Woke to more steady drizzle today but it was a lesser cruising day so we held off leaving the Wedgewood visitor moorings till just after 10. We soon past the winding hole that would have returned our route so now we are committed the the four counties ring.
Surprisingly as I approached Trentham lock a boat was just descending. It was a Norbury hire boat and chatting to them they had terminated their four counties and were reversing the route due to boat problems. She said they had had an engineer to the boat every day of their cruise.... a bit sad for them, I’m sure David at Norbury will make good their disappointment.
We chugged on in the dry thankfully into Stoke which I have to say was in quite a clean canal, hardly any plastic floating so well done to all those keeping the place a little tidier.
Rachel wanted Percy to look like this .... I unsurprisingly disagreed.
We were soon at the Stoke locks and met a rash of boats coming down. All very jolly and we were lifted up the last two locks by the cheerful volunteers.
The top lock is always fierce, even half a paddle at a time got the boat moving about a bit but with a bit of extra drive onto the top gate we stayed relatively stable.
Now my moan... chatting to one of the volunteers her told me C&RT had not brought the tunnel staff back full time hence the timing and booking restrictions. Now in my mind C&RT have had a bit of a windfall during the lockdown, I fully expect a lot of their staff were furloughed saving them cash so to only bring the staff back part time when the system is now fully back up and running it a snub to boaters. I was further frustrated to arrive at Westport to find all the moorings taken. The boat in-front of us at Wedgewood was a tidy private boat and they set off a good hour in front of us this morning. My concerns were raised when they past us coming back towards Festival park at Longport.... Either not booked the tunnel, no moorings at the tunnel or no moorings at Westport lake.
We soon found there were no ring moorings at Westport and not wanting to go to the tunnel to find no moorings for our 11am passage and if they were we’d be in the way for sure. So I have Percy on pins at the end of the moorings ( I’d say about 10% look like occupied boats lots just tied up) Of course in the grass and off the ring mooring the goose poo is everywhere, it’s like the Somme of goose poo.
I may well take a walk up to the entrance later to see how many boats are waiting.... only one has past us to go up there well after the 2pm cut off so he either had an early booking or doesn’t know/ care about the whole restriction.
C&RT should have this essential passage open normal hours to match the normal cruising. An email will be sent to alert them to the not needed restriction. I am turning into a cranky boater but C&RT are playing fast and loose with my mooring and license money by not being fair on boaters or their staff.
5 comments:
Well said!
We are heading South through the tunnel in the morning but going straight through Stoke.
Yes you are getting cranky! Only yesterday you were saying how quiet it was — and today you want full staffing! Also, I’m not convinced that CRT have had a windfall. Maybe you’ve forgotten the extra month everyone is being offered on their licence; how do you think commercial activities have done over the past three months?; and how many businesses which rent their canal side site from CRT are up to do with their rent, do you think? A report last week showed that some landlords have collected only 16 per cent of the rent due this quarter.
Hi Barbara, what time are you booked to go through....? Give us a toot if you see us
Adam, cranky I’ll go with and yes the canals are quieter than normal at the moment and likely t be if the system is not 100% operational, so you’ll not convince me C&RT should be holding back the staffing now the canals are open fully. I still maintain C&RT being the staff heavy organisation they are will have saved a significant sum in wages, might be worth a FOI to see the number they furloughed. The rent will be collected eventually, no doubt compounded into future reviews or collections. As to the extra month, I’d rather have the canals correctly staffed, on the cruise so far all I’ve seen is volunteers, cutting grass and hedges at Aston lock and on the Stoke flight. Also I wonder if fountains have been stood down as is being commented on the towpaths are blooming and overgrowing. I am generally in favour of C&RT, they are doing a better job than BW but they should be more aware of what service to their major stakeholders and staff looks like, that in my experience that is the mark of a progressive organisation.
We are booked for 10 am, Bessie Surtees if you see us first. Just a heads up the majority of the paired locks are broken so when you come out of Harecastle first and second are only working on your left. The bins are over flowing I haven’t seen anything like it, the next two locks are both working but after that only the right hand side. We haven’t been up here for a while and it certainly isn’t like it used to be we too thought of turning back but we need to be at Springwood haven for blacking in a couple of weeks. Take care x
Sounds like they are booking boats on the hour, we are due 11 am so you’ll pass us waiting to go in so I’ll give you a wave. Sad the locks are in such a mess, I got a notice only today to advise lock 66 is out and to use the other paired lock. The bins were the same at Penkridge, I thought it a one off but it sounds like it’s not .... good job the canals are less busy on the ring ( my observation) as when they do get up to summer levels C&RT need to be in front of the demand.
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