Josh from NB Olive, Taylors Aboard is helping to keep us and many others informed as to what is happening at the Bridgewater breach. His vlog for the first day of the breach has now had 1million views! Of course once the water is stemmed at both sides of the breach site and things need to happen in the planning of what Peel Holdings will do things will go quiet, but for now Josh and his Mum are being kept very busy.
The Bridgewater isn’t the only canal to have been affected by the recent heavy rain, flooding and swollen rivers. The Huddersfield Narrow is now closed.
Masses of water flowed down the River Tame at the new year, the canal also filled up, so much so that the narrow bank between Lock 11W and the river has mostly been washed away, leaving the lock stonework with not much to support it.
CRT Notice
Lock 11 West has suffered some structural damage to the offside banking that neighbours the lock chamber. The damage has been caused by the severe weather. The structural failure means the lock is inoperable and must be closed for the safety of the canal visitors and boaters. Canal and River Trust are currently waiting for the damage to be assessed by the relevant departments.
Another navigation stoppage that admittedly won’t affect many, but maybe us, is on the River Hull. A section of banking is collapsing and the river has been closed. Thank you to Christopher Fenton at Octovision Media for letting me use his photos.
This of course is nothing like the Bridgewater breach but it is enough to close the river. Within the boundaries of Hull the navigation authority is Hull City Council, further north there appears to be no-one in charge, so it’s just as well it’s happened where it did.
As you can see from the photos bags of most probably aggregate are being put on the bank above the slipped piling. Hopefully these are helping to stabilise the bank not adding weight to encourage it collapsing more.
The bank is alongside Ashcourt where sand and aggregates are sorted.
Hopefully it isn’t a big job to sort the bank out even though it is on a tidal river. At least access alongside it is possible on the land.
Here’s a couple of articles about it. Thank you to Heather Bleasdale and Canal World Forum for bringing this to our attention.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2ldqw774jzo
Our research on our trip is ongoing and we will be keeping an eye on this bank.
