This evening Mark Penn has been out with a new drone to have a look and see how they are progressing at the breach site removing the cofferdam.

Well as you can see the dam has gone. There is water in the cut once again. What a lovely sight.

The pumps are still in the cut, but the pipework from where water was being pumped round the cofferdam is in the process of being removed.

The pontoon that was used to remove the cofferdam is just positioned through the bridge, the boom that was across the cut has been removed.

It looks like there might still be a bit of work to do on the towpath, earth doesn’t look to be fully flattened out up to the piling where the water wooshed round the piling back in December. The level in the drain below looks the lowest it’s been for a long time, covered in duck weed.

There are still railings around the top of the concrete structure over the drain below. There was a hole maybe an access hatch in the old concrete, maybe this is the new one. The water level looks to be back up to normal levels now. How wonderful it is to see water and no silt.

There is obviously some tidying up to do and maybe bits left to sort on the towpath, but all looks good for the 23rd when the navigation is set to reopen. Booking to pass through Sykehouse and Pollington Lock will no longer be required from the 21st.

Dredging is happening up near Lemonroyd. A sunk vessle is being removed up that way too.

I so hope that when I next post about the breach it will be to celebrate it’s reopening after 8 long months.

Thank you Mark once again for your photographs.