Middlewich Branch breach - Shropshire Union

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Would this be a breach berth?

Its can be bypassed via the cesarean section.

[Dr Bob]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Its can be bypassed via the cesarean section.

I thought it was the Middlewich section?

[rusty69]

7 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I thought it was the Middlewich section?

Its also called the Middle-wife section.Leaks like A.Gutter

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by rusty69

[WotEver]

10 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Its also called the Middle-wife section.Leaks like A.Gutter

 

Oh my goodness, I know I’ve gotten old but why did Jenny do so too?

[1st ade]

55 minutes ago, rgreg said:

...years ago we did both "Four Counties" and "Cheshire" rings in a week...

Do you mean you did both in the same week?

Bruceinsanity may have a point - many years ago a group of us (all in our Mid Twenties) hired a boat and planned the Four Counties in a week; the hire company suggested this was ambitious - we proved them wrong by doing the ring twice in the week... Probably taking risks that would be seen as unacceptable today.

[rgreg]

4 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

Do you mean you did both in the same week?

Bruceinsanity may have a point - many years ago a group of us (all in our Mid Twenties) hired a boat and planned the Four Counties in a week; the hire company suggested this was ambitious - we proved them wrong by doing the ring twice in the week... Probably taking risks that would be seen as unacceptable today.

No, one week for each. We didn't "thrash around them" but did put in long days cruising. What you're saying  contradicts what Bruceinsanity is suggesting: your hire company suggested that one week was ambitious whereas he states the hire companies actively encourage it. 

[Dyertribe]

3 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

Whilst not welcoming the breach, anything that reduces the hirers and hire companies obsession with "rings" is good. It only encourages the hirer to thrash on round to "do the Four Counties in a week". Hopefully many of them will discover the joys of an out and back cruise this year with all its advantages, like knowing where the good pubs and moorings are.

Why is it any of your business how people enjoy their holiday?

If hirers want to use their boat as much as possible why should anyone stop them?

You enjoy the canals in your way, let them (us) enjoy them in their (our) way. 

[dmr]

3 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

Whilst not welcoming the breach, anything that reduces the hirers and hire companies obsession with "rings" is good. It only encourages the hirer to thrash on round to "do the Four Counties in a week". Hopefully many of them will discover the joys of an out and back cruise this year with all its advantages, like knowing where the good pubs and moorings are.

Hire boaters like a challenge and like to do long days and notch up the lock miles, so the breach is a fantastic opportunity, do you think its possible to do the complete "4 Counties U" (there and back) in two weeks????

...............Dave

[Rob-M]

When we used to hire we would typically boat long days, often we would start with a plan to do an out and back then end up doing a ring. Our best was the Leicester Ring, started off with a plan to do a week from Pillings Lock to the top of Foxton Locks and back but due to low water levels we ended up doing the ring.

[Cheshire cat]

The hire boat businesses do encourage it. If you look at their marketing they all suggest rings and how long it will take to complete them. Many hirers setting off from Middlewhich would have been looking at the four counties but it is also a popular starting point for the Llangollen as well so they will have to re-plan too.

[kawaton]

I have hired 24 times in total, and in every instance (5 different hire companies) we have been encouraged to do short out and back trips, rather than a ring

I had always considered that hire companies prefer you to do shorter trips as they are financially worse off the further one goes.

but since hire companies started charging for fuel used they are less concerned about distance

Edited March 25, 2018 by kawaton

[BruceinSanity]

11 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

The hire boat businesses do encourage it. If you look at their marketing they all suggest rings and how long it will take to complete them. Many hirers setting off from Middlewhich would have been looking at the four counties but it is also a popular starting point for the Llangollen as well so they will have to re-plan too.

Whoops, forgot this was a bit of a hornet's nest I've just kicked over  . I certainly wouldn't want to dictate to anyone how they use their boating time, especially hirers who naturally want to get a decent amount of use out of the boat after what they've paid for it. But in 40 years of hiring, then sharing and finally CCing, we've met a lot of hirers who seemed to have been given the impression that a ring is the thing to do, and sometimes find themselves over stretched if they get held up on the way round, especially at this time of year or in the Autumn when there's not so much daylight.

Taking an attitude of "let's see how far we get in the first half of the time and then decide whether to turn back or carry on" increases the chances of an enjoyable holiday, seems to me. Novice hirers are frequently uncertain about what's "allowed" and need supporting to do what pleases them. Whether that's trying to set a record for distance travelled or just to chill out and amble along is totally up to them, naturally.

We once met a crew of two couples from the other side of the Atlantic on a Shakespeare out of Mercia. They were at Great Haywood and the ladies were lamenting that they didn't have time to visit Shugborough "because we've got to get to Stone to turn round". We pointed out that they could wind at GH, visit Shugborough and then would also have time to visit the Bass museum in Burton on the way back. They genuinely didn't realise they could ignore the yard's suggested itinerary and were hugely grateful.

[nb Innisfree]

When we were liveaboard ccers we sometimes used to meet a similar friend, now gone sadly, but he was always wanting to move on, never really relaxed, always trying to reach 'somewhere'. It took him quite a while to realise that for retired full time ccers there isn't 'somewhere' to eventually reach (other than than the grim reaper!) Each to their own I suppose but being in a rush to get through the present and arrive in the future does seem to me to be a bit counterproductive. 

Edited March 25, 2018 by nb Innisfree

[nipper]

17 hours ago, archie57 said:

http://www.villagearena.org/newsroom/canal-breach-october-12-1958.html

Repair work finished 16 November 1958

Well, the wash walls on that valley side, down towards the bridge of that part of the canal are in a very poor state now, and have been for for the last few years.

If the problem isn't addressed, it will happen again, quite soon!

Again, where is the maintenance?

Nipper

[rgreg]

21 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

When we were liveaboard ccers we sometimes used to meet a similar friend, now gone sadly, but he was always wanting to move on, never really relaxed, always trying to reach 'somewhere'. It took him quite a while to realise that for retired full time ccers there isn't 'somewhere' to eventually reach (other than than the grim reaper!) Each to their own I suppose but being in a rush to get through the present and arrive in the future does seem to me to be a bit counterproductive. 

As you say, each to the their own. Some people are happy mooring in one place for days on end; personally, after a couple of days I'm itching to move on.

[haggis]

I agree that it is very much each to his own but I sometimes wish that those who like to Potter along would realise that others may wish to progress slightly faster. One day last week a boat moored behind us in Braunston setting off for the junction as we were thinking of setting off 

About ten minutes later we reversed back to the marina entrance, winded and made our way to Midland chandlers where we browsed for a while before setting off again 

We caught up with the boat which had been behind us and crawled behind him to Hillmorton where we did an overtake and helped him at the first two locks 

He said he knew we were behind but assumed we didn't want to go past as we hadn't taken either of the two opportunities where we could have 

I told him that we would never overtake unless the skipper in front indicated that it was OK by waving us on or moving to the side 

He thought for a minute then said he had never thought of that yet he had apparently been boating  for years 

It is not just the newbies who have something to learn :-) 

Haggis 

Edited March 25, 2018 by haggis

[Slim]

I would suggest that the issue (and there IS one) is not how many hours hirers are moving through the water but the much quoted "4 lock miles per hour" mantra. 'Strong' crews can zip through locks quickly and safely  but 4 miles in one hour in a lock free pound ??  I can't ! Not as a matter of course.

 

 

Frank

[ditchcrawler]

6 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

Whilst not welcoming the breach, anything that reduces the hirers and hire companies obsession with "rings" is good. It only encourages the hirer to thrash on round to "do the Four Counties in a week". Hopefully many of them will discover the joys of an out and back cruise this year with all its advantages, like knowing where the good pubs and moorings are.

I think we did one ring when we hired and very few since

[rgreg]

26 minutes ago, Slim said:

I would suggest that the issue (and there IS one) is not how many hours hirers are moving through the water but the much quoted "4 lock miles per hour" mantra. 'Strong' crews can zip through locks quickly and safely  but 4 miles in one hour in a lock free pound ??  I can't ! Not as a matter of course.

 

 

Frank

2.5 lock miles per hour usually works pretty well for me. 

[adam1uk]

3 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

We once met a crew of two couples from the other side of the Atlantic on a Shakespeare out of Mercia. They were at Great Haywood and the ladies were lamenting that they didn't have time to visit Shugborough "because we've got to get to Stone to turn round". We pointed out that they could wind at GH, visit Shugborough and then would also have time to visit the Bass museum in Burton on the way back. They genuinely didn't realise they could ignore the yard's suggested itinerary and were hugely grateful.

Similarly, I’m sure most hirers will just accept that it’s one of those things if their planned route is no longer possible, and go somewhere else.  When the South Oxford was all but shut because of water shortages a few summers ago, we suddenly got lots more Napton/Wigrams/Calcutt hirers coming down Buckby and Stoke Bruerne, and without exception they said they’d enjoyed it, and were surprised how pretty the GU was.  Some had heard it referred to as the M1 of the canal network, and had been put off by the description.  So it turned out they were unexpectedly introduced to a canal they’d been avoiding, and found they enjoyed it.  In this case, people who’d planned to go to Llangollen might discover the delights of the Weaver, for example (and save themselves hours of queues at locks at the same time).  And they’ll book another time to discover how busy the Llangollen is.

[Peter X]

Locks and miles per hour each depend on circumstances, and I suggest the following slightly more complex formula per hour:

3 miles, but 2 if on a canal with lots of moored boats, 5 miles if going down a river.

Or 5 locks with competent crew, or 3 locks if single handed.

[rgreg]

4 minutes ago, Peter X said:

Locks and miles per hour each depend on circumstances, and I suggest the following slightly more complex formula per hour:

3 miles, but 2 if on a canal with lots of moored boats, 5 miles if going down a river.

Or 5 locks with competent crew, or 3 locks if single handed.

My 2.5 lock miles/ hr average is based on a mixture of rivers plus broad and narrow canals over many hours of measurement and is, of course, an overall average so many circumstances are quicker as others are slower. It is just a quick, simple rule of thumb I use and it is seldom very far out for me over a reasonable journey. 

[archie57]

I would think that "Rings" are increasingly difficult to navigate in a week due to the ever-increasing number of linear moored boats, past which we are expected to slow down.......

[ditchcrawler]

17 minutes ago, rgreg said:

My 2.5 lock miles/ hr average is based on a mixture of rivers plus broad and narrow canals over many hours of measurement and is, of course, an overall average so many circumstances are quicker as others are slower. It is just a quick, simple rule of thumb I use and it is seldom very far out for me over a reasonable journey. 

The past 2 years I have done  3 and a quarter  lock miles per hour  

[nb Innisfree]

3 hours ago, haggis said:

I agree that it is very much each to his own but I sometimes wish that those who like to Potter along would realise that others may wish to progress slightly faster. One day last week a boat moored behind us in Braunston setting off for the junction as we were thinking of setting off 

About ten minutes later we reversed back to the marina entrance, winded and made our way to Midland chandlers where we browsed for a while before setting off again 

We caught up with the boat which had been behind us and crawled behind him to Hillmorton where we did an overtake and helped him at the first two locks 

He said he knew we were behind but assumed we didn't want to go past as we hadn't taken either of the two opportunities where we could have 

I told him that we would never overtake unless the skipper in front indicated that it was OK by waving us on or moving to the side 

He thought for a minute then said he had never thought of that yet he had apparently been boating  for years 

It is not just the newbies who have something to learn :-) 

Haggis 

Came across a nb with the rudder out of its socket, owner was waiting for RCR, in over 20 years of boating he'd never heard of such a thing. He was amazed when I quickly popped it back in!