Work for boaters, understanding your perspective, the low down on dredging and much more in this edition.
Summer boating
Welcome to Boaters’ Update. Before diving into this latest edition, please join us in congratulating the Association of Waterway Cruising Clubs on their anniversary. When gathering to found the AWCC, founding members would have been listening to She Loves You by The Beatles, I Only Want to Be with You by Dusty Springfield, and Glad All Over by The Dave Clarke Five.
At Lichfield Cruising Club, where the 60th celebrations will be, it's rather apt then that a group specialising in hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s is the evening entertainment. Here's to another 60 years!
Another fortnight has passed, and frustratingly, another mindless act of vandalism threatened to ruin your summer plans if you were on the Shroppie. Such idiotic behaviour even ended up trapping a holidaymaking boater in the lock.
Thankfully, the local team managed to work to get the repairs done in a relatively short space of time (given what had happened) – you’ll be picking up your jaw after you’ve seen the shocking pictures.
No longer out of order at Audlem
On the evening of 30 July, we had a serious incident at Lock 10 on the Audlem flight on the Shropshire Union Canal. In a thoughtless act of vandalism of the tailgates, which has been reported to the police, both gate collar fixings and the shear pins at the top of the gates were removed. When the lock was in use being emptied, the gates dropped and were inoperable, with a boat stuck in the lock.
The first of our team on site could not do anything to resolve this due to the lifting equipment needed. The following morning, our engineers completed their inspections. Plans were put in place to lift the gates back into position.
However, because of how the gates had fallen, with one wedged against another, we couldn’t use our normal methods to reseat the gate. We needed a specialist crane, which wasn’t available until the following Saturday morning (3 Aug).
Rising with the sun, our team was back on site at dawn and had managed to lift and refit the gates and reopen navigation by 9.30 am.
Vandalism costs a lot of time and money to rectify, money which our charity would rather spend improving navigation for the benefit of boaters. If anyone has any information regarding this incident, please contact our North West Customer Support team at 03030 404040.
Repairs to vandalism at Audlem Lock 10 Shropshire Union Canal (1)
Crane flies in to help
As a boater, you’ll have seen many strange sights cruise past your portholes. The boat that looks like a submarine? What about the Only Fools & Horses one? Either way, if you were anywhere near Ratcliffe Lock on the River Soar over the last couple of weeks then you may have seen something that usually doesn’t float.
That’s right. Heavy machinery usually spotted on a building site was needed to carry out temporary repairs to the lock to ensure that boaters could use the lock through the summer holidays. We were due to replace the aged lock gates last winter after boaters reported difficulties operating the lock. The very wet weather meant that the River Soar was in flood for most of the winter and the works had to be postponed. To avoid closing the navigation for several weeks over the busy summer period, the full-scale lock refurbishment is now taking place in the autumn, and a temporary repair has been carried out in the interim.
We’ve been carrying out regular inspections in the meantime and listening and responding to reports from boaters. It recently discovered that the heel post, which enables the lock’s oak lock gate to pivot open and close smoothly, had split. This weakened the gate and made it harder for boaters to use. As a temporary repair, we have put in a ‘false heel’, which has enabled the lock to reopen for boats in time for the summer holidays, and ahead of the popular Shardlow Inland Port Festival.
Accessing the site is tricky, so we brought in a crane boat to lift the balance beam which meant that we could carry out the repair without having to drain the canal. The lock reopened on Thursday 25 July.
Andrew Morris, regional construction manager, said: “We recognise that boaters have been struggling with Ratcliffe Lock for some time, and we were disappointed that the flooded river meant that we couldn’t go in and replace the gates as planned last winter. I am sorry that boaters have faced difficulty navigating through the lock, but I am pleased that this temporary repair will allow use throughout the summer and ahead of the Shardlow Festival in September.
“We always aim to minimise disruption for boaters so, instead of carrying out a long stoppage in the summer, which would have meant navigation would be restricted for several weeks during the busiest time of year, we have planned the full lock gate replacement at Ratcliffe Lock for the autumn, once the river is quieter. The lock gates have already been built in our specialist workshop and are ready to be installed.”
Ratcliffe Lock false heel bracket temporary repair, River Soar
24-hour turnaround for Trent & Mersey lock
Earlier this week, we received a report of an issue operating Lock 48 on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Our local team, along with engineers, headed to the lock and found that one of the lock gates had been dislodged from its pot (which the bottom of the gate sits in and allows it to move without causing damage.
The onsite team then made preparations to transport our gantry to the lock and then lift the gate, and reposition it back into place. While the repairs were being done, we needed to lower the canal level to safely conduct the work. This means locking up Lock 46 and Lock 48, preventing access to these locks while the repairs are underway.
Given the time of year, with many out on the water, we worked in the hope that we could fix this as quickly as possible and aimed to complete the work in time for this weekend. We undershot that target by a couple of days, as Paul Reynolds, area operations manager, explains in the video below. Watch until the end to see that glorious moment when the gate ‘pops’ back into its pot!
The battle of Milby Lock
As we often mention, your feedback is always appreciated, and we do listen. About six weeks ago, a boater got in touch to let us know that Milby Lock, on the Ure Navigation, was leaking despite the replacement of head and tail gates last winter.
Although the project started in the winter, the horrendously wet weather resulted in fluctuating river levels on the adjacent river Ure, which meant the team struggled with delays in completing the works at the lock. On occasion, the river rose to cover our work. This delayed our repairs, which were only completed in April.
On completion of fitting the head gate, the team tested the gates by flooding the head gate approach area – this revealed a significant boil on the head gate cill, which the team were not satisfied with. The lock was drained again, and further work took place to improve the seal. Another test left the team happier that a good gate seal had been achieved.
As we always do, we inspected and repaired any other faults we could find while working on the gates. This resulted in time spent fabricating and fitting new paddles, frames and stalks.
But, following the subsequent report of leakage, the team returned to the lock a number of times to check on the highlighted issues, undertake some investigations and apply some tweaks. They adjusted the gate collars, put a couple of cill caps on, and operated the lock several times, closing one gate before the other to try and achieve the best seal possible. On the last visit, some boats were locked through with no issues whatsoever.
While we hope that sufficient work has been done, two other factors will affect the seal of a gate. Firstly, gates actually seal better over a period of time through wear while bedding in. Secondly, there is very little head of water at this moment due to low summer levels (not much over 5ft of water) so the pressure on what are large, battered gates isn’t much – in other words, the river isn’t pushing the gates together as much as they will in winter.
Milby Lock, Ure Navigation, top gates before array of works to reduce leakage
Working for boaters – in numbers
While the article above gets into the nitty gritty of a few examples, it just scratches the surface of what’s been happening over the last two weeks. With over 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, it’s nigh on impossible to list everything we’ve done (I’m sure you haven’t got a spare day or two to read the entire list!), but a scan of our stoppage notifications shows that we’ve…
Removed 13 wind-blown trees that were impeding navigation
Carried out ten general lock repairs such as repairing quoins, brickwork and beams
Conducted/facilitated seven bridge inspections
Repaired five bridges
Worked on three dredging projects
Repaired two pump out stations
Worked to control two invasive species outbreaks
Fixed one set of lock paddles
Fixed one customer service facility (such as toilets)
Carried out one boater safety activity (such as placing buoys around hazards etc.)
Repaired one sluice
Repaired one culvert
Fixed (or in the process of fixing) one embankment
Removed one sunken car
Since we started sharing these statistics (12 July 2024), the totals are:
Removed 47 wind-blown trees that were impeding navigation
Conducted/facilitated 32 bridge inspections
Carried out 32 general lock repairs such as repairing quoins and brickwork
Repaired 17 bridges
Repaired 14 pump out stations
Fixed 12 lock paddles
Fixed (or in the process of fixing) 11 embankments
Fixed 11 customer service facilities (such as toilets)
Repaired nine Elsans
Repaired five sluices
Removed four sunken boats
Carried out three boater safety activities (such as placing buoys around hazards etc.)
Worked on three dredging projects
Repaired three culverts
Worked to control three invasive species (Pennywort, duckweed etc.)
Removed two sunken cars
Two stoppages due to nesting birds
Carried out one dive survey
Carried out one pilling project
Annoyingly had to clear one lot of illegal fly tipping (well, one that required a stoppage, there were plenty more!)
The above list doesn’t include any work conducted purely on towpaths, water management, event applications processed and co-ordinated and so on – it’s just a flavour of what we’ve been doing to aid navigation!
Maintenance, repair and restoration work this weekend
As someone who’s out on, or by, the water more often than most, you’ll know that there are times when we need to fix things that unexpectedly break. So, below, you’ll find a list of navigations that have ongoing restrictions that may affect you if you’re planning to get out on the water this weekend:
When restrictions to navigation happen, we get them up on to our website as soon as we can – always best to have a scan before you set off. Have a read of the article below to find out how to get stoppage notification alerts on your smartphone.
If you have any questions about a specific closure, or spot an error in our system, please get in touch.
PS Don’t forget that our winter stoppage programme is published next week!
Gloucester & Sharpness Canal
Getting a boater’s perspective – part one
In a boating context, many of my colleagues wear two hats – both as a liveaboard boater and member of staff at our charity. For those of us who don’t live afloat and only go boating for pleasure, we try to get out on the cut as often as possible to get a better understanding of a boater’s lot. Below, senior members of our charity share the value of their recent time afloat with boaters:
Checking out moorings on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal
As reported by a boating buddy, chief operating officer Julie Sharman demonstrated exceptional boat-handling skills as she pulled into the side at Purton on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. Julie had spent the afternoon getting a better understanding of the mooring situation along this historic ship canal aboard the narrowboat Lutra Lutra. Unfortunately, despite the finesse demonstrated in mooring up, Julie had inadvertently moored in a safety zone!
The veteran bridgekeeper, Nick, patiently explained that mooring is prohibited here due to the possibility of larger vessels being caught by the wind between the two bridges. 14-day moorings are available further along the canal towards Sharpness on the off-side and towards Gloucester on the towpath.
The need for clear signage here and at other locations, such as Gloucester Docks and the canoe club at Saul Junction, is now being reviewed!
Licence support supervisor Sheila Shaw said: “We don’t want to make life difficult for boaters. The clearer signage will help keep boats safe as well as ensuring that short-stay visitors can generally find somewhere to tie up, even in busy locations.”
On the western edge of the network, the Gloucester & Sharpness is popular with craft, large and small, but there are currently insufficient moorings for everyone. The local moorings manager is now investigating whether additional moorings can be developed to enable all those who wish to stay in this area to do so.
Julie said: “I enjoyed my time on the Gloucester & Sharpness immensely. I just wish I could have spent longer there. It’s a beautiful waterway with fantastic views across the estuary. The service offered by the bridgekeepers is exceptional – you feel like royalty as they swing open the bridges as you approach. I hope that these changes to the moorings will make it easier for everyone to enjoy this special place… Without breaking the rules!”
(L to R) Mary, Sean, Mike and Catherine
Getting a boater’s perspective – part two
In this second part, Sean McGinley, Yorkshire & North East regional director, recounts his recent trip out with some boaters and its benefits on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal:
Following a discussion at a Yorkshire & North East User Group meeting earlier in the year, along with area operations manager Catherine Clayton, I joined Mary and Mike Silverwood from Craven Cruising Club on their narrowboat Honley Lass on a gloriously sunny 30 July. We travelled from their mooring at Skipton Town on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal upstream to the winding hole just above Lock 32, Higherlands Lock, where we had lunch provided by Mary and Michael and then back to Skipton.
Michael and Mary were lovely hosts and were also keen to take advantage of the opportunity of having some of the Canal & River Trust management team on board. They recounted their experiences on the canal and made it clear to us that there is still much to be done to raise boater satisfaction.
Vegetation management was a regular topic of conversation, and although the grass had been cut, there was a high fringe on the towpath washwall and some significant growth from the offside. This was clearly evident when moving around the bends with some sighting distances limited. Getting on and off boats was also going to be challenging in some places.
Michael ensured Catherine and I had the opportunity to operate as much of ‘our’ infrastructure as possible to give us the opportunity to experience it from a boater’s perspective. The 10-mile round trip included passing through five swing bridges and three locks in each direction, so we had plenty of opportunity to gain experience! The swing bridges were generally okay to operate, with the exception of Highgate Swing Bridge (No. 173), which was very difficult to get moving. But after some perseverance and wry smiles from Michael, we got it going on both occasions.
The locks were in good condition overall, and I recall that out of the three locks we passed through, we only had one gate paddle and one ground paddle out of action. There was a weak balance beam at Higherlands Lock, though I was pleased to see it labelled as such just before I tried to sit on it!
The wildlife was out in force with many swans, geese, Canada geese, and herons, and there was even space for the odd duck. The towpath was busy with a multitude of walkers, cyclists and a steady number of boats of all shapes and sizes moving about.
As we approached Higherlands Lock, Michael pointed out the poor state of the wash walls along this length, with several gaps clearly evident. It was, therefore, pleasing to see, a little further along, that our direct services team had already started the repair of one section, and other sections were to follow.
There was also much conversation on the subject of traversing the whole of the Leeds & Liverpool, rather than just the part in Yorkshire, with references to, for example, the opening times of the Wigan flight, which I will take up with the North West team.
When we got to the pound above Higherlands Lock, it was about 12” low. By the accounts of those in the area, this had been caused by paddles being left open. The good news was that volunteer Nick and operative Miles were already on with fixing this issue by passing water down from pounds above, and we were able to see it return closer to normal even in the hour or so we spent above the lock. Overall, a great day in good company, and I think both Catherine and I learned a lot about the perspective of the boater and have passed some actions on to the local team.
Dredging on the Montgomery Canal
The never-ending story of dredging
I was struck by a recurring restriction notice for the Grand Union Canal, Leicester Line, near Freeman’s Meadow Lock 41. It said that there remains a build-up of silt near the lock, and boaters should proceed with care. It went on to say that colleagues are ‘aware and are formalising plans to have our dredging team attend site’.
So, what’s happening? Cue a conversation with Peter Birch, who heads up our dredging programme.
It turns out that the Leicester Line, like many of our navigations with river or stream inflows, was badly affected by last winter’s exceptional storms and continual rainfall. This is because the strong river flows over last winter deposited tonnes of extra silt into our navigations – much more than in a ‘normal’ year (if there is such a thing as a ‘normal year’ with climate change).
Other canals where we’ve been continuing to tackle the effects of last winter include the Kennet & Avon, Droitwich Junction and Caldon; river navigations like the Weaver, Upper Trent, Soar, River Aire, and the Sheffield & South Yorkshire, even the predominantly reservoir-fed Leeds & Liverpool Canal. So, at a time when Boaters’ Update typically looks ahead to next winter’s stoppage programme, it turns out our dredging effort is still tackling the effects of last winter.
On the Leicester Line, the river in question is, of course, the River Soar. On the approach to Freeman’s Meadow Lock, a small amount of material is creating an obstruction but not stopping navigation. Rather than pick up a small volume as a standalone visit (because mobilisation costs would massively outweigh the actual dredging work), the dredging at Freeman’s Meadow is scheduled for later this year when we’ll tie it in with work at the nearby Limekiln Lock in the centre of Leicester.
In other cases, where navigation has been stopped, we get in much sooner, of course. Just recently, a deep draughted Dutch barge on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal got stuck on a shelf of silt bought in by a feeder stream and could only free itself by going backwards.
With the nearest winding hole ahead of them, the only way out was forward. The shelf wasn’t causing an issue for shallower narrowboats, so hadn’t been flagged by other boaters until the deep-draughted Dutch Barge was unable to pass. It took about a week to mobilise a dredger to the site, during which time the local team looked after the customers on the stranded boat.
The dredger quickly cleared the obstruction by moving silt aside to allow the Barge to move on, but with the adjoining landowner refusing to allow us to deposit material on their land, a proper dredge of this section will have to wait until we can organise disposal of the silt.
In another location, on the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation, dredging to facilitate freight barges is about to start – again, tackling the post-winter silt, which has made this a much bigger job than when it was when originally surveyed and planned in the autumn, with hundreds of tonnes more silt to be removed than expected as well as disposal difficulties because the storm flows from urban South Yorkshire have added contaminants to the silt.
All in all, the estimate is that the rising cost of the effort to tackle the additional silt deposited last winter across the network will be well over £750k.
So, as we look to this winter’s programme of repairs, a big shout out to those in our dredging team still managing the effects of last winter!
Copt Heath Wharf-Solihull
Your MyTrust account is changing (for the better!)
Many of us use our stoppage system to keep a finger on the pulse of our network. Others, especially if you don’t plan on cruising far, might only receive them for a specific waterway.
When you next log in to your account (after 12 August), you’ll notice some changes:
The biggest one will hopefully be the most improved – the My Notice & Stoppages section has been redesigned to make it easier to use and digest, especially on mobile devices. Instead of checkboxes for every waterway like the old one, it uses a dropdown/search for finding waterways and displays only the ones you have selected, meaning the page will load faster.
Changing your email is now done through a separate My Email feature.
It now matches the rest of the website!
One other thing you’ll notice is that you’ll need to log in again using your usual login details once we have switched to the new MyTrust system.
Green Flag Award® Scheme
Waving the Green Flag
You’ll be pleased to hear that 736 miles of our canal and river navigations have been awarded prestigious Green Flag status by Keep Britain Tidy.
We’ve retained all of our existing miles of Green Flags, with waterways across England and Wales maintaining the standard required for the international quality mark for parks and green spaces. We’re especially happy to have held these Green Flags in the face of significant challenges, not least the extensive damage from successive storms and floods that impacted the 250-year-old network last winter.
The Green Flags further demonstrate the important role the 2,000-mile navigable canal network plays for boaters and local communities, bringing nature into the heart of the UK’s towns and cities and providing popular, accessible beauty spots across the country.
In addition, seven stretches received a Green Heritage Site Accreditation for the management of historic features, supported in England by Historic England.
These are:
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal East
The Shropshire Union Canal from Middlewich to Audlem and Barbridge Junction to Ellesmere Port National Waterway Museum
The Peak Forest Canal and Bugsworth Basin
The Lancaster Canal
Stanley Flight to Wigan Top Lock on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal
The Weaver Navigation, including Anderton Boat Lift
The Trent & Mersey Canal
To achieve Green Heritage Site Accreditation, winners must understand and take action to conserve the heritage value of their sites and help people understand and enjoy the unique history of these places and communities.
Richard Parry, chief executive, said: “Our canals span 2,000 miles across England and Wales, and Green Flags have been awarded the length and breadth of the network, demonstrating the benefits these historic navigable waterways continue to bring to the 21st century. They offer free, accessible green space to millions of people across the country, provide vital homes for wildlife, and support the nation’s nature recovery, as well as being navigated, as they have been for centuries, by thousands of boats.
“These Green Flags are a testament to our colleagues and volunteers who work hard to keep our canals clean and welcoming places for local communities and visitors. Caring for a 250-year-old canal network is a challenge, with our ageing waterways vulnerable to changing weather patterns, daily wear and tear, and perennial problems like litter and encroaching vegetation.
“We are redoubling our efforts to keep canals alive, working with funders, partners and our growing volunteer support. We have also started the dialogue with the new government about the role our network can play – in part illustrated by these Green Flags – to so many communities across the country.”
Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag Award Scheme Manager, Paul Todd MBE, said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved on achieving the Canal & River Trust’s Green Flag Awards.
“The Canal & River Trust’s waterways provide vital green spaces for communities across England and Wales to socialise, enjoy nature, for children to play safely, and provide important opportunities for users to improve their physical and mental health.
“We know that staff and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure that these spaces maintain the high standards of the Green Flag Award. Everyone involved should feel extremely proud of their achievement.
It is important that our free-to-use spaces are maintained to the Green Flag Award standard, making them accessible for all members of the community while ensuring the environment is protected.”
The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.
Green Flag Award-winning parks and green spaces can be found here.
Last Edited: 09 August 2024
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