Thursday, May 03, 2012

Back to New Mills

The title says it all really. We left Bugsworth Basin at around 11:00, stopping on the way out for water and refuse disposal. Then we stopped again at the junction for a visit to Tesco. Along the offside are permanent moorings, and the canal is shallow on the towpath side but we managed to get in with a bit of a struggle.

Groceries put away we set off through Furness Vale and stopped at the same spot we used on the way in; ½ a mile this side of New Mills.

Bridge 32 used to be a swing bridge but has been replaced with a railway-style footbridge.

Bridge 32DSCF0601 Bridge 2

Flob-a-Dob (for those of my age….)DSCF0599 Flob-a-Dob



It's a different world, isn't it.

Furness Vale Marina is an attractive spot, probably originally an interchange wharf with the railway alongside.

Furness Vale MarinaDSCF0604 Furness Vale Marina

Whoops – casualty of the galesDSCF0606 Nb Anonymus
Doesn’t appear to be any structural damage.

Just one bit of exercise today for Mags, taking Seyella gently through Carr Swing Bridge.

Carr Swing BridgeDSCF0607 Through Carr Br
We moored about 5 minutes after the bridge.

It’s ironic isn’t it that BW have put severe restrictions on the use of the Rothersthorpe Flight, dropping down to the River Nene at Northampton, due to water shortages on the Grand Union, while the Environment Agency have closed the river due to high water and fast flow rates. Only in Britain, eh.
It’s put a crimp in George and Carol’s plans. They set off from Stone on Monday and pushed on through the poor weather, aiming to get to the Nene next Sunday after which the locks are closed for 3 weeks. But with the river now closed they’re having to re-think their cruising plans.
Meanwhile Nbs Yarwood and Matilda Rose are stuck at Alwalton Lock, it being unsafe to move on the river.

Locks 0, miles 2

2 comments:

Adam said...

Talking to one of the Buckby lock keepers on the way here to our new moorings a month ago (and reading between the lines a bit), I gather that the reason for closing the Northampton Arm wasn't so much because of the water used by people going down there. It seems that there are some very leaky pounds down the flight, which emptied every night. This of course meant that vast amounts of water had to be sent down every day to refill the pounds -- water which the Gayton level really couldn't afford to lose. I hope some of this rain is going into the reservoirs; round here, lots seems to be going over the spill weirs and into the River Tove.

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