Philip

In relation to the thread about the 1976 drought, what are your memories of the 1995 hot dry summer, particularly regarding locking restrictions and canal closures, and how does it compare with this year? A lot of people mention '76 when recalling droughts and hot summers, but '95 doesn't seem to be as well remembered, even though the late June-late August period was on a similar level both for heat & lack of rainfall; reservoirs in the Pennines were more or less dry by the end of that summer. In 76 the canals were still a little off the beaten track, the leisure market was growing fast, but it was still a long way off the peak, so droughts & canal closures wouldn't have had the same impact then compared with 95 (and this year), when we had reached the golden era of canals for leisure use, with many hire boat bases and a large number of privately owned boats. Would be interesting to hear of any memories and experiences from this summer and how it compared with this year.