|
I THINK I have spotted BW's latest health and safety project. The H&S department has to keep thinking up new (and increasingly daft) projects to justify its continued existence—after all, if they solved all the health and safety problems, then most of its staff would become unnecessary.
 Coming up the Grand Union we spotted several locations where a row of four foot high wooden posts had been installed close to the canal. The picture shows the ones at Cosgrove Lock, carefully sited to obstruct the lock landing.
All the locations have in common the fact that they are at places where vehicles have some access to the towpath, usually for access to neighbouring houses, and apparently they have been installed in case one of the cars should drive into the canal. I would love to know how many cases of this happening there have been and whether these are going to be installed everywhere. At Cosgrove they have clearly not considered the health and safety of boaters—and I wonder how long those posts will survive being used to stop boats.
Maintenance
Coming down the Northampton Arm we came across our first serious maintenance problem of the trip. No pictures for the Gallery, since I don't have an underwater camera. Yes, a lack of dredging problem.
The main lock flight was in good condition, but the three long pounds below lock 14 are appallingly shallow, to the extent that in places the boat was barely moving. Luckily, we did not have to pass anyone—if we had, I suspect we would both have been stuck.
BW men were in evidence; they had just finished rebuilding the quadrants at lock 15 and we were entertained by a BW man trying to tow his dumb hopper with his van from the towpath. Unfortunately, he only had a thin rope, which he broke in four separate attempts to get the thing moving. I admired his perseverance, but I doubt if H&S would have approved.
Nene
 Joining the Nene at Northampton the environment above lock 17 has greatly improved. There used to be a shed built actually on the towpath, which made access to the lock very difficult. This has all gone and been replaced by blocks of (rather soulless) flats. Still, you can get at the lock now and there is a decent landing below it, which in the past was missing, which made getting off the river very iffy.
 As usual, the Nene was beautiful and everything was working. Only half a dozen of the guillotine gates have to be worked by hand now, although I did wonder what happens when the machinery fails, since there is no apparent provision for hand operation, even by the EA. All the paddle gear on the top gates has been replaced with a geared system that is not so low geared as to be tedious, as it tends to be where BW have fitted it—the Chester Canal comes to mind.
The only problem is that it is fitted with a device to indicate when the paddle is open which only shows when it is fully open. If some clown has left one half up there is no indication and as all paddles are gate paddles and as the locks empty very quickly a boat could easily be flooded when going down. Luckily we spotted the one we came across before the button to open the gate had been pressed. If you're going that way, be warned—don't rely on the indicators, check yourself.
 Instead of mooring on the embankment at Peterborough, which can be a haunt of undesirables at night, we went into Ferry Meadows, above the last lock on the river. A much nicer spot, with a couple of long pontoons for boats and access to a country park and the Nene Valley Railway. The wildlife can be vociferous, but that is a hazard anywhere on the Nene—Canada geese appear to have no predators and unlike swans they are not mute.
Pontcysyllte
The news that a marina is being proposed for Kynaston on the Llangollen, prompts the thought that it is high time they introduced either a timed entry or traffic light system for access onto the aqueduct. It is already problematic at times, especially when the hire base is turning out, and a marina is only going to make it worse.
David Hymers |
