 | IWA Peterborough Branch www.iwapeterborough.org.uk | |
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14th November 2005
IWA Peterborough Branch have long been concerned at the lack of use of this route not the least because, following dredging work carried out by the Environment Agency, the belief was that the Old Bedford itself was in good and easy navigable condition. It was therefore determined earlier in the year to seek to encourage greater use of that waterway initially by craft entering through Old Bedford sluice.
Unfortunately events conspired against this as the Sluice was apparently not in the best of condition for the safe passage of boats and on 26th July it was closed “until further notice”. That is the bad news: the good news is that it is intended over the winter to make adjustments to the hydraulic mechanism on the gates and more particularly to renew the wooden gates. Reopening is planned for an unspecified date in the spring of 2006.
The news of the closure of the Sluice caused the branch to concentrate efforts on getting boats into the Old Bedford through the Forty Foot Drain (which due leakages in the channel is only filled on request at scheduled weekends) using Horseway and Welches Dam locks. The Environment Agency was informed that the first cruise for the weekend of 5th / 6th November and they warned that the weeds and reeds in the channel between those two locks had not been cut this year so that there could be difficulty in making a passage. However, the participants wished to proceed over the chosen weekend and the expedition continued.
The result was that on the evening of 4th November John and Angela Revell on board Olive Emily and Charlie and Pat Fox on board Bill Badger arrived below Horseway lock. At about 8.00 a.m. the next morning they locked through into the channel, with Olive Emily pointing in the correct direction and Bill Badger proceeding behind in reverse. The intention was, of course, that in the event of progress becoming impossible Bill Badger would be able to pull Olive Emily back in the Horseway lock direction. The reeds in particular were thick and progress was slow. After about 1½: hours only a few hundred yards’ progress had been made and the reeds were closing in even more tightly; the craft effectively ground to a halt. At that point an attempt was made to drag Olive Emily by man/ woman power from the bank while keeping the craft in gear. This was not a great success. Finally it was decided to try to haul her by vehicle from the bank. This was so successful that the same system was used to haul Bill Badger. It was in this fashion that both vessels completed their journeys to and through Welches Dam lock. There was no doubt in the minds of anyone involved that the vessels would not have been able to complete their journey without vehicular assistance from the bank. If vehicles had not been available the vessels would have been forced to retreat back to Horseway lock without accomplishing their mission.
After making the passage into the Old Bedford the two craft had enough time to cruise easily and without incident to Welney and return to the Welches Dam area by nightfall.
The cruise demonstrated that the channel between Horseway and Welches Dam locks was not navigable in any real sense on 5th/ 6th November but that both of those locks were in good operable condition and that the Old Bedford has been restored (certainly on the stretch between Welches Dam lock and Welney) to a good cruising condition for which the Environment Agency can take the credit.
It is understood that the EA is intending shortly to use a hydraulic grab to slub out the weed / reeds in the channel between Horseway / Welches Dam locks. That is undoubtedly what is needed to make the channel navigable again on those weekends when it is scheduled to be put in water.
If all goes well access to the Old Bedford from both the north and the south will have been restored by the spring of next year. Then craft up to 48 foot long could make the journey through Horseway and Welches Dam locks thereby helping to keep the weed-growth on that route in check once the Agency has cleared it out this winter and larger craft could gain entrance through the refurbished Old Bedford Sluice.
Photographs are available for publication with articles based on this press release by visiting Photographs for publication.
For further information please contact:-
Jim Shead me@jim-shead.com telephone 01733 312606
or
Nigel Long secretary@iwapeterborough.org.uk telephone 01773 553782
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The IWA
For nearly sixty years, The Inland Waterways Association and its thousands of members have campaigned for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of Britain's canals and river navigations.
IWA works closely with navigation authorities, other waterway bodies, a wide range of national and local authorities, voluntary, private and public sector organisations to raise funds, lobby for support and encourage public participation. The Association also supplies voluntary labour through its subsidiary Waterway Recovery Group. More than 500 miles of canals and river navigations have been re-opened to public use since the Association was founded in 1946. More than 500 miles of further derelict inland waterways are currently the subject of restoration plans.
The Peterborough Branch area covers from Thrapston in the west to the Old Bedford River in the east and from Spalding in the north to just north of Huntingdon in the south.
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