Liverpool Link - Self Operation

[TheBiscuits]

12 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Well I've done the rest of the L&L singlehanded, and the swingbridges with controls on the 'wrong' side were a bit problematic!  Also if one or more of the bridges is on a busy road, a singlehander will be holding a lot more traffic up.

There are only two very busy roads on swingbridges on the run in to Liverpool - oddly enough the ones we were not allowed to use until this year.  If you want to be polite, you could always wait for another boat or ask a pedestrian to help.

What I tend to do with singlehanding is to tie a decent sized loop in the end of the centreline that can just be dropped over a bollard so I can get back to the controls quicker.

Although if someone is honking their horn at me I do like to go and ask them if they are alright rather than operate the bridge

 

[Liam]

It shouldn't be a problem for single handed boaters. Pontoons have been put in place at the two swing bridges and there is access on and off at the Stanley Lock flight and at Princes and Mann Island. It just takes some thought.

I don't think there'll be a boat checker to make sure you've booked in but there will be adhoc volunteers assisting in the operation of Stanley Locks. 

[Mac of Cygnet]

12 minutes ago, b0atman said:

When i went one boat was turned back as had not booked pleading ignorance and yes all jetties where occupied that night .

I am same and I would expect that the CRT management for that area has not even considered this.

 

I have e-mailed them for their thoughts on this.

[AndrewIC]

So I went and had a look.... I had forgotten it was Grand National Day!

At Handcocks Bridge (Br 9, Wango Lane), the existing road traffic lights have been augmented with full width electrically operated barriers. The old control box which required the operator to ride the moving bridge has been replaced by a very minimalist control pedestal (two buttons and a key) which is on the towpath side. There are existing mooring bollards towpath side on both sides of the bridge.

At Netherton (Br 6), there are existing interlocked manual barriers (Wrenbury Lift Bridge style) and new wig-wag lights. The existing control box is on the offiside, but two new offside landing stages have been created, with bollards, and there will be access to the roadway and bridge via gates in the railings, using a BW key. The gates were being modified this morning to take the locks.

(

At Stanley Dock, there is a new floating pontoon between the bottom lock and the Derby Road "tunnel", where the quayside is quite high above normal dock level. One possible inconvenience for a single hander might be that the existing bollards between locks 1 and 2, and between 2 and 3, are the far side of the surfaced towpath.

Here I ran into two CRT people who were working a boat through towards Liverpool. They said that the locks and spindle covers on the paddle gear were all going to be removed today, and the whole flight would be boater operated from Monday (At the moment the bottom paddles of the top lock are padlocked and also require a special windlass. The bottom paddles of the bottom lock are also padlocked. All the other paddles are currently either locked with handcuffs or not locked at all.) There were also of the view that Princes Dock Lock and Mann Island Lock would be boater operated as well, but they were a bit unclear on some of the details, or on what would happen to someone locking down without a reserved mooring.

At Princes Dock Lock, there is a new floating pontoon above the lock, the ramp to which is just about visible on the right in the picture. There is a small landing area below the lock, which might be tricky for a single hander going upwards in a long boat.

At Mann Island Lock, there is plenty of room and an existing landing above the lock. Below the lock there are a set of steps disappearing into the (variable depth) water. The gate visible in this picture is one of the reversed flood gates below the lock which keeps high water levels in the dock out of the canal, but normally the dock level is kept below canal level.

 

[Pie Eater]

Thanks for the photos Andrew. We are going in August and your information will help us.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Pie Eater said:

Thanks for the photos Andrew. We are going in August and your information will help us.

We set off that way tomorrow

[Mac of Cygnet]

Excellent set of pics. Thank you.

[Guest]

Excellent pictures and information a big thankyou, this is what this forum should be about NOT the attack on others and stupid comments we often see, well done thanks again.

[AndrewIC]

6 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Excellent set of pics. Thank you.

Thanks. It occurred to me after posting them that I had omitted the new(ish) pedestrian swing bridge at Litherland, despite driving past it en route yesterday! It wasn't there last time we went through by boat...

As far as I know it's manual, and operated from the towpath side. I assume it's kept locked. You'll have to make do with a Google Maps Link

Incidentally, the new swing bridge obliterated the the last traces of the old Litherland Lift Bridge, which can briefly be seen in motion in the first ever episode of Z Cars.

 

 

[Mac of Cygnet]

On ‎13‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 10:00, Mac of Cygnet said:

I have e-mailed them for their thoughts on this.

(Singlehanding the Link)  I've had a reply to my e-mail at last:

Good afternoon,

 

Please accept my sincere apologies in the delay of replying to your email.

 

Bridge 6, Netherton Swing Bridge now has landing stage on the podium side of the canal and Bridge 9, Handcock’s Swing Bridge has had the podium moved to towpath side, which should help yourself with easier access to the controls. You can read more about the improvements here, if not already done so; https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/12715/bridge-6-netherton-swing-bridge-and-bridge-9-handcocks-swing-bridge-leeds-and-liverpool-canal

 

There are set times when the bridges can be operated; 9.30am till 2pm and then 6pm till 7.30am. These times have been put in place to reduce road traffic/boat movement conflicting.

 

The flight can be challenging for a single-handed boater, so we would advise travelling the Liverpool Link during the week, as it is more likely that we will have volunteer lock keepers on site.

 

I hope the above goes in some way of answering your enquiry and if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us here at enquires North-West.

 

Kind regards,

 

Alison Schwarz

customer support administrator

Canal & River Trust, Trencherfield Mill, Heritage Way, Wigan, WN3 4BN  

Twitter: @CRTNorthWest {/quote]

[ditchcrawler]

We came into Liverpool on Sunday when you are unlikely to see a volunteer. We were ably assisted by two CRT chaps who happened to be about, one being Sid of Sid Ditch fame and I must say they were more than helpful, not that they were needed to work things but for advice on navigation. Bridges 9 and 6 are handy for single handers, 9 has the control on the towpath and 6 a landing stage on the offside. The biggest pain if doing it alone is the 4 locks have to be left full.

[Pie Eater]

18 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

We came into Liverpool on Sunday when you are unlikely to see a volunteer. We were ably assisted by two CRT chaps who happened to be about, one being Sid of Sid Ditch fame and I must say they were more than helpful, not that they were needed to work things but for advice on navigation. Bridges 9 and 6 are handy for single handers, 9 has the control on the towpath and 6 a landing stage on the offside. The biggest pain if doing it alone is the 4 locks have to be left full.

Did you get an information pack from CaRT before you set off on  the trip?

[dmr]

19 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

We came into Liverpool on Sunday when you are unlikely to see a volunteer. We were ably assisted by two CRT chaps who happened to be about, one being Sid of Sid Ditch fame and I must say they were more than helpful, not that they were needed to work things but for advice on navigation. Bridges 9 and 6 are handy for single handers, 9 has the control on the towpath and 6 a landing stage on the offside. The biggest pain if doing it alone is the 4 locks have to be left full.

I am quite sad that its become self service, the CaRT people up there are super friendly, knowledgeable and helpful (especially Sid) so it was always a pleasure doing the locks with them. We will be up there in July, I think it will be our 6th or 7th visit.

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