If January was our time of hibernation, February is time for preparation.
Preparing for what we need to do, for getting ourselves and the boat to the right place, and making sure we are all where we need to be. It is still a time for planning rather than big movements because this is the winter stoppages season on the inland waterways.
Each winter, when mainly only the hardy continuous cruisers remain on the waterways, Canal and River Trust undertake their major programme of essential repairs and maintenance to the waterways and towpaths. They publish a list in advance for comments, but as with any work to old structures, things can change as it rolls out. Doing one piece of work in one area can flag up issues in another that need tackling, and the significant storm damage this winter already has led to so many more jobs that need doing. This year alone, the planned works were expected to cost around £50m – with the unexpected additions on top of that.
If a lock is closed near you it’s an amazing opportunity to go along and see the incredible engineering architecture of these invaluable structures. When you can see the bare bones, you realise just what lies beneath the water. Sometimes Canal and River Trust hold open days with explanatory boards or experts. You can explore the possibilities online Canal & River Trust
It’s not just closed locks that can bring insight into the architecture of our industrial history – opportunities to watch essential maintenance can be as interesting. Dredging used to be more regularly carried out when commercial loads were at risk of delay. As we’ve seen recently elsewhere in the world – money talks. We got up close to the dredging process and how it works these days on the Trent and Mersey this past week while on the move.
Dredging isn’t just essential for boat traffic – it keeps the ecosystem healthy for wild and plantlife. An excavator with hydraulic legs using a sieved scoop to remove debris and silt from the bottom of the canal whilst letting the water drain back in. The solids were then dropped into a floating barge which was collected periodically by a tug that transported it to a disposal site where the material was moved out of the barge and spread on designated land.
Just as CRT use this winter time to plan ahead to keep the canals operational, we are using this time to plan ahead for ourselves. We moved the boat in two hops this past week, from a mooring where we enjoyed 14 days of ice, storms and calm. We were so grateful that we sat tight when we did and had that period of immobility.
This week I went to see the state of the River Soar where we had aimed to moor, and the narrowboat which was swept away with its entire pontoon mooring during Storm Henk is still blocking the County Bridge at Barrow on Soar, a tragic reminder of the power of flooding water. I feel desperately those for whom Sea Jade was their home but thank heavens they managed to leave the boat in time.
We need to cross another river, the Trent, on our trip into Derbyshire to reach a location where we have arranged to meet a window fitter who will undertake the removal of our good but old windows with new, thermal break, double glazed ones that are currently being manufactured for us in Wigan by Caldwells.
At the moment the river is not in flood, and if we can make that 12 mile, 6 lock hop this coming week we will be able to moor up for a few weeks again.
Once we have our new windows (bliss), we are then planning a longer 114 mile, 4.5 furlong and 70 lock trip that will take us along narrow canals, broad canals, through nearly 3 miles of underground tunnels and on part of England’s only privately owned canal, the Bridgewater. It’s a route we know well and will allow us to move our home nearer to be where we want to be – near another member of the family where we can be of use. But we know we can’t do that journey right now – we can only plan it because of the winter stoppages.
There are three current stoppages that would hold us up if we set off now. Two involve the replacement of lock gates in Stone and near Middlewich. These run from 8 Jan to 2 March so by the time we have the windows, we should be clear to start moving with a purpose again.
It is an advantage of a floating home and office that we can take it where we need to be. After several years of moving where we fancied, last year we ‘hurtled’ (always a strange word to use for narrowboat travel) across 201 miles and 200 locks in 21 days to where we hoped we could be useful. It was a series of very special experiences.
Now we are considering a similar, shorter trip in a different direction – another journey with purpose and the pleasurable opportunity to be able to base ourselves in another part of the country where we can do what our lovely family does so well – support each other.
It is an unexpected advantage of this floating life, which, when we first embarked, seemed such an indulgent, selfish thing to do, one that would bring immense pleasure to us alone. Now it seems that we can indulge ourselves and be of use to family too, giving us the best of all worlds. We are lucky and blessed to be able to do this.
Pickingupducks 