A Tale of Locked Locks and Little Water

For those unaware there have been severe water shortages on parts of the network particularly the South Oxford Canal and the GUC around Leicester.  The shortages were blamed on prolonged lack of rainfall resulting in extremely low reservoir levels with as few as four weeks' supply remaining.  Consequently, BW implemented some restrictions in order to preserve their limited water supplies.  The restrictions included limiting navigation through the Claydon and Marston Doles lock flights to between 1000 and 1400 daily and locking off the duplicate locks at Hillmorton.  Both of these restrictions were on our route north.

We timed our journey from Cropredy to ensure we arrived at Claydon Bottom Lock in time for the daily opening at 1000 and found ourselves third in the queue.  Once the lockie had opened up Bottom Lock our passage through the flight was quite quick and uneventful.  Before we knew it we were on our way across the summit.  This time around, however, there was much more water than when we passed this way heading South making navigating the summit a lot easier and quicker.  We pressed on for Marston Doles Top Lock where we moored overnight to be ready for the 1000 opening the next morning finding ourselves second in line.  The BW restriction at Marston Doles prohibited boats mooring in the pound between the two locks.  A quick survey of the pound provided evidence of why this was so - there was but a shallow dribble of water at the bottom of a muddy ditch!  Now that really was low water level.  We settled down for the night wondering how the lockie would manage this situation in the morning.

Waiting at Claydon Bottom Lock

The answer to the water level conundrum came soon enough just before 1000 in the morning when the lockie pitched up.  He unlocked the top gates, opened all the paddles allowing water to flow down from the top pound, then walked down to the bottom lock to unlock the gates and let the first boat up.  We were surprised how quickly the empty pound filled again and once we were set to pass through the water levels were pretty good again.  It seemed the BW restriction here had the desired effect with minimal impact on boaters.  By the way, the lockie did not manage the passage of boats through the lock.  He told us he was simply unlocking the gates, filling the pound and then we were all on our own.  Oh, well, all seemed to work out in the end.

Marston Doles Top Lock....

....locked!

Marston Doles pound starts to fill

The next restriction to affect us was at Hillmorton locks where the duplicate chambers were locked restricting boats to single lock operations only.  The water levels were fine when we passed through on our way South so we had no experience of the low levels recently experienced in this area.  However, apart from a longer wait to pass through the locks our passage through the flight was easy with good levels of water.

It appeared the BW restrictions had the required effect in keeping water levels good enough for cruising albeit only at certain times of the day.  There has been plenty of criticism from boaters about these restrictions but, as is always the case, nobody knows how serious the water shortage would have become if BW had taken no action.  Let us hope everyone using and maintaining the waterways remembers this summer water shortage and its impact on navigation.  BW should take appropriate actions sooner and all boaters should take seriously BW's advice on preserving water levels through sensible lock use.