Boating bother

April 2019

After giving up the SQA Examining duties to go boating it was a bit sad last year to hear that Twechar and Bonnybridge bridges were closed, but even worse to hear that Lock 6 on the Forth and Clyde canal was rammed by some hirers. This has trapped us at the Kelpies for a year!

Mostly Harmless’ Home for the Last Year, see the motorway in the back garden and you can’t smell the sewage works in this photo but it is there!

Stopping over by the Kelpies isn’t anywhere near as peaceful as most places on the Forth and Clyde canal as the motorway traffic never stops so it sounds like you’re on a mattress in the middle of a busy street.

On top of this in February someone decided to see what they could help themselves too. Obviously the name “Mostly Harmless” suggested they wouldn’t find any difficulty if they entered uninvited.

The well deck is ready for a spring clean, but the doors will need to be replaced after someone came in uninvited

But after a busy and hectic few terms, and some difficulties this year then it’s time to get back to the boat to escape the pressures of life.

First cosy fire of the year and well relaxed after an hour

So during our first trip up of the year we went to look at the progress of Lock 6 to see when we are likely to get home. The lock gates are in and the estimated opening date is 6th May, hopefully we can be the first through over the May Day bank holiday. Just before Lock 6 though we took this photo. Someone has obviously been using the canal as a dumping ground for their old tyres. It was the strip of land only between this open yard. There must have been 50 or so tyres dumped in there. Well I hope now they’ve been found out as the canal has been drained that they’ll get in there and remove them rather than leaving it to the boaters and their licence fee. It would only take one of those tyres on the prop to cause extensive and costly damage.

Name and shame, someone’s been using the canal as a dumping ground. I hope now they’ve been caught as the canal is drained they will take some responsibility and clear up their mess.
One of those tyres on the prop will cause a huge amount of expensive damage.

So hopefully we can go back and spring clean the boat this weekend and get it ready for a trip along the canal and home! 2019 should be the year of boating and enjoying the canal.

Scottish Canals

Twechar and Bonnybridge Lift Bridges temporarily suspended to boat traffic


Scottish Canals states

Boat transits through Twechar and Bonnybridge lift bridges on the Forth & Clyde Canal have been temporarily suspended.
 The mechanisms of these bridges have been a cause for concern for some time but recent inspections show that they have now reached a point where we believe their operation could pose a risk to public safety. While we work up the technical solutions and source the funding required to implement the necessary repairs, we have no option but to temporarily suspend their operation.
 The vibrancy of the waterspace is of key importance to us and we will do all we can to generate the resources necessary to bring the bridges back to full operation as soon as possible.
 We recently met with a number of key stakeholders including the Lowland Canals Volunteer Group, Lowland Canals Association, and RYA and, as a result of their feedback, we will prioritise our works to ensure that Twechar bridge is the primary focus for reopening, with Bonnybridge second.
 Towpath access remains unaffected.

As promised a blog of our journey to our new mooring, although you’ll have to work backwards until I can fix this!

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