Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 01:22:04 +0100 From: Lynne Haye and Peter Brine Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Thro the Pennines via the HCN Saturday 28 April A few weeks back I reported on a short trip up the HCN to stalybridge & return. This time it's for real, a complete traverse. We had been advised of an incident in Stalybridge town centre where a boater had been assaulted by a gang of local low-life when they were refused entry to his boat. No injuries ensued but not a good start. When the local police were informed, their reaction was that the offenders were well known to the law but seemed immune to effective action so 'please just go and moor elsewhere'. This incident persuaded us to moor a half mile thro town. Sadly this isolation wasn't enough protection as five or six trolls aged about 15 encouraged one of their number to cavort on our roof, this at 3AM. We really must take a proactive stance in protecting the safe use of this beautifully restored asset or lose control to the low-life. Sunday 29 April The canal winds up the eastern face of the Pennines through some most attractive country to Uppermill where we moored overnight in complete peace. We did sleep well as the physical effort expended through the 14 locks was quite vast. The paddle gear configuration wasn't the same twice and generally very hard to operate. I broke a windlass at Lock 14. Monday 30 April The countryside opened out to wider valley beyond Uppermill, a lovely village, tarnished by the seemingly inevitable main road traffic thro it. Here the moorland overlooked us. The Diggle flight of nine was even harder to negotiate than yesterday's locks. The paddle gear was generally of a similar style and of a 'Telford' design with the operating arm able to accept two windlasses simultaneously. To assist through the worst locks BW had a couple of long throw windlasses made up (36 inch throw). Tuesday 01 May The atmosphere at Diggle was lovely, many hundreds of people came out in the gorgeous weather and simply enjoyed the occasion. Although booked for tunnel transit on the 1st, we were bumped till the next day. It was sad that one crew member on a boat, seeking his moment of glory stowed away on a vessel and eventually cost the day some of its media coverage and not a little time. The planned transit time will be 2&1/2 hours whereas this first trip took more than six. The passenger module to be pulled/pushed by the tug hasn't arrived yet so boat crews are being taken over the top of the hill. As I understand it several towns had simultaneous celebrations of the opening and a good time was had by all. BBC2 Northern region will be featuring the restoration on the 17th or 18th May. Wednesday 02 May The transit of Standedge tunnel was for us a non event as all we could do was wave the boat goodbye & hope to see it again. Our convoy was only two vessels, us & 'Bentley' a tug from Marsden. There were two crew on the towing tug plus a BW guy on each of the towed boats to fend them off from the jagged bits of the tunnel wall. Anyone anxious to preserve their boat's paint job best wait a wee while till the angle grinder brigade have been through. Transit time was 3 hours 45 minutes. The tug has a hull shape & size not dissimilar to the regular BW tugs It is presently quite skittish in response to the controls but will improve when the passenger module arrives. The driver controls will then be operated from the module and its additional motor is expected to dampen out the oscillations. The tug has the power pack in its hull, a bank of 2V lead acid, 170 amp/hour traction cells making up a 72V battery. The main drive motor(s) are 8kW, driving via belts prop(s) which are capable of 360 degree directional operation. Thursday 03 May We commenced the descent of the 42 (or was that 1042) locks. They aren't identified like the west side locks so one blurred into ten. The first few above Sparth Reservoir had nothing like enough water being retained in the pounds so we commonly had to backtrack to acquire more from the last pound. Below the reservoir we couldn't say there was an abundance of water, simply adequate with good husbandry. This turned into an 11 hour boating day where through sheer exhaustion we both picked little injuries that a more alert person may have avoided. As I recall we got thro 24 locks and collapsed into bed a bit east of Slaithwaite. Friday 04 May In terms of physical effort today was relatively easy doing only 17 locks. Most of the paddles on this eastern side are hydraulically operated so the effort is consistent and can be anticipated. A neat trick of the engineering associated with the tunnelling under Huddersfield was to position the paddles air vents for both new locks where the water content of the vented air would be directed exactly up your kilt. The only blockage impacting on our progress didn't turn up till Lock 1, obviously the last. Each member of the flotilla (5 boats in all) had their individual delays but we became bunched up at this lock so basically finished the run together. Saturday 05 May Through Lock 1 and the last few hundred yards to Aspley Basin. No effort expended this day, just time to reflect on the achievement. The experience has been great and all funding and supportive agencies can feel pleased with the outcome thus far. It was not an easy canal to traverse but with time the bugs will be ironed out and the experience become more pleasurable. Opening on time was an important objective as the contractual penalties for missing 01 May were rather more horrendous to contemplate than a bit of missing paddle grease. The BW people were individually & collectively simply marvellous throughout. I'm sure there are criticisms that could be levelled at the state of readiness of the canal but given the 01 May deadline & the demands that the F&M disease must have made on them, they did well. All who made this traverse have certainly earned the T shirt. Incidentally there are presently no suppliers of fuel or gas for the entire length which even in the best of circumstances can't be less than a 4 day journey, and very limited water points, and only one Elsan dump. Hope I haven't bored you. -- Lynne Haye and Peter Brine ---