If they had only used a bit of sense.
I'll leave it to our Keith who writes:
We didn't get any real rain until late October last year. That's when they unlocked Atherstone and Glascote and let me out.
I still find it extraordinary that they are screaming for us to save water yet still insist that continuous cruisers must move every 14 days and use water by unnecessary locking up or down just so they can fulfil the rule to move every 14 days.
Why don't they suspend the 14 day rule until we get some rain? Makes sense to me—but then it's CaRT were dealing with so....
I'd go through anything up to seven locks in a move depending upon where I was going.
For example, from Rugeley to Shadehouse is just one lock, but from Shadehouse to Alrewas is seven locks.
In the waterways managed by the Canal & River Trust, there are 8,825 boats without a home mooring (known as continuous cruisers), based on the latest seasonal data. Approximately 84% of these vessels hold a valid licence.
So...
Let's take it then that 8,000 continuous cruisers moving every 14 days, as per Canal & River Trust rules, and using seven locks, as you all can easily calculate equals 112,000 locks of water every two weeks that could be saved, that would make the hell of a difference and surely keep those canals open that are being closed all to frequently.
Keith himself keeps to narrow locks using such as the Trent & Mersey, Coventry and Ashby canals to maintain his 14 days movement, but I have met many continuous cruisers using broad locks especially in the north and the Grand Union Canal, and many who move daily to charge their batteries taking in many more locks than the average.
So why has the trust not made this move in view of it's all too often advice to save water by closing gates and paddles, when it could save literally millions of gallons itself by just easing its 14 days rule while the lack of rain persists?
To me it obviously makes sense. That is seems is lacking.
More and more
I learn that during the three days from Wednesday to Friday of last week there were the total of 10 stoppages. That must be something of a record.
With not only lack of water closing waterways, that was to be expected, but broken paddles too. In fact they are becoming somewhat regular at closing waterways, with four of these 10 stoppages due to broken paddles.
I often tell that a bit of prior maintenance of the working of paddles would save many navigations from failing—and so keeping them open...
Closures
There are five new closures our Keith tells us today, Monday.
This starts with it seems a long one, with lock gate 11 failure on the Birmingham & Fazeley, that following an inspection by the local team has been found that the lock gate failure requires specialist repairs that cannot be completed by operational staff. So that will be closed for a while I reckon.
Then it's Swing Bridge 207 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal with its pintle pin snapped so out of action. Then its a Draw Bridge 8 on North Stratford that has had its barriers clobbered by a vehicle. Then it is the turn of the Wolverhampton Flight that is closed again, and again by lack of the wet stuff.
Then Spon Lane is closed, with three of its lock flights out of action.
So five in one day can now rather be termed as 'normal procedure', eh?
Boat crashes at speed into tidal Thames bridge
A police boat with five officers on board crashed into Westminster Bridge on the Thames last Friday whilst attempting to navigate it 'at speed', and such was the impact that three of the officers were thrown straight into the river.
People on boats on the river dragged them onto their boats after getting to the scene, with witnesses telling they heard an 'explosion' and a 'big bang'. All five were taken to hospital, but such was the speed and impact that only one was discharged at the time.
Both traffic and pedestrians were cleared from Westminster Bridge, then it was taped off. There were hundreds of onlookers along Victoria Embankment watching the activities.
Care must be taken
Our own experience of coming out of Limehouse Lock was somewhat scary, with a running tide, so Jan grabbed the tiller—not trusting anyone else—and away we went, taking care at the bridges as that tug pulling barges full of 'waste' caused the hell of a wake, as did the trip boats, but we made it to the Grand Union Canal at Brentford in one piece.
That the police boat certainly did not, obviously not taking the care its helmsman should have at Westminster Bridge, so hit it!
Victor Swift—telling tales for 26 years