A couple of days ago Mick’s niece Fran had been in touch, she had a spare ticket for a Sheffield Hidden Rivers Tour today, would one of us like to go? Well this was right up Mick’s street and a chance to see Fran too.
So off I (Mick) went to catch the bus into Doncaster. The expected 13:13 bus from Barnby Dun into town never turned up but the 12:42 came along at 13:35. This got me to Doncaster station with 10 minutes to spare to catch the train to Sheffield.
Outside Sheffield Station
Then a short 10 minute walk to the rendezvous point outside the Triple Point Brewery and Bar. I met Fran and her friend outside and donned our wellies in the car park. Another twelve people arrived in dribs and drabs, most (but not quite all) of them suitably attired. The three tour guides met us there, all wearing waders, and gave us a short briefing and hard hats.
Hard Hat
Fran and Ali
Then it was off down the road to a gap in a moveable fence which lead to a suitable place where we could get into the bed of the River Porter. A bit of a walk in the open air first to get us used to walking on the rocky river bed.
The river soon disappeared into a culvert underground. The headroom was very limited at this point, in fact the lowest of the whole tour. At one point I had to resort to hands and knees.
We went this way
It then opened out a bit and the headroom got better. We carried on until we were under the railway station. Here the River Sheaf joined us and the water flow got stronger. The guide told us to look up and he pointed out some wooden boards above our heads. These form part of platform 5 of the station. There are plans to remove these boards and replace them with glass or perspex so people above can look down on the underground river. It will also let light down to the river thereby encouraging a bit more wildlife down there.
Cracks of daylight from the station platform above.
We then took a sharp left and walked under the railway tracks. The station was built between 1865 and 1870 so these arches have been here a while.
All the time there was the rumble of trains moving up above while we carried on for a few hundred metres under the station. The going under foot was very rough along here, well actually for pretty much the whole tour. Lots of loose stones and bricks. There was much potential for broken ankles but we all survived. At one point one of the guides stood in in his waders in waist deep water with his head torch switched to red and pointed us through an archway on the left where the water was much shallower.
Go Left!
We reached as far as we were allowed to go, the presence of bats prevented further progress. So we stood a while to look for bats but none wanted to come out to play. The light at the end of the tunnel was tantalisingly close.
Unreachable Light at the End of the Tunnel
So that was the end of the tour. Or rather the halfway point, we turned around and headed back the way we came. All in all it took a couple of hours and was very enjoyable. It was difficult under foot and a walking pole would have been useful. There were a couple of places where the water came over the top of my wellies so waders would have been good too. But even so it was a great tour.
Fran gave me a lift back to the boat where she stayed for a Saturday roast dinner.
Meanwhile, back on Oleanna …
Tilly and I (Pip) were left in charge of Oleanna for the afternoon. Tilly hunted. I read my panto script, turned down a job that I’d been approached about yesterday (two models on a boat at once just isn’t feasible, panto takes over our lives for long enough, plus we still want to boat this summer), pulled out some knitting and caught up with my old school friend Morag for an hour on the phone. Then a gammon was popped in the oven with roast potatoes as the sun set, all ready in time to welcome the intrepid explorers back.
A cruisier was moored behind us last night, they opened their curtains as we rolled up the pram cover, we wouldn’t be leap frogging the bridges along the New Junction Canal with them this morning. Then just as we were about to push off a paddleboarder approached. Sometimes these are quite fast, other times quite leisurely. We waited for them to pass, sadly they were quite slow and we’d have been better to go ahead.
New Junction about to push off
They paused on the aqueduct to take photos, so we were soon ahead, we’d not be playing leapfrog with them today either.
A gentle passtime
The sections where the bank has been relaxing look a touch more disturbing from the towpath. Cracks along the tarmac four foot away from the edge and in places the bank has given way. I made sure I kept my distance.
The light at Sykehouse Lock remained amber as we came through the swing bridge before it. Hooray! I’d get to work the lock at last, a bit of physical activity. However when I got there we’d been beaten to the lock by a boat coming downhill.
One coming down
Because it was on manual everything has to be done in the right order, key, road barriers, bridge, sluices, gates, sluices, gates, bridge, barriers, then and only then will your key of power be released. If they’d waited just a couple more minutes it could have been our key in the panel and then no-one would have had to wait to retrieve theirs. But as no-one was in a rush they didn’t mind waiting, time for a conversation.
One coming up
They very kindly offered to close up the bridge behind us for me. But I’ve been waiting the last few weeks to be able to do the bridge and lock having been deprived by there always being a Lockie on duty. The couple let me lift the handle and push the bridge back into position, closing the nearest barrier too. Then they could retrieve their key again.
Upside down swans
At Kirkhouse Green Lift Bridge a cyclist approached, I’d let them through. Then I spotted a car behind them, they went to over take whilst at the same time another car over took them, all just after a bend and just before the bridge. I pinned myself against the fencing having only just managed to cross the road! Everyone survived thankfully.
A different view of the Don Doors
Over the aqueduct and under the Don Doors for the last time, we went straight ahead on towards Barmby Dun. Here we filled with water and deposited our mountain of rubbish, the bins back in Goole have been overflowing for what seems like weeks now!
Wide calm water
Then we reversed back past the moored boats, winded and headed back to the junction where we pulled up in our preferred spot. Here we’ll get sunrises and sunsets.
Last stitch to be cast off
Today I finished off the seventh pair of socks, the heel being turned between the lock and the next lift bridge. I’ve another two pairs of requested socks to knit before the end of the month for my sponsors.
1 lock, 6.02 miles well maybe a touch more, 3 lift bridges, 3 swing bridges, 14 held up, 1 refusal, 2 overtaking, 2 winds, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish left on board, 7 pairs, 8th started.
Goole, concrete works to Went Aqueduct, New Junction Canal.
As we tucked into a bowl of porridge each this morning I sent off an email regarding my phone call last night. The phone call was as much for my benefit as Abi’s, as we’ve not worked together or even met. Shortly afterwards came back a reply from John, a contract would be forwarded to my agent soon. Marvellous!
This means I’ll be spending the next few months designing as we cruise and that we now have somewhere to aim for towards the end of the year, the South Oxford Canal. Dick Whittington will be my fourth Chippy Panto!
Frank gave me a lift to the station on his way back to Scarborough. Thank you again Frank, next time you visit hopefully we’ll be cruising and you can sit back and enjoy the scenery.
In Doncaster I picked up my glasses, at last! Before I got on a train to return I made sure I had a good walk around town to make sure they still fitted and didn’t hurt after half an hours worth of wear. I used my time hunting round for Tilly’s currently preferred cat food, but Whiskas seems to have a problem supplying food in gravy at the moment, I returned to the station with no cat food.
I’d seen others but none have been as compact
Back in Goole I popped into Boyes. There in their gardening section was a small pressurised garden pray bottle 1.5 litres, just the thing for the Wet and Forget. Then Asda came up trumps with Tilly’s food, so I had a heavy load to carry back to Oleanna.
Whilst I’d been out we’d had a Sainsburys delivery and Alastair had been to replace the starter alternator and water pump fan belt. It’s position in the engine bay making it a touch awkward to get at and Mick would rather someone with more experience fitted it. Well worth an hour of Alastair’s time.
Now all we needed was a cat, but she was busy somewhere being a thug no doubt!
One last trip this way
The afternoon was ticking by, all we needed was to top up the diesel tank and buy a bit more coal then we could leave. Tilly arrived back a bit after 4pm, the doors were closed, ropes untied and we pushed off to head for the diesel point at Boat House. Mick had already checked with Laird at Viking as to how much his diesel was, still £1.42, Boat House was £1.35.
We’d just caught the new owner before the pump was locked up for the day, 47 litres and 2 bags of coal, we were stocked up. No other reason for us to be in Goole, it was time to push off and wave farewell.
WB Lullabelle was on the paid for moorings outside Spicers Auction House, making use of the electricity. Wendy waved as we passed by, hope your planned trip over the Leeds Liverpool goes well, hopefully see you somewhere later this year or next.
Goodbye Goole see you maybe later in the year, maybe next year
Out through the caisson gates, facing the lowering sun. All very romantic!
The further we got the lower the sun got, dipping behind clouds as it went. We’d started off in t-shirts, had added jumpers within half an hour, then coats as the sun finally disappeared as we turned the 90 degrees at Breach Corner. Would we regret the stove being out?
We were finally on our way, southwards to new waters. It felt good to now have a purpose and not just be hanging around. Well we still need to be reunited with our cratch cover, but that is already finished, we just have to coincide with it in Thorne next week.
Setting
I put the finishing touches to a Quinoa Crust Quiche to celebrate our departure and getting a job.
Recipe the next time I make it
0 locks, 6.46 miles, 1 wind, 2 trains, 1 new pair glasses, 1 deli visit, 0 purchases, 2 boxes Tilly food, 1 spray bottle, 6 bottles wine, 20% off, 1 new belt, 47 litres, 2 bags coal, 1 fire out, 2 boaters and 1 cat heading off into the sunset.
Pollington Visitor Moorings to Goole, opposite the concrete works, again!
I know I need to wash the windows, but…!
Who stole the outside!?! It had been an alright outside in the end, but now someone had stolen it! Thankfully by the time we wanted to be on the move the sun had started to burn it’s way through the fog, however a layer of merk lingered all day.
There were rendezvous to be met back in Goole, we just hoped that there would be space for us where cars can pull up close.
Imperceptible Norf
Through the haze we could only just make out Drax Power Station.
A Kingfisher sat singing as we passed.
A deer sprang it’s way across the fields stopping to check on us before heading into the woods.
Someone was moving house on the M18.
Back in Goole there was actually a choice of spaces where we wanted to be. We pulled up in the first one. A van was pulled alongside one of the boats. Mick chatted to the chap who was from a covers company from Hull. Did they do repairs? Yes, they could resew the zips into the cratch cover for us, £25, but they’d have to take it away for a few days. Fortunately they will be working on a couple of boats in Thorne next week, so we will coincide with them there.
Frank arrived an hour or so later, just as a batch of chocolate chip cookies came out of the oven! Then he set to on the freezer drawer.
With three layers of ply beneath the drawer Frank used his router to cut out a large rectangle, this would allow more air to circulate around the bottom of the drawer, there were already three holes to help air come up from the bilges.
A couple of ply runners were added to the floor to lift the drawer up slightly. These had a layer of candle grease liberally applied to them. Then the front edge of the drawer had some gliss domes screwed on. This is so that when you pull the drawer out there is a frictionless surface that will slide across the floor rather than a hard edge of wood. Small recesses for the gliss domes were chiselled out of the bottom of the dinette so that everything slid back into place. All we needed now were longer screws to reattach the drawer handle.
Outside knitting, until it got too cold.
Inside a narrowboat isn’t such a good place for gongoozling someone at work. Mick followed Frank around with the vacuum cleaner, Tilly busied herself in the trees and friendly cover and I got a chair out and sat in the sunshine knitting.
An Indian Takeaway from Leaf Tandoori was picked up and enjoyed with a glass of wine and plenty of conversation. I held of on my second glass until after I’d had a telephone conversation with a Director about a possible show, it went well, hopefully tomorrow I’ll find out for sure if it went well enough.
This will be the last post before we move hosting sites. If all goes well this post will move along with the other 1239 posts (Mick’s already moved these) I’ve written over the last four or so years. Hopefully this blog will still appear on blog rolls and that we will have a blog roll that moves with the times again along with other benefits.
The recent storm has stopped Mark from flying his drone recently, but this morning he deemed the wind speed was just about okay to go flying again.
14/3/2021
The cofferdam looks like it has drained by itself again, although maybe not quite as low as it has done before.
The pictures today show where the leek happened that has now been mended.
25/2/2021
25/2/2021
These photos are from 25th February. In the bottom right hand corner where the pipes gently curve away from the bank there is a grassy gap showing where the cofferdam piling meets the existing piling and there is a bridge over the pump pipes.
7/3/2021
Then these from the 7th March. The area is much darker than before, this is because there is a hole there.
7/3/2021
It looks like you can see the back of the bank piling and then another layer of piling is close up to the pipes, you can see the corrugations in this second photo.
14/3/2021
Today the hole has now been filled with aggregate, the chalky surface quite obvious and there may also be more clay than before by the cofferdam piling.
14/3/2021
The second raft for the pumps to extract more water (at the western side) have been plumbed in, but there are no extra pipes at the eastern end.
14/3/2021
The level between the breach and Goole caisson is being kept about a foot lower than normal so that the level doesn’t over top the cofferdam. The removal of the top section of stop planks helps with this, draining any excess water that is pumped round the breach into the docks to help keep the level up there.
At some point this week we will be changing our website hosting. Readers shouldn’t notice anything different and those who get an email each time I post should still get one. I will do my best to inform you of the last post before we move, JUST IN CASE!
Where were we
2020. Betton Wood Bridge, Shropshire Union Canal. LINK
In my last post I got distracted by the blue tarpaulin at the western end of the cofferdam. I’m still not sure why this is there but a comment from David has confirmed that the leak last week, that filled the cofferdam up was at the eastern end. A void adjacent to the eastern end of the piling, on the south bank, allowed water to fill the dam back up. This was mended, but there seems there must be another leak somewhere as the cofferdam is still quite full, well it was a couple of days ago.
The extra raft at the western end is also most likely to increase the amount of water being pumped round the site, trying to keep up with water that is used at the docks.
It is thought that there are voids and leaks all along the aqueduct on the north bank, so not just one hole. The extent of these won’t be known until the cofferdam is fully drained. At the moment the best case scenario is that the canal will be closed for a couple of months, worst case until the end of the summer. But until the engineers can get a better look they obviously can’t really say.
It’s been two months since we last checked on Oleanna ourselves, others are doing a great job of checking her ropes when the levels alter, but today we paid an essential visit to her. Our Boat safety is booked soon and we knew of a few jobs that needed doing before hand.
Mick picked a hire car up from Beerhouse who are working out cheaper than Enterprise at the moment, £10 cheaper if you call them rather than booking online too. Not a pristine car, bumps and scrapes, but we weren’t bothered.
The trip over the Wolds was lovely, snowdrops filling the verges and reaching up into the woods. Daffodil leaves stretching up towards the sky, hopefully they will be in bloom the next time we do this drive, some of the roundabouts are spectacular.
Spring spinging
The level in the docks still isn’t what it was when we first arrived in September, but today Oleanna was certainly afloat and not sat on the bottom. It was a big step down, no need for the booster block though.
Masked up we went to check in with Laird at the marina. No new news regarding the breach and our only possible escape route would be if we dig a tunnel.
Then it was time to get on with jobs.
A kitchen shelf made to measure, it just needs an extension for the starter battery
The battery terminals needed some form of covering, this is so that you can’t drop any tools on them. A piece of wood would do the job. An unused shelf from a kitchen cupboard had been brought with us. This proved to be the right size for the leisure batteries, but the starter still needs something. We took measurements and will look for either a piece just for the starter, or see if we have a slightly longer shelf that would cover all batteries in one go.
Mick started her up, first time, no grumbling. She was left to run, the leisure batteries already at 100% from the solar, but the bow thruster battery could do with a charge.
I measured up the poppers on the front door blinds. One is broken so needs replacing and I’m wanting to make us two new blinds for when the original ones get too tatty, due to our second mate! The poppers appear to be 12mm diameter, so I’ll need the press stud side and a die to fix them to the cloth. I’m hoping a costume friend may just have what I need to do this.
3003
The red grabrails are all looking very faded, apart from where I touched them up recently. Somehow the red mentioned in the boat bible isn’t the correct colour, but when we were last in Sheffield the painter there gave me a tin of the right colour. I’m wanting to get a new tin to have enough to do all the grabrail, plus this tin reacted strangely when applied.
Cratch rolled up
One place the Boat Safety will need to get to is the gas locker in the bow. Oleanna is on a short pontoon, moored stern in, so not the easiest place to get to. So next job was to wind. We’d chosen today to do this so as to avoid a named storm that is due tomorrow.
Untying all the ropes holding Oleanna to the pontoon took quite some time. The fender eyes on the gunnels are useful in such situations, but really awkward to get to when your boat is lower than the pontoon. Mick had to lie down and then lean over the edge to feed ropes back through the eyes. I could reach the bow rope from the cratch, but this took quite some feeding too.
Reversing
With the cratch cover rolled up both sides and the pram cover lowered we were ready to move her for the first time in six months. No chance of pushing off, she just drifted away from the pontoon and we were off!
Even though all we were doing was winding, just standing at the back felt good. The lady from the Dutch Barge two boats over waved to us as we pulled out of our mooring.
Winding in a marina can be dodgy. Usually the wind will pick up as soon as you want to turn and you end up being pushed towards lines of moored boats. We once got to meet a whole new section of boaters at Crick Marina doing this, everyone trying to give you a push in the right direction away from their boats!
A different view
Marinas have people who watch and the space required to manoeuvre is never luxurious, so the odds are always stacked against you. Mick brought Oleanna out, turned her into the gap almost opposite, then swung the stern round. A touch of bow thruster whist turning meant we kept away from other boats. Reverse, forwards, reverse and then an extra boost of power to finish the turn and we’d finished our handbrake turn and headed back to our mooring.
Only five minutes until we were back tied up, facing the other way. Then the rope tying started again, leaving enough slack we hope for varying levels, but tight enough that she won’t be blown all over the shop in the next storm. The plank that had been positioned to stop us drifting under the pontoon was leaned over a touch. The corner of the pontoon could possibly just catch the gunnel if the levels came back up. A Tilly fender was also added into the equation.
Labelled up, another on the door
After eating our pack up the next job was the fire extinguishers. Oleanna has three. The ones at the stern and bow are both in cupboards. When they were fitted we were warned that we’d need to label the cupboards for the boat safety. So big labels went inside the cupboards and smaller ones on the outside. Each fire extinguisher was turned upside down a few times before going back into position.
The third one has for sometime lived in the gap between the shower and bathroom door. This means it is near the centre of the boat, close to the multi-fuel stove and not in the way. We’d never got round to fixing it to the wall.
A quick check with our Bubble Carpenter Frank as we’d be screwing into laminate. Franks final words were ‘don’t mess it up!’ Small pilot holes were followed by slightly bigger ones then the bracket was screwed into position. Job done and not messed up.
Tilly’s paws absent
The CO alarms and heat sensors have all had their batteries removed whilst we’ve been off the boat, saves some poor neighbour having to live with a dying battery and the beep that accompanies it. Each detector was checked in turn and then the batteries removed again, these will go back in on the day of the test.
We might wash the ropes
After six months of sitting still Oleanna is showing it a touch, both inside and out. All the ropes are turning green, the cratch and pram cover could do with another spray of Wet and Forget. Inside the bathroom windows have been left ajar, the plastic frames now covered in a thick layer of dustyness. These got a good clean, sadly my faithful assistant wasn’t on hand to inspect them from the outside, leaving her stamp of approval on newly cleaned glass!
If only Oleanna 25 times bigger was so quick to clean
A sweep through and a tidy in the galley. The wine cellar emptied of the bottles we’d stocked up on for Christmas, this gives access to the Alde Boiler. Jobs done, just a couple of things to sort on the morning of the inspection.
Hello
Mick had chance to have a chat with Geoff. We’d been hoping to see if anyone else was plotting an escape. Apparently someone had approached either ABP (who run the docks) or C&RT to see if it would be possible to use the lock out onto the Ouse if half a dozen boats got together to share. Sadly this will not be allowed. So currently the only way out of Goole is on the back of a lorry.
Looking back towards the docks
Before heading for the house we turned left out of the marina and drove down to look at the caisson. Lisa had mentioned that the top metal stop plank had been removed the other weekend and that the gates had been opened.
Gates open a bit at the caisson
The area has had a tidy up since we first came to have a look back in December and sure enough the caisson gates are open a bit, red lights indicate that the navigation is closed and you certainly wouldn’t get a boat through the gap.
Across on the southern bank the top stop plank lay. Not just a foot/eighteen inches deep but around three foot. All the pumps and pipes have gone from here, most probably to the breach site.
The water in the docks was slightly lower than that in the cut, causing there to be a flow over the rest of the stop planks. I suspect the remaining planks are being left in to protect both the docks and the cut. Should the level drop on one side, there is still something to hold back the water. So unless a lot more water gets pumped round the breach site, Oleanna is likely to be at her highest right now.
Looking towards the breach 4 miles away
Here’s hoping the cofferdam can be emptied and work of a solution started soon.
No going anywhere
Back at the house Tilly was waiting in a window for us. Her plight of cat food pouches having hit the main stream media after she’d brought the situation to their attention this morning. Apparently the shortage is due to the increase in pet ownership during lockdown and pet food manufacturers are finding it hard to ramp up production to keep up with demand. Don’t worry Tilly you’ve still got another 60 pouches to go before we have a problem!
0 locks, 100 meters, 1 wind, 2 girlie button presses, 3 extinguishers, 5 signs, 1 piece of wood, 1 more needed, 3 down to 2, 1 water tank almost empty, 12mm popper, 3003, 1 plank jauntified, 2 tyre fenders, 2 ham butties, 0 milk, 3ft stop plank, 1 red light, 0 escape, 2 thank yous to David and Stuart, 1 cat staying out of the media hype, 2 months of pouches, 1 blog with all photos again.
Later this month we will be changing our website hosting. Readers shouldn’t notice anything different and those who get an email each time I post should still get one. I will do my best to inform you of the last post before we move, JUST IN CASE!
Mark has been back to the breach site this morning.
As reported the level is up in the cofferdam again.
From C&RTs update it sounded like the eastern/downstream end of the cofferdam had given way. But from this photo it suggests it was actually the western/upstream end as a blue tarp has been added where the piling meets the bank.
Where the pipes pump the water out from the western end (I don’t know what to call them) another raft has appeared. It looks like they are planning on extending the existing pipes to this new raft, so as to suck water out further away from the piling. Maybe this is what caused the problem.
Down in the drain below you can see water is escaping again. This suggests that the hole is in the side not the base of this section. The water drained down to a level last time and then was needing pumps to completely empty the cofferdam.
The water level is now higher therefore draining into the drain again. I wonder how long it takes for it to empty itself?
These two photos were taken about ten days ago when the level was lower. The blue tarp and bags of aggregate still in position from before Christmas, helping to stem the flow of water.
Here you can see the water is being pumped out from the drain into the Dutch River.
This was the caisson gates and stop planks at Goole a couple of weeks ago, pumps working hard there.
Viking Marina at the same time. Hello Oleanna!
Goole Boathouse Marina
Thank you once again to Mark for the great photos. Even though there have been problems at the site it is good to see how things are first hand.
Later this month we will be changing our website hosting. Readers shouldn’t notice anything different and those who get an email each time I post should still get one. I will do my best to inform you of the last post before we move, JUST IN CASE!
Thank you Mike from Alchemy for bringing the notice below to our attention last night. Stoppage notices go to Mick and he hadn’t checked his emails for a while.
Notice Alert
Aire & Calder Navigation Main Line Location: Goole Docks Starts At: Goole Visitor Moorings Ends At: Goole Visitor Moorings
Friday 5 March 2021 16:15 until further notice
Type: Advice Reason: Information
Original message:
Skippers of all craft are advised that due to restricted water levels caused by the breach at New Bridge on the Aire & Calder Navigation Associated British Ports (ABP) are restricting passage at Ocean Lock Goole to commercial use only for the foreseeable future. Skippers of all craft are advise to bear this in mind when planning passage on the Derwent, Ouse, Humber, Trent and other connecting waterways.
This notice means that our escape route is now blocked. We always knew this was a possibility and sadly it is now a reality. Currently our only way out from Goole is on the back of a lorry.
Our hoped for departure date is still a way off, so there is still chance that the situation may change. But our giddiness of last week has been dampened somewhat!
Yesterday levels in the docks were low again. Apparently water had been flowing over the stop planks at the caisson last weekend, the top plank having been removed. Maybe this was because the eastern/downstream side of the cofferdam had water overflowing it.
Thank you Don for the link to this footage taken last Sunday. The cofferdam filling back up nicely. Mark Penn had also reported a week earlier that the level on the western/upstream side had been doing similar.
I’ve just noticed that C&RT have also updated their website with the following. It explains what has been happening in better detail than the snippets we’ve been getting on stoppage notices. Information is better than speculation.
Update 05/03/2021
Our initial actions when the breach occurred on the 20 December were to make the site safe and prevent further release of water from the canal which would have caused further issues for both boaters and local residents. We managed to make the site safe within a few days and added to these temporary measures over the next few weeks to stabilise the repair.
Since that point, our efforts have focussed on managing water levels for boats whilst preparing for the permanent works. We closed Goole caission and pumped water into Goole Dock and although this helped to some extent it proved challenging. This could be because there is a leak in the dock or it could be because there is a problem with the caisson or even a combination of the two.
In order to both see the damage to the bed of the canal and provide working space for a temporary repair we then installed a cofferdam and this was completed towards the end of February. This is essentially two lines of sheet piles across the canal with pumps in place to send the water across the piles.
Once these pumps were in place, to provide a continuity of water, we were able to take the water out of the cofferdam and start our inspection. Unfortunately the bank on the south side of the canal, where the piles of the cofferdam nearest the dock connected to it, suffered damage and so the cofferdam started to fill up again. We have almost completed the repair of this damage and can start to take the water out of the cofferdam again.
All these challenges have made it difficult to maintain a steady water level but we can assure you we are doing all we can to ensure this is the case.
At this stage our engineers estimate the permanent repair project will take several months to complete, though as we learn more about the cause of the problem, we will be able to refine this estimate. Until complete the navigation will unfortunately be closed at the breach site.
We apologise for the effects of the breach on the Aire & Calder and we appreciate how frustrating this must be. Please be assured we are doing all we can to resolve this problem.
A problem with the seal at the breach site has resulted in an inflow of water from the downstream end that our contractors are currently attending to.
Downstream water level fluctuations are expected to continue whilst this is addressed, and further dewatering of the breach site is planned for w/c 8th March 2021.
Maybe they’ve been waiting to see how the cofferdam would hold up before fully dewatering the breach site. Maybe the chap who reported the cofferdam being full again earlier this week was correct.
Meanwhile here in Scarborough a folding crate has been brought back out of storage and items that need to head back to Oleanna are gradually being added. We have a boat safety inspection booked in a few weeks time, before this we need to do a couple of jobs onboard. Here’s hoping we don’t have to clamber down off the pontoon again to get onboard.
