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Standedge tunnel.


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My main tip for anyone going through Stand edge is to set your spotlight to shine as level as possible. A few degrees down and you won't be able to see its beam past the boat, or a few degrees up and it will only light the roof a few feet in front of the boat, so aim it level.

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On 2/11/2018 at 18:19, Keeping Up said:

My main tip for anyone going through Stand edge is to set your spotlight to shine as level as possible. A few degrees down and you won't be able to see its beam past the boat, or a few degrees up and it will only light the roof a few feet in front of the boat, so aim it level.

To be honest I could see all that I needed with the portable floodlights that the chaperon brought with him, my tunnel light was a bit superfluous.

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We changed helmsman half way to avoid tunnel blindness.

This was at the suggestion of the CRT guy who guided us.

We got through without a scratch.

The skipper of boat behind us (who took the helm the full way) said he found the last quarter of the journey very wearing, said he had gone google-eyed, and bounced off the sides several times

A most beautiful canal. Everyone should do this. It should be a law.

But you do need at least 3 crew. One at the helm, one with the pole and one ashore doing the locks.

Very shallow and you frequently cannot get to the side to drop off or pick up crew.

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2 hours ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

We changed helmsman half way to avoid tunnel blindness.

This was at the suggestion of the CRT guy who guided us.

We got through without a scratch.

The skipper of boat behind us (who took the helm the full way) said he found the last quarter of the journey very wearing, said he had gone google-eyed, and bounced off the sides several times

A most beautiful canal. Everyone should do this. It should be a law.

But you do need at least 3 crew. One at the helm, one with the pole and one ashore doing the locks.

Very shallow and you frequently cannot get to the side to drop off or pick up crew.

Tunnel blindness?  Never come across that before.  The last quarter , especially going E-W, is quite frustrating, as the light at the end of the tunnel appears.  Then disappears.  Takes bloody ages to get out after you first see the light.

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3 hours ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

We changed helmsman half way to avoid tunnel blindness.

This was at the suggestion of the CRT guy who guided us.

We got through without a scratch.

The skipper of boat behind us (who took the helm the full way) said he found the last quarter of the journey very wearing, said he had gone google-eyed, and bounced off the sides several times

A most beautiful canal. Everyone should do this. It should be a law.

But you do need at least 3 crew. One at the helm, one with the pole and one ashore doing the locks.

Very shallow and you frequently cannot get to the side to drop off or pick up crew.

Not easy for us single handed boaters.

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16 hours ago, Kev's Halcyon said:

Not easy for us single handed boaters.

The whole eastern side is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible for a single handed boater.

You cannot get ashore at most of the lock landings (unless they have done some serious dredging since I was on there 3 years ago.

 

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Just now, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

The whole eastern side is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible for a single handed boater.

You cannot get ashore at most of the lock landings (unless they have done some serious dredging since I was on there 3 years ago.

They haven't, but it is possible to manage singlehanded.  Just nose into the lock tail carefully then get off at the front with a long line.  There are only a couple of awkward ones.

I think we tried the first 3 lock landings coming up from Huddersfield and 2 of those are modern concrete ones where you can not access the towpath anyway.  After that we gave up and just used the lock tail method.

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12 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

They haven't, but it is possible to manage singlehanded.  Just nose into the lock tail carefully then get off at the front with a long line.  There are only a couple of awkward ones.

I think we tried the first 3 lock landings coming up from Huddersfield and 2 of those are modern concrete ones where you can not access the towpath anyway.  After that we gave up and just used the lock tail method.

I'd agree, got up to Sla'w'it no problem, mostly singlehanded, swmbo can't always crew because of health problems. Can't go through because we  have a petrol outboard.

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1 hour ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

The whole eastern side is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible for a single handed boater.

You cannot get ashore at most of the lock landings (unless they have done some serious dredging since I was on there 3 years ago.

 

It was 2 years ago when I did it, from west to east though. The only lock I had a problem with was the guillotine lock, there was no way to get off, but a kind walker shut it for me. There were also quite a few where I left the lock and carried on to the next, then had to walk back to close the previous one, but the distances are so short that wasn't a concern. I did find my best way was to use the ropes to pull Halcyon out of each lock, hard work, but a great experience.

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I found having a crew member at the bow to act as a bow thruster and push away from the worst outcrops of rock helped a lot. As did going slow at the pinch points. The chaperones said most boats that sustain real damage were going too fast

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23 minutes ago, Kev's Halcyon said:

The only lock I had a problem with was the guillotine lock, there was no way to get off,

Yes, trying to pull in below the guillotine is nigh on impossible, but we were advised to walk up to it from the lock before just as you leave Slaithwaite, then go back and get the boat, which worked quite well.

That would probably work well going the other way too - it's only a couple of hundred yards to the next lock landing.

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2 hours ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

The whole eastern side is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible for a single handed boater.

You cannot get ashore at most of the lock landings (unless they have done some serious dredging since I was on there 3 years ago.

 

Nonsense.  I've singlehanded the Huddersfield Narrow several times.  Why do you need lock landings?

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I guess you can leave the boat in one lock while you set the next and theb go straight from lock to lock (in most places). What about the few longer pounds though e.g. above and below staylbridge? What do you do with the boat when emptying the next lock if you can't tie it off to something? Is tying the bow line onto something enough for the turbulence of emptying the lock if you have nudged up to the bottom gates? 

Curious as I'd be single handing if I go that way again...

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9 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

I guess you can leave the boat in one lock while you set the next and theb go straight from lock to lock (in most places). What about the few longer pounds though e.g. above and below staylbridge? What do you do with the boat when emptying the next lock if you can't tie it off to something? Is tying the bow line onto something enough for the turbulence of emptying the lock if you have nudged up to the bottom gates? 

Curious as I'd be single handing if I go that way again...

It's hard work rather than a problem I've single-handed most of it over recent years and found the self-opening / closing gates much more of an irritation than getting on and off the boat.  

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3 hours ago, Dave123 said:

I guess you can leave the boat in one lock while you set the next and theb go straight from lock to lock (in most places). What about the few longer pounds though e.g. above and below staylbridge? What do you do with the boat when emptying the next lock if you can't tie it off to something? Is tying the bow line onto something enough for the turbulence of emptying the lock if you have nudged up to the bottom gates? 

Curious as I'd be single handing if I go that way again...

I usually tie the centre line to the lock beam when going up, then the boat can be hauled in when I've opened the gates (or gate, on the Diggle flight).

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2 hours ago, Señor Chris said:

If anything, emptying the lock would tend to push the boat away from the gates.

It doesn't.  You get serious undertow when emptying a lock underneath your boat - it will slam into the gates if you leave it slack but close to the gates.

To avoid this, pull it *tight* against the gates before opening the paddles, as it will tend to get sucked into the gates. This way it will stay touching them without damaging either the lock or your boat.

You will only get pushed away from the gates if you are so far away you can't get off the boat in the lock tail, which is the technique we are discussing.  I suppose you could let the boat drift back far enough on a long line that you don't get thrown about by the bottom paddles, but then you need to pull the boat another 50 feet or so by hand to get it into the lock.

 

Edit : just noticed @haggis post : I am saying the same thing but with more details.  If you are sat with the nose of the boat in the turbulent water below a lock you will slam into the gates if you are not deliberately touching them *before* you draw a paddle.

Edited by TheBiscuits
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25 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

You will only get pushed away from the gates if you are so far away you can't get off the boat in the lock tail, which is the technique we are discussing.

Well I was certainly getting off the boat in the lock tail - that's the only way you can get off on the HNC! Now I think about it though, it was easier with the boat positioned off to one side where the tail wall is lower, not right up against the gates.

 

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35 minutes ago, Señor Chris said:

Well I was certainly getting off the boat in the lock tail - that's the only way you can get off on the HNC! Now I think about it though, it was easier with the boat positioned off to one side where the tail wall is lower, not right up against the gates.

 

You can always get off in a lock head when going down the other side of the hill :D

I agree that on some locks you need to get off where you can do, but I would then recommend pulling the bow snugly against the tail gates after you are on land.

 

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