small.jpg

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2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the bywashes were all open with weirs on the other side

 

I've been past it that many times, yet now you make me wonder if I'm imagining it.   The bywashes for the upper three locks certainly go by the offside as you would expect, but I'm sure there is a pipe on the towpath side which takes water past the lock.  It can be seen from below the bottom lock to the left of the lock gates discharging into the main line.

It is possible that rather than being the bywash for the lock, it is a bypass to the whole flight.  Whilst much of the excess flow will be taken up by the reservoir, any excess to the taken by the reservoir would have to bypass the flight.   There is not normally much flow over the bywashes, perhaps by design as the pounds are very small.

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3 hours ago, dor said:

I've been past it that many times, yet now you make me wonder if I'm imagining it.   The bywashes for the upper three locks certainly go by the offside as you would expect, but I'm sure there is a pipe on the towpath side which takes water past the lock.  It can be seen from below the bottom lock to the left of the lock gates discharging into the main line.

It is possible that rather than being the bywash for the lock, it is a bypass to the whole flight.  Whilst much of the excess flow will be taken up by the reservoir, any excess to the taken by the reservoir would have to bypass the flight.   There is not normally much flow over the bywashes, perhaps by design as the pounds are very small.

It could be a pipe bypass on the bottom but I think they would be above it as they are between 1 and 2 

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On 25/12/2017 at 17:48, dor said:

I've been past it that many times, yet now you make me wonder if I'm imagining it.   The bywashes for the upper three locks certainly go by the offside as you would expect, but I'm sure there is a pipe on the towpath side which takes water past the lock.  It can be seen from below the bottom lock to the left of the lock gates discharging into the main line.

It is possible that rather than being the bywash for the lock, it is a bypass to the whole flight.  Whilst much of the excess flow will be taken up by the reservoir, any excess to the taken by the reservoir would have to bypass the flight.   There is not normally much flow over the bywashes, perhaps by design as the pounds are very small.

Checked as I came down today, Just above the look keepers hut at the top of the flight there is a take off point that reemerges at the bottom of the flight on the left looking up, It looks as if the drillers knew where it was and missed it. There is no bywash around the top lock,only the lower three. They are the ones on the right looking up.

I would never have made note of this if you hadn't raised the point, thanks,

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