Navigating to Sheffield
This was first published in IWA West Riding's Milepost in November 2016, reporting on a journey towards the Leeds and Liverpool bi-centenary flotilla and the navigational issues that arose from it.
Click to read full issue
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Peter's Waterways Blog
Navigating to Sheffield This was first published in IWA West Riding's Milepost in November 2016, reporting on a journey towards the Leeds and Liverpool bi-centenary flotilla and the navigational issues that arose from it. |
Click to read full issue |
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Tinsley-booking warning sign |
Travelling from the Huddersfield Narrow Canal to Leeds for the Leeds and Liverpool Canal bi-centenary flotilla in October 2016, we had a side-trip to Sheffield, with its isolated and unique lock restrictions supported by its isolated and unique
booking
system.
"Passage through the Tinsley flight of locks must be booked at least 24 hours in advance with our Lock Keepers [who] will advise customers what time the last passage will be as it takes approximately 4 hours to navigate the flight. Monday – Friday 8am until 7pm" |
| Phoning at 8am to give the required 24 hours notice of arriving at Holmes Lock at 8am the next day received first a standard Vodaphone answerphone (better maybe than the 'this is BW' message in 2014, two years after BW was superseded) and then a gruff negotiation of a 9am to 9.30am start. "8am?? No. It's the firm. 8am is the operational hours and we have to get down there". |
Waiting below HolmesLock |
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Rural section between Holmes and Jordan Locks |
The campaigning for a turn-up-and-go system for Sheffield needs to overcome issues about pumping water up to Sheffield level to feed the locks, the myth (and as a Sheffield resident, I resent the implication) that our vandalry is worse than any other town or city on the system, safety at Jordan's weir, the strange idea that some navigators taking four hours should close the locks early when with efficient lock working it takes ninety minutes or less.
Integrating the booking on the standard contact number and the then-proposed online booking system might concentrate management's mind on advertising and providing the same service. An easy and immediate improvement would be to allow overnight mooring in the rural section between Jordan's and Holmes locks. |
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A further update was published in IWA West Riding's Milepost in May 2017, that neither had C&RT nor any of our members told us of any progress on access to Tinsley Locks.
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Click to read full issue |
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Peter Scott
@peterjohnscott |
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Football stadium floodlights |
Towingpath Graffiti |
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Offside boatyard |
Straddle Warehouse |
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Sheffield Basin mooring |
Operating Tinsley Locks |