Poor boat handling to blame

WE TRAVELLED down the Buckby Flight [Grand Union Canal] on Tuesday, the day before the lock failure, and can report the flight was in good condition, better than it had looked for years, writes Emma Payne.

Newly painted gates and well greased paddles. Okay, the gates were heavy, but these are deep double locks , and they have always been so.

Some of the gates sure were looking old, but all were functioning well.

Terrible boating

What we did see was some terrible boating, over-aggressive use of engine power in the locks, some mighty collisions between boats getting into locks and some very novice crews, doing some very odd things, who refused any advise suggested .

If the gate has failed and it's not due to a boat strike, I will be amazed. If not I can only imagine that the very bad handling of these boats we saw will have accelerated its demise.

In a tricky position

Canal & river Trust are in a tricky position here. Boaters using the boats as Tonka toys will only worsen their maintenance issues. I think there are two sides to these maintenance issues.

As an aside, we have travelled from the Grand Union to the a River Wey and back this summer. The Oxford and Grand Union were in good functional condition. But most impressive was the great state of towpath vegetation—it was a delight to be able to see in bridge holes and moor whenever the bank conditions allowed .

One last condition.  Who is in charge of the Dukes Cut? Because that was like a jungle!