Sunday, October 19, 2003
Traffic calming measures
Looks like BW is going to make sure we have a quiet winter here on the Rochdale. Starting Nov 3, Lock No 1 will be dewatered for six weeks while they investigate the leakage that has been a problem for some time. Hopefully, while they're at it they can check the paddle gear and do some maintenance so that the paddle gear doesn't take ten strong men to operate. I know the Rochdale is called 'the Everest of canals', probably by someone who's never been higher up than The Big One at Blackpool but really... All the canal needs is regular dredging (by that I don't mean once every fifty years either), someone from BW to do the entire canal and see just how diabolical some of the paddle gear is and someone to mow the towpath edges on some frequency that is less than three years between visits.
A few hireboats have been braving the stretch past us, although it's down to a trickle right now. We do expect to see a few more during the half-term holidays, which may not be A Good Thing as the pound between Locks 17 and 18 is woefully low, some of the boats in the marina are again on the bottom, which isn't saying much as the watermark is only about a foot or less below normal. Very little clearance allowed for here on Everest Canal. Good thing there's not many working boats that want to make passage, they'd be strung along like those boats you see in pictures of sea-side areas, listing badly while the tide is out. Two boats came down past us today, which was enough to empty the pound to the level of not being able to keep some of the boats afloat. It wouldn't be so bad if the pound wasn't so big. Two locks worth should not make a dent in this pound but it does. Someone said that when they were dredging on the old 'restored' stretch from the summit down to Sowerby Bridge, they started at Lock 1 and worked up canal, which meant all the silt from each dredging site went.... ummm.... yup.
No winter cruising for us as the two troublesome Punchbowl locks (40 and 41) will be closed and dewatered from Nov-March. We'll be able to get to the summit and back down to the moorings and that's all. Well, we knew a 'restored' canal would mean a few hiccups, but could someone ask the powers that be to stop drinking so much?
A few hireboats have been braving the stretch past us, although it's down to a trickle right now. We do expect to see a few more during the half-term holidays, which may not be A Good Thing as the pound between Locks 17 and 18 is woefully low, some of the boats in the marina are again on the bottom, which isn't saying much as the watermark is only about a foot or less below normal. Very little clearance allowed for here on Everest Canal. Good thing there's not many working boats that want to make passage, they'd be strung along like those boats you see in pictures of sea-side areas, listing badly while the tide is out. Two boats came down past us today, which was enough to empty the pound to the level of not being able to keep some of the boats afloat. It wouldn't be so bad if the pound wasn't so big. Two locks worth should not make a dent in this pound but it does. Someone said that when they were dredging on the old 'restored' stretch from the summit down to Sowerby Bridge, they started at Lock 1 and worked up canal, which meant all the silt from each dredging site went.... ummm.... yup.
No winter cruising for us as the two troublesome Punchbowl locks (40 and 41) will be closed and dewatered from Nov-March. We'll be able to get to the summit and back down to the moorings and that's all. Well, we knew a 'restored' canal would mean a few hiccups, but could someone ask the powers that be to stop drinking so much?
