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A bunch of volunteers are busily clearing out a stretch of abandoned canal that forms a part of my local loop. It has been empty since the 1930s and would be pretty nasty if you fell into it as quite a drop and is full of saplings, shopping trolleys and assorted other junk.
However, as this bunch have started work with their diggers and dumper trucks we are heading towards a 200m long unguarded 10ft drop. Probably just as dangerous as it was previously but will their intervention mean that they will have to fit guard rails or close off the tow path? It will be years before they can put water in it as the locks are long gone and there is a 50ft breach in the canal side wall.
I’m not bothered about the risk myself, but I guess they will have to make it safe in case a kid/cyclist/horse/walker/dog fell into it.
I assume there is a difference between falling down a natural hole (or one that has been there forever) and falling down one that a man with a high vis vest and a digger has made in his spare time.
This is the breach. Cool eh?
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...and how it looks now.
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Is there a Google map view of this? I can't make out what's happening at all...
Not that I'll be able to help, I just want to see why there looks to be a boat pulling sick huck off a waterfall in your old pic, and how that relates to woodland in the new pic.
Link to the project's website?
Picture taken form inside the canal (roughly where the boat is). Tow path up in the top right. Trees growing in the breach.
I assume there is a difference between falling down a natural hole (or one that has been there forever) and falling down one that a man with a high vis vest and a digger has made in his spare time.
The only difference is that in the latter case there's someone to sue and get free money from, just by being a moron and falling into a massive hole.
Hooray for the compensation culture!
unless they plan to puddle it as soon as it's cleared can't you still just ride along the bottom once it's done?
I can still ride in it. I was just wondering if H&S is going to mean that it will have to be closed off.
www.penninewaterways.co.uk/mbb/mbbc30.htm
Rubber Dinghy Rapids time that day! Bet it was pretty scary/terminal for anyone on the boats...
IIRC some horses where lost when a couple of boats rode the log flume.
Nob End
*s*****
A mate of ours is involved - he rides that stretch himself quite regularly.
I'll try and find out wha' gwan.
They tidy up that bit behind the sewage farm that comes out at the pub too.
Everyone needs a hobby. 🙂
the joys of living in bolton, I get to ride on nob end on my way to workNob End*s*****
is it ok now then? Been riding the road insteadThey tidy up that bit behind the sewage farm that comes out at the pub too
I'm just worried that somebody elses hobby is going to screw it up for a lot of other people.
Personally I think that they should leave it as it is. It collapsed 76 years ago and wasn’t economical to fix then when industry depended on it. How is it going to be funded now?
Been working in Slack Bottom this morning 🙂
God, I love this country.
Edit: Donk, dunno mate, not been round there for a while.
They were just keeping the coping stones clear and visible last time they did it.
We had breach locally, on a working canal, they just closed the canal path (not well) until the work started, then properly during the work & put fences up afterwards (which there had been previously).
I'm planning to ride up Dick Slack next week. Up to the monument, back down through Matilda's Fanny.
Ah, the sound of the tone being lowered. 😉
What rubber for Matilda's Fanny BTW? Something knobbly?
You should revisit Grope C*nt Lane in the CoL
They're rebuilding the wall? Crikey that will take some work. Are they planning on rebuilding the prestolee locks too?
You want to hang around when they pull the stuff out of it, you never know what you will find.
Think the guys refurbish the b'ham canals found 1/2 ton of raw cocaine.
Dunno. I'm assuming that they are building the bridge so that they can clear out the canal. They will have to rebuild the wall if they want to fill it. If they don't fill it we will be left with an empty canal with a big drop and a H&S nightmare. They put fences in all down the side of the locks after they cleared them out.
[url= http://www.mbbcs.org.uk/ ]Bolton & Bury Canal Society[/url] - this may be of interest...