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TheDuker

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  1. How is this in any way relevant to the fact that the Severn at Tewkesbury, or for that matter anywhere else from Stourport down to Gloucester, was NOT "in the red" from 0000 hours Saturday 9 December to 1300 hours on Thursday 14 December. That's five and a half days days that were available from the beginning of last weekend for the 30 mile and three locks passage from Gloucester to Worcester, and during which the river levels remained below the long established height/level ( 3' above normal Summer level) at which the river is deemed to have become too hazardous for pleasure craft ? As for your claim that - ". . and now the Severn is in the red at Tewksbury with levels in the top 10% of levels seen." - I have no idea where you got that nonsense from, but to put things in some sort of rational perspective with regard to the present minor flooding on the Severn, the highest level ever recorded at Tewkesbury was 5.50 metres on 22 July 2007, whereas the river level peaked at 2.89 metres at 2000 hours there yesterday, which is 2.61 metres ( 8' 7'') less than the highest ever recorded.
  2. I agree completely with what you said about the need for flexibility in planning and making the Gloucester to Worcester trip, but, as looked probable from the weather forecasts on the Saturday, there were in fact several days ahead when the chance of river levels rising significantly was virtually nil. Also, as you point out, there is a diversion onto the Avon available, and the trip could be broken up into two 15 mile legs with a stop lowside at Tewkesbury if necessary. I was definitely NOT including you amongst the scaremongers, and I apologize if I gave that impression. I do, however, think it's nothing short of shameful when novice boaters are subjected quite unnecessarily to the sort of scaremongering that was being dished out in this thread in the guise of advice by a handful of people who clearly hadn't even bothered to give the matter a few minutes thoughtful consideration before posting any of their alarmist claptrap.
  3. On Friday 8 December 'Angelique' posted asking for some advice on moving their boat to Ripon from the Gloucester area. The plan was to cover the majority but not necessarily all of the total mileage during the stoppage free period from 16 Dec to 7 Jan (inc). With the river in Gloucester around only 8'' - 9'' above normal Summer level, similar benign conditions up to Worcester and beyond, and a cold few days with some snow forecast for the Severn's catchment area, an opportunity existed from Saturday 9 December over the following few days for 'Angelique' to get her journey underway by getting her boat off the river and into the canal at Worcester in conditions that were as near ideal as could be expected for novices and unlikely to be bettered at this time of year. The mere suggestion that this 30 mile jaunt could be undertaken without delay, however, prompted an outburst of alarmist, bowel emptying, near hysteria from a few forum members shouting the odds about "poor advice" and declaring that "there's no way I would be so stupid as to go out of Gloucester lock at the moment". Contrary to these dire, and wholly ill-founded warnings the 30 mile journey up to Worcester could in fact have been accomplished by 'Angelique' in safety and with water levels below the recognized heights at which pleasure craft are advised against moving. The river levels between Gloucester and Bewdley remained absolutely static until around midday on Wednesday when a slow rise began, not reaching the 'lock/river closure levels' downriver from Worcester until 2000 hrs on Thursday 14 December. Bad advice and stupidity ? . . . yes, plenty of it, and all from a small number of contributors whose real knowledge of the river they claim know so well is clearly limited to the point of being utterly worthless, and whose motives for dispensing that worthless advice appear to be focused on little more than gaining some sort of perverted satisfaction from their needless scaremongering.
  4. You'll be waiting at Sawley for the Trent to drop for at least 2-3 days, and if you haven't done any river boating before then you really should use the time to make sure that both your boat and yourselves are up to making the downriver passage to Keadby. Give all the mechanicals and fuel system a thorough checking over, and also do some running trials/tests to be certain that your engine is capable of operating continuously at full power for long periods - at the very least 3-4 hours. You should also equip yourselves with a suitable anchor and cable as well as navigation lights. With only around seven and a half hours of daylight at this time of year, and short working hours at Cromwell and Keadby locks, you'll need some advice on the best choice of days, and times, for the last leg downriver from Cromwell to Keadby. It would probably be best to go in company with another boat with a skipper having had some previous experience of that stretch of the river, or employ a pilot for this part of the journey, but at the very least, get hold of some copies of the navigation charts for the lower Trent - try Sawley Marina. If you would prefer to have a pilot aboard try someone called Tony Dunkley to see if he's available to help you. He's been boating on the Trent professionally on commercial barges and tugs, with some pleasure craft time as well, for nearly 60 years, so he's beginning to get to know the river quite well by now. You can contact him on 07553 294325 , or e-mail at > tony@canalrivertransport.com <
  5. In that case I have to assume that in all your many trips on the river your boat has struggled for 2 days or more to cover around 30 miles. No wonder you're so nervous !
  6. So, you think setting out on a thirty mile upriver trip from Gloucester "at the moment", with two nights of hard frost forecast and levels up only a matter of a few inches would be "stupid" because of the probability of a bit of snow melting "in a few days" time. I think you're talking alarmist nonsense. Leave it at that.
  7. Well, you have answered the question I asked at the end of my last post, and it's evident that in focusing on the possible effects of the weather alone to exclusion of all other relevant factors, the effect and significance of those other factors is escaping you utterly and completely. One way for you to make a start on widening your blinkered view of the practicalities of Angelique being able to fit 9 - 10 days boating into the stoppage free 22 days from 16 December to 7 January would be to check up on whether or not there are any scheduled stoppages on the suggested route. Having done that, you could then move on to recognizing the fact that around half the total mileage to be covered is on river navigations which, of course, remain ice-free in all but the very worst of cold spells. Another positive factor to take into account is that in the event of a cold spell severe enough to freeze canals, the whole distance from Nottingham to York can be made by river only, and carrying on all the way to Ripon leaves only a couple of miles of canal to cover right at the end of the journey.
  8. Do you really ! And would I be correct in assuming that the paragraph that follows your ill reasoned opinion contains the sum total of all factors taken into account in reaching your conclusion ? You round off your brief summary of weather forecasts for the relevant period with the statement - "We are just as likely to get a few days freezing conditions between now and the commencement of the January stoppages as it is likely to be ice free." - which I read as saying that there is a 50/50 chance that temperatures will drop below zero in the middle of Winter. Do you consider this astounding revelation to be a sound reason for abandoning plans to move a boat, out of necessity rather than choice, over a route of which approximately half the total mileage is on river navigations, or does the significance of this and of the other relevant factors completely escape you ?
  9. They will be a long time waiting for you at Cromwell if you head down the Trent from Keadby !
  10. Obviously the decision on when to make the move north is ultimately yours alone, but there are a few misconceptions evident in what you've said above. Dealing first with your time constraints. The route I gave you might well be around 3 weeks boating if you're treating it as a cruise or an adventure, but as a boat moving job it's 9 to 10 days work at most. As for Winter time problems, ice is in reality the only additional problem that Winter can bring to the canals, and at present the forecast up to early January isn't for cold enough spell for that to be likely. With maintenance standards as they are these days you are far more likely to encounter delays with unplanned stoppages in Spring and Summer when all the decrepit locks are subject to heavier and more frequent use. Finally, with regard to what others have said about being held up by excessively high river levels, fact is that in practice you're far more likely to find this is a problem during late Winter and early Spring than over the Christmas and New Year period.
  11. The most direct and quickest way is up the Severn to Worcester, then on the Worcester & Birmingham to Brum, Birmingham & Fazeley to Fazeley Turn, then Coventry Canal to Fradley, turn right at Fradley and take the Trent and Mersey to Shardlow, onto the Trent and down to Keadby, then Keadby Cut and New Junction to the Aire & Calder, turn left onto the Aire & Calder and along it to Knottingley, off the A & C at Knottingley and down the river Aire to Haddlesey, onto Selby Cut at Haddlesey and along to Selby, onto the Ouse at Selby and then up through York and on to Ripon. This route cuts out all the hard work and time taken up crossing the Pennines that you'll have if you head North from the Severn up the western side of the country. You'll need to check for stoppages, obviously, and if you can't make it all the way in the time you have, then you could just get as far North towards Ripon as you can and finish the rest of the journey over one or two weekends. At this time of year, and being your first time on the tidal parts of the Trent and Ouse, and being fairly new to boating as well, you should employ a pilot for those legs. If you do decide to go this way, I know a retired professional/commercial boatman who would be prepared to take the job on, his fees/charges are very reasonable and he could probably be persuaded to help and speed you up on the canal sections before you reach the Trent as well. If you would like to PM me I'll put you in touch with him.
  12. Welcome to the perspicacious minority, Jenwil ! Does your comment with regard to CRT and the main (navigable) channel arise out of personal experience ?
  13. Yes, Stephanie, it is possible. A company called Fellows, Morton and Clayton provided a regular cargo carrying service with steamers towing horseboats between London and Nottingham in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. From conversations I had many years ago with ex-employees of FM&C who had worked on the steamers, I recall them saying that the boats worked non-stop and usually made Nottingham late on the third day after leaving City Road Basin.
  14. As CRT are not empowered to prosecute under anything other than the General Canal Byelaws, I presume that the prosecution referred to above was to be under those Byelaws. Can you direct me to the specific byelaw which proscribes mooring for more than 14 days in one place?
  15. True enough, I don't, but do you really believe that if C&RT were successful in recovering in excess of 99% of all the unpaid licence fees recorded over a 12 month period that they would refrain from publishing the fact ? Furthermore, paying up after having been caught without a licence does not absolve the offender from prosecution. Were C&RT to prosecute in every instance of an unlicensed boat being sighted on their waterways it would undoubtedly have a salutary effect on those inclined not to pay their way.
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