Now, I'm not a CRT basher. But...

[Mac of Cygnet]

I've got a pair of those long arm blue gloves, and never go  into the weed hatch without one.  They are Showa chemical hazard long arm gloves.  Available from Amazon but cheaper from Screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/showa-690-chemical-hazard-25-gauntlets-blue-x-large/93546

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[johnmck]

27 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

I strongly recommend you try the Rochdale if you are so displeased with the Oxford.  Do the Huddersfield too.

Done the Rochdale. Whilst from the Irk aqueduct down into Mancunia is truly awful and hard work, especially as we did it alone, you expect one of the premier canals accessing the Thames, to be a tad better.

[Dave123]

7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Single file reeded sections definitely add to the charm of a waterway. I was disappointed when CRT cut down a similar section at All Cannings on the k&a. 

Yes I agree! And it is usually possible to squash into the reeds to let a boat past. The section on the south oxford that is like this is straight (as far as I can recall there is only one) and has been like this since at least 2010.

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

Old BW told me that their criteria for operation of any canal  was that a 9 stone female should be capable of using all the locks and bridges unaided.

 

Yes, and they installed the dangerous hydraulic gear (as in paddles that couldn't be quickly dropped in an emergency) to ensure it.

 

Be careful what you wish for ?

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

Yes I agree! And it is usually possible to squash into the reeds to let a boat past. The section on the south oxford that is like this is straight (as far as I can recall there is only one) and has been like this since at least 2010.

There's certainly more than one now. If one section has been like that for eight years, why on earth haven't BW and their successors got round to doing anything about it?

[Dave123]

I thought that they were deliberate for nature/wildlife?

[Wanderer Vagabond]

5 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

Old BW told me that their criteria for operation of any canal  was that a 9 stone female should be capable of using all the locks and bridges unaided.

I'm not entirely sure that the criteria is particularly helpful if they don't specify which 9 Stone female they are talking about. This 8.9 Stone female lifts 110kg

 

[Athy]

4 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

I thought that they were deliberate for nature/wildlife?

Perhaps, then, the weeds'n'reeds should be allowed to extend right cross the canal, so that more fishy and furry creatures may make their homes there.

1 minute ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I'm not entirely sure that the criteria is particularly helpful if they don't specify which 9 Stone female they are talking about. This 8.9 Stone female lifts 110kg

 

Can she be persuaded to become a Volocky at Somerton Deep?

[Dave123]

Ah the bit I was thinking of has a clear channel wide enough for a narrow boat. But it is only just wide enough for 1 boat. There are spots like this all over the system (the western Trent and Mersey comes to mind). They always looked deliberate to me so must be a reason? I also think they add to the charm and variety of the canal.

[Rob-M]

I was discussing the reed beds on the Droitwich the other day, they are inhabited by reed warblers so they can't just be cut back but each year they are being reduced slightly to improve the navigable channel width.

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I was discussing the reed beds on the Droitwich the other day, they are inhabited by reed warblers so they can't just be cut back but each year they are being reduced slightly to improve the navigable channel width.

 

 

When they cut them back the huge reed banks at All Cannings, they found them inhabited by half a dozen hidden CMers...

 

 

 

[Allan(nb Albert)]

14 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I was discussing the reed beds on the Droitwich the other day, they are inhabited by reed warblers so they can't just be cut back but each year they are being reduced slightly to improve the navigable channel width.

I thought that, when the Droitwich was restored, reed beds were made outside the confines of the canal such that wildlife habitat could be preserved.

 

[furnessvale]

1 minute ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

I thought that, when the Droitwich was restored, reed beds were made outside the confines of the canal such that wildlife habitat could be preserved.

 

Quite possibly, but that is no guarantee the tree huggers will allow you to use your expensively restored MAN MADE canal.  Think Montgomery!

 

George

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Deleted - posted under the wrong topic

Edited September 7, 2018 by Allan(nb Albert)
Deleted - posted under the wrong topic

[sirweste]

22 hours ago, johnmck said:

you expect one of the premier canals accessing the Thames, to be a tad better.

There's "premier canals" is there? So this one down south is expected to be kept to a higher standard than the ones up North?

This I assume means there's more money per mile / lock allocated to it? 

[johnmck]

3 hours ago, sirweste said:

There's "premier canals" is there? So this one down south is expected to be kept to a higher standard than the ones up North?

This I assume means there's more money per mile / lock allocated to it? 

Premier as in high usage,  especially in regard to hirers.

[MtB]

12 minutes ago, johnmck said:

Premier as in high usage,  especially in regard to hirers.

 

Ha. You defeat your own argument with this. If the canal was as hard to navigate as the picture you paint, it would very quickly have turned into a low use canal. 

[johnmck]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Ha. You defeat your own argument with this. If the canal was as hard to navigate as the picture you paint, it would very quickly have turned into a low use canal. 

I'm not trying to argue anything, just reflecting.

[john6767]

14 minutes ago, johnmck said:

Premier as in high usage,  especially in regard to hirers.

But the S Oxford is not really high usage once you get out of the range of the Napton based hire boats.  I know it is now Sept and the schools are back but it was deserted south of Banbury last week.  Upper Thames also suitably deserted.

[Athy]

18 minutes ago, john6767 said:

But the S Oxford is not really high usage once you get out of the range of the Napton based hire boats.  I know it is now Sept and the schools are back but it was deserted south of Banbury last week.  

...apart from the Oxfordshire Narrowboats and College Cruisers ones! There was one day when Mrs. Athy and I noticed that there was very little traffic, and we concluded that it must be the hire fleets' change-over day. It was just as well, as otherwise some inexperienced boaters would have met Mike Askin's motor and butty heading North.

[john6767]

7 minutes ago, Athy said:

...apart from the Oxfordshire Narrowboats and College Cruisers ones! There was one day when Mrs. Athy and I noticed that there was very little traffic, and we concluded that it must be the hire fleets' change-over day. It was just as well, as otherwise some inexperienced boaters would have met Mike Askin's motor and butty heading North.

That is more a tidal flow effect rather than the canal being busy generally.  I suspect between them they have about 30 boats (just a guess), so over a week it does not add much.  I consider Braunston to Napton to be busy, say 20 boats an hour on a morning, I don't see the South Oxford having anything like that level except perhaps at the Napton end perhaps.

[Lily Rose]

On 06/09/2018 at 12:49, Athy said:

 

   We were also intrigued by what appeared to be an arm, between the canal and the upper Thames; it appeared to start at Isis Lock and to have moorings, but it looked rather private so we didn't explore it. What is it?

That isn't Sheepwash channel. I think you are referring to Castle Mill Stream which runs parallel to the canal. As you head along the towpath towards Oxford you have the canal on your left and Castle Mill stream on your right. I have walked along there several times over the years but never really paid much attention to the stream.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Mill_Stream

 

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13373026.Canal_boat_squatters_say_cost_of_moorings_leaves_no_option/

 

As you mentioned in another thread, Lily Rose and Trojan crossed paths briefly as we were heading north out of Banbury and you were heading south. But for the unfortunate timing we might have had a chance to chat properly, as we had just spent 6 days, on our way back from a month on the Thames, traversing the Thrupp to Banbury section including one night in Thrupp (moored next to Maffi, with whom I spent much time chatting) and two nights in Banbury prior to passing you.  

 

Despite the various problems, already well covered in this thread, we encountered during the 3 to 4 weeks we spent on the south Oxford getting to and from the Thames, none of them caused more than mild annoyance and did not spoil the wonderful two month holiday we had. Sadly it's over now and we are back to living on dry land at home, at least until a week or so before half term when we will hopefully get one more (much shorter) trip in before Christmas.

 

On 06/09/2018 at 07:36, Athy said:

 

   But yes, the pound by Twyford Wharf is low - wasn't there a rumour that local builders were taking water out of it?

Not a rumour, I think, but fact (acknowledged by a CRT employee I spoke to at the time), except that it was in the two mile pound above the Twyford Wharf pound i.e. the one immediately below Banbury lock. This pound was a good 12 to 15 inches down when we headed south about two months ago but 6 weeks later was only down by, I reckoned, 6 to 8 inches. The amount the builders were taking was trivial in the grand scheme of things so there must have been another reason for the low level and the ensuing issues of boats getting stuck at one of the lift bridges. The builders issue apparently went legal before they eventually stopped.

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

5 hours ago, john6767 said:

But the S Oxford is not really high usage once you get out of the range of the Napton based hire boats.  I know it is now Sept and the schools are back but it was deserted south of Banbury last week.  Upper Thames also suitably deserted.

Surely all of the Oxford is within the range of Napton based hire boats? Did Napton to Oxford and back in a weeks hire with the family in 1978. I'll bet it was harder then than it is now. The swing bridges were generally left closed and I recall one in Banbury with a busy road over it. Vague memories though as I was pretty young at the time. Hoping to make a return visit exactly 40 years later at the end of October.

 

JP

[johnmck]

Capt Pegg. The South Oxford is still a lovely canal. Despite the neglect at the lower end, you will love it. It is a great shame though, that the infrastructure is being neglected especially towards Oxford. The pound at Kings Sutton/Twyford will have to be closed soon though. It has a leak. Apparently CRT are aware,  little comfort to the resident moorers who awake each morn sat on the mud. We did see a Rose narrowboat work boat ,"Slough " heading south with an industrial shredder yesterday, so things are on the up!  

[Athy]

12 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

That isn't Sheepwash channel. I think you are referring to Castle Mill Stream which runs parallel to the canal. As you head along the towpath towards Oxford you have the canal on your left and Castle Mill stream on your right. I have walked along there several times over the years but never really paid much attention to the stream.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that would be it - we were walking more or less opposite the College Cruisers base when I noticed it. - although the Wikipaedia photos don't show any boats, but we noticed a line of moored boats of which some looked to be occupied and others rather neglected.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Athy