Boaters in limbo

IN REPLY to Ralph Freeman’s statement ‘how long will it be before your narrowboat is confined to it's mooring through a lack of navigable canals?’ The answer is NOW! Writes Kevin Howell.

We are moored on the Ripon Canal and Oxclose Lock is shut. It is the only way onto the network for over 200 boats.

Very frustrating

So we are stuck on our mooring. We couldn’t go to the boat during lockdown and now we can, but we can’t go anywhere! Very frustrating.

CaRT have done its investigation and state there are two holes in the lock base. One hole is 220mm x 1.2 metres!

In limbo

No intimation when work will start. How long it will take to repair or reopen? So we are stuck. We are in limbo.

Can I have some licence refunded please? I expect not. We are a bit of a backwater and CaRT will be in no hurry (unlike the Audlem super-fast repair). Time moves slowly up here.