Final boats back at Alylesbury
Late last week, the last of the boats that had been craned-out after the collapse of Lock 12 on the Aylesbury Arm (Aylesbury Arm closed) were back at their moorings at Circus Field in Aylesbury.
Alas, not under their own 'steam' but once again having to be craned-out at the Willow Wren yard, transported to Circus Field then craned back into the water for their winter moorings Peter Lloyd tells us.
Five transported
Peter's narrowboat Gecko (pictured) was one of the five that were transported on Friday, the others being Exe, Earlswood, Black Swan and Jarrah.
Readers may remember the dramatic collapse of Lock 12 on Aylesbury Arm in March, that caused around 100 boats to be marooned, with Canal & River Trust (CaRT) craning out during April those whose owners wanted to cruise during the season.
Still not repaired
Notwithstanding promise after promise from CaRT, of completion of the lock's repair, it still is not repaired, and so again CaRT had to stand the cost of transporting boats back to their moorings. Here's Peter's explanation:
"For those who are not up-to-date with the story so far, here is a reprise. In March, Lock 12 on the Aylesbury Arm collapsed due to inexplicable neglect of maintenance over at least eight years to my personal knowledge.
"CaRT promised it would be repaired in time for August Bank Holiday. In April they lifted out 24 boats who were stuck in the town basin and put them back into the canal in Milton Keynes. For the next six months CaRT made no repairs but paid a team of men to guard the lock 24 hours a day. In August the completion date for repairs was revised to 25th October. In September CaRT revised this date again to 25th November and lifted 11 boats back from Milton Keynes to Aylesbury.
"This left a number of us still out on the system with a repair date which moved away from us all the time like a mirage. Hence the lift-out yesterday. Originally there were 15 boats requesting a lift but some have decided to make other arrangements and so there were just five of us."