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Basingstoke Canal


astalweeks

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It is just possible that if it is transferred on a financially neutral basis (ie CaRT get an endowment equivalent to what is currently spent) then the potentially greater efficiency of CaRT ('a small operation like the two CC's is never going to be be much cop) could see an improvement.

Of course, CaRT's arm may be twisted to take it with a reduced endowment in which case the rest of us will be paying for it - at least we can hope that it means that no separate licence will be needed and the ordinary licence will grant access (save for the fact that we still have to pay NT to get there)

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Successfully completed the second leg of our Hants/Surrey canal cycling adventure. The Wey is not a patch on the Basingstoke in the beauty stakes. Guildford seems to have chosen to turn its back on it. But the White House did an excellent London Pride. The towpath was fairly ropey in places.

obviously I can't comment on the navigation of the Basingstoke but the one boat i did see appeared to moving easily enough. The locks didn't seem to be overly leaky compared to others I have seen but as they only have one set of paddles I would imagine they would be woefully slow to operate.

there seemed to be quite a lot of work being undertaken, such as vegetation being cut back. Certainly more than is done on our local canals.

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3 hours ago, astalweeks said:

Successfully completed the second leg of our Hants/Surrey canal cycling adventure. The Wey is not a patch on the Basingstoke in the beauty stakes. Guildford seems to have chosen to turn its back on it. But the White House did an excellent London Pride. The towpath was fairly ropey in places.

obviously I can't comment on the navigation of the Basingstoke but the one boat i did see appeared to moving easily enough. The locks didn't seem to be overly leaky compared to others I have seen but as they only have one set of paddles I would imagine they would be woefully slow to operate.

there seemed to be quite a lot of work being undertaken, such as vegetation being cut back. Certainly more than is done on our local canals.

The lock gates may appear not to leak to a passing cyclist, but trust me they leak like sieves. In a boat you arrive at the lock and think, "Oh, this one isn't leaking much" but you then work through it and realise that it was all the mud and ash that the Rangers seal the gates up with after a boat has transited that stopped the leakage. Before a Ranger gets back to it to seals it, the water will pour through.

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On 02/11/2017 at 10:37, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

How might BW/CRT have created the water supply the canal needs?

It might well be that the water supply is not as inadequate as all that.  The ranger's main function is to drag leaf litter from the pound on to the upper cill so that the leak, which is often quite serious, is minimised.  It is very effective.  Three minutes work with a rake while balanced with one leg either side of the mitre and the leak reduces from a torrent to a dribble.  If the leaf litter isn't enough to do the trick then they collect a barrow load of rotting wood chips from one of the heaps strategically placed

We enjoyed our trip hugely but found the attitude of towpath walkers rather disappointing.  I suppose that it is a result of being is a very wealthy area.  Perhaps some of the very wealthy remain that way because they are suspicious of strangers.

Edited by Theo
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18 hours ago, Theo said:

It might well be that the water supply is not as inadequate as all that.  The ranger's main function is to drag leaf litter from the pound on to the upper cill so that the leak, which is often quite serious, is minimised.  It is very effective.  Three minutes work with a rake while balanced with one leg either side of the mitre and the leak reduces from a torrent to a dribble.  If the leaf litter isn't enough to do the trick then they collect a barrow load of rotting wood chips from one of the heaps strategically placed

We enjoyed our trip hugely but found the attitude of towpath walkers rather disappointing.  I suppose that it is a result of being is a very wealthy area.  Perhaps some of the very wealthy remain that way because they are suspicious of strangers.

What exactly do you mean by the attitude of towpath walkers?

Having come from that area I can tell you that most of the locals would laugh at your comment about it being a very wealthy area.

Keith 

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I cruised to Odiham and back this October and have been meaning to write a line or two to encourage others to visit the Basingstoke. This thread has galvanised me. It is really a beautiful canal, mainly due to the huge number of mature trees and the flashes. Much of the time it was like boating through a forest. We actually found all the locks in good condition and had no issues with water levels. What was noticeable was how delighted almost everyone we passed was to see boats travelling along the canal (we were sharing locks with another boat). Some locals said they had lived by the canal for years and never seen a boat moving! I don't see why the need to book locks should put people off visiting. It means you can be guaranteed passage with no worries of queues :)

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On 04/11/2017 at 12:17, Steilsteven said:

What exactly do you mean by the attitude of towpath walkers?

Having come from that area I can tell you that most of the locals would laugh at your comment about it being a very wealthy area.

Keith 

Ah! Yes.  Caught out in a generalisation.  I should not have made the comment in the first place.  It was unnecessary.  I suppose that I was unthinkingly commenting about an impression that I had of people being unwilling to exchange pleasantries.  I am sure that this an impression taken from the three or four that I met who gave that impression.

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My brother lives in Fleet and frequently visits the Fox and Hounds alongside the Canal. I have been known to accompany him for lunch.

Presently on the K&A. Not been on the Basingstoke. Is it worth the effort to get along to the Basingstoke next year before going North again? 

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45 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

My brother lives in Fleet and frequently visits the Fox and Hounds alongside the Canal. I have been known to accompany him for lunch.

Presently on the K&A. Not been on the Basingstoke. Is it worth the effort to get along to the Basingstoke next year before going North again? 

Absolutely.  The top section is the most beautiful but may require some ingenuity to get under Pondtail Bridge and Reading Road South Bridge.  Theodora has a fairly high top plank and to make the trip we filled the water tank then gathered every container we could lay our hands on and but all those in the hold as far forward as we could manage and, of course had both of us in the bow to gain that extra half inch.  With no steerer we handed the boat under the bridge and succeeded with about half an inch to spare.  I think that our normal air draught is about 5' 6" and we were able to reduce it to about 5'.  Don't take these data as Gospel, though.  There will be someone along soon who will be able to tell you exactly what you need to get through.

N

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On 07/11/2017 at 19:21, Theo said:

Absolutely.  The top section is the most beautiful but may require some ingenuity to get under Pondtail Bridge and Reading Road South Bridge.  Theodora has a fairly high top plank and to make the trip we filled the water tank then gathered every container we could lay our hands on and but all those in the hold as far forward as we could manage and, of course had both of us in the bow to gain that extra half inch.  With no steerer we handed the boat under the bridge and succeeded with about half an inch to spare.  I think that our normal air draught is about 5' 6" and we were able to reduce it to about 5'.  Don't take these data as Gospel, though.  There will be someone along soon who will be able to tell you exactly what you need to get through.

N

The air draft on Reading Road South is entirely a product of the water level - 5' 10.5" I believe is the quoted nominal air draft - I have seen it at 6' 0" and as low as about 5' 1" - it's a very long pound - Ash Lock to King John's (Odiham) Castle - must say I have never had an issue with Pondtail Old (or new) other than to have to crouch down a bit but just be aware the gap between the bridges is about 3' and one bridge is offset from the other by about 2' so you need to 'wiggle' in the middle - there is a winding hole just downstream (to the east) of Pondtail.

Edited by Leo No2
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35 minutes ago, Leo No2 said:

The air draft on Reading Road South is entirely a product of the water level - 5' 10.5" I believe is the quoted nominal air draft - I have seen it at 6' 0" and as low as about 5' 1" - it's a very long pound - Ash Lock to King John's (Odiham) Castle - must say I have never had an issue with Pondtail Old (or new) other than to have to crouch down a bit but just be aware the gap between the bridges is about 3' and one bridge is offset from the other by about 2' so you need to 'wiggle' in the middle - there is a winding hole just downstream (to the east) of Pondtail.

The Book states that Reading Road South Bridge is ,as you said 5 Feet 10 Inches although I have taken a Boat with an Air Draft of 6 feet one and a half inches through it Just!

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On 11/9/2017 at 17:41, cereal tiller said:

The Book states that Reading Road South Bridge is ,as you said 5 Feet 10 Inches although I have taken a Boat with an Air Draft of 6 feet one and a half inches through it Just!

I think I'd agree with that, all we did was take the top boxes off. We measured to try to go though Dudley tunnel and we came up as 5'8" although our tumblehome stopped us going through. Reading Road Bridge we had plenty spare, Broadford Bridge and the following railway bridge were slightly more challenging on the Wey as the water level had gone up between passing going upstream and returning going downstream.

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11 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I think I'd agree with that, all we did was take the top boxes off. We measured to try to go though Dudley tunnel and we came up as 5'8" although our tumblehome stopped us going through. Reading Road Bridge we had plenty spare, Broadford Bridge and the following railway bridge were slightly more challenging on the Wey as the water level had gone up between passing going upstream and returning going downstream.

Broadford Bridge is amazingly deceptive - so much better than it used to be now that there are the gauges each side - but one thing to remember with the Wey is that it goes into flood and out of flood very quickly so it is always better to wait at Unstead Lock if in any doubt.  This is a useful publication for the Wey.

Broadford Bridge

  • Fall 1.92m (6’ 4”)

  • Air gap scale boards are situated 100m above and below the bridge on

    the non-towpath side of the navigation to allow you to check air gap.

  • Broadford Bridge is the lowest on the Navigation and should be navigated cautiously. In normal conditions the clearance is only 6ft 4in, but this reduces in times of high water and some craft may be unable to pass.

  • At the upstream end of Stonebridge Wharf is “Guns Mouth”. This is where the Bramley Stream and the Wey and Arun Canal join the Navigation. It is not suitable for navigation. The Wey and Arun Canal is currently under restoration by the Wey and Arun Canal Trust. They have restored several sections, including a 11⁄2 mile stretch near Loxwood in Sussex, from where they run a trip boat.

  • Turning point at Guns Mouth.

Edited to add this link (https://riverweyconditionsnt.wordpress.com) which has up-to-date information on the River Wey conditions.

Edited by Leo No2
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1 hour ago, Leo No2 said:

Broadford Bridge is amazingly deceptive - so much better than it used to be now that there are the gauges each side - but one thing to remember with the Wey is that it goes into flood and out of flood very quickly so it is always better to wait at Unstead Lock if in any doubt.  This is a useful publication for the Wey.

Broadford Bridge

  • Fall 1.92m (6’ 4”)

  • Air gap scale boards are situated 100m above and below the bridge on

    the non-towpath side of the navigation to allow you to check air gap.

  • Broadford Bridge is the lowest on the Navigation and should be navigated cautiously. In normal conditions the clearance is only 6ft 4in, but this reduces in times of high water and some craft may be unable to pass.

  • At the upstream end of Stonebridge Wharf is “Guns Mouth”. This is where the Bramley Stream and the Wey and Arun Canal join the Navigation. It is not suitable for navigation. The Wey and Arun Canal is currently under restoration by the Wey and Arun Canal Trust. They have restored several sections, including a 11⁄2 mile stretch near Loxwood in Sussex, from where they run a trip boat.

  • Turning point at Guns Mouth.

Edited to add this link (https://riverweyconditionsnt.wordpress.com) which has up-to-date information on the River Wey conditions.

I notice that the max draft of the Godalming navigation is stated ad 2'6" but I  know that NBT's boats go as far as Godalming wharf each year part loaded. Any idea why there should be such an anomaly?

Keith

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1 hour ago, Steilsteven said:

I notice that the max draft of the Godalming navigation is stated ad 2'6" but I  know that NBT's boats go as far as Godalming wharf each year part loaded. Any idea why there should be such an anomaly?

Keith

They do indeed, I was aboard for that this year. I don't know what our draft was, but would hazard a guess at around 3'0" give or take a few inches. We really had to clear the roof to get under that low bridge coming back down.

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On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 12:35, Steilsteven said:

I notice that the max draft of the Godalming navigation is stated ad 2'6" but I  know that NBT's boats go as far as Godalming wharf each year part loaded. Any idea why there should be such an anomaly?

Keith

We have taken Fulbourne , drawing 3 ft, up to the end of the Godalming Navigation.

Mind you, we did run out of water on the way up, just before we got to the end.

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We did  the BC  in  August this year and really enjoyed it, we found the locks easy to use, no problems with water levels,  the people we met were so friendly and excited to see boats moving I thought they must all be members of the canal society. The landlord of the Fox and Hounds ran a hose out to the boat to fill the water tank and came aboard for a look around, he would like a boat of his own in the future the landlady definitely not.  We will definitely revisit in the future. 

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