News
L&L Rufford to Salwick 27-28th August
Leaving St Marys marina on Thursday afternoon to travel down to Tarelton with NB Voyager for our booked passage on the Ribble Link.
A windy afternoon which caused a few issues getting through some of the swing bridges.
Arrived at Tarleton and moored up on the visitors moorings.
A take away Curry from the Tarleton Tandori the food is cooked fresh to order in an open plan kitchen immediatly behind the counter so you can see it being done. An excellent meal, one of the best currys I have had in a long while.
Bow Cam for the trip from St Marys to Tarleton below.
On Friday along with NB Voyager we set out from Tarleton at 09:20 on to the River Douglas. The current today was much stronger than the last time we crossed the Ribble and it some became clear that NB Voyager just did not have the power needed to fight against the incoming tide. They eventually returned to Tarleton and safely locked back on to the canal. We proceeded and safely crossed the Ribble arriving at the tide lock at just before 12:00. We were met by a small cruiser that had come out of Preston and travelled up the link with them reaching the top lock at 14:45. We carried on North up the Lancaster for an overnight mooring outside the Hand and Dagger pub at Salwick.
Unfortunatly no bow cam today.
Rufford Branch Breach - Update 20th August
CRT have just published an update https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/4117/locks-1-to-7-rufford-branch-of-leeds-and-liverpool-canal
Now saying End of September for reopening and it does not look like work has acually started on site yet.
Rufford Branch Breach - Update 25th July
Final update.
The overpumping is now in place and working.
Speaking to the contractors manager on site they are all ready to start as soon as they get CRT go ahead, and clearance from the ecologist that they wont be disturbing water voles in the work area.
The CCTV inspection has shown the rest of the culvert to be sound so the plan is to remove the silt from the end of the culvert and rebuild the failed secton to match the original using the same materials (oak).
He was optomistic that the work could be completed quicker than originally estimated, perhaps within a few weeks.
CRT official update due Friday 31st July.
Rufford Branch Breach - Update 24th July
The overpumping system appears to be all in place but not currently operating.
The leak in the fabric dam has been stopped so the work area is now dry.
There is a big tanker pump on site which looks like it may be to pump out the lock chamber.
There is a van on site at the East side of the culvert (opposite side to the collapse) -presumably the CCTV inspection team.
Water levels in the pound lock 5-6 are still dropping slowly, but lock 6-7 is still running in the bywash of lock 7, probably due to the environment agency pumping from local drainage in to the canal.
CRT Update out https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/4117/locks-1-to-7-rufford-branch-of-leeds-and-liverpool-canal End of August for estimated reopening.
Rufford Branch Breach - Update 23rd July
CRT are making progress preparing the site with a new fabric dam installed to the South of the breach and the section south rewatered to free the boats trapped in the drained section. They have also got the parts on site to start overpumping water to restore the water supply to the northen section of the canal.
No progress visible on actually repairing the breach but I am sure they are working on that and the update due tomorrow should provide some more details.
