Very last knee update and we break free from the Mill

 October 3rd.

Two things happened yesterday, see the consultant for the first time since the knee op and finally get to leave Langley Mill to head for Milton Keynes.

So to the consultant visit. It was at a ridiculous time in the morning, 8.45am appointment and all that rush hour traffic to contend with. We left at 8 am, thought 3/4 hour would be long enough. Well, we only just made it, having been unexpectedly held up by the railway level crossing barriers going down in front of us as we neared the hospital. Groan...hoped it wasn't one of those long goods train, but a sigh of relief when  a small two carriage commute train whizzed past at some speed. The barriers were very quickly raised, but it was the wait for the train to arrive that took the time! Anyway, no sooner had we put bottoms on the seats when I was called in by Mr Matar himself. He took a long look at how I was walking and laughingly said, "Are you sure you've had a knee replacement". Long story short, the X-rays were displayed, a before and after picture and no wonder he got me in as soon as he did. He admitted it was one of the worst knees he had seen in ages.  No wonder I had been in pain for such a long time. Then he asked for certain exercises to be performed, all of which were passed with flying colours. His last parting comment as he signed me off was, "No one is to touch that knee but me. If there are any problems, you contact me immediately".  I must say the whole experience has been one of positivity, there is much to be said for being a NHS patient treated at a private hospital.

With the all clear from Mr Matar, we set off from Langley Mill around 10am. FS had been taken out of the basin on the 1st Oct in the hope we could get away. E-mails from CRT over a week ago confirmed that the locks would hopefully start opening.  

Update 25 September 2025, 4:22pm

While the prolonged period of dry weather has now ended and rainfall so far this month is above average, there has been little to no recovery in reservoir water levels since the closure. 

However, we are hopeful that based on the anticipated increase in rainfall over the coming weeks, that we may be able to lift the closure and offer limited passage to allow movement before the start of the winter stoppage programme.  

If no further issues arise then the proposed opening times will be as follows:

 Friday 10th October to Sunday 2nd November the following locks will be open from 10am to 3pm with last boat in at 2pm.

Grand Union Canal Calcutt Lock 1 (Top Lock) through to Lock 23 (Radford Bottom Lock) Calcutt Lock 1(Top Lock) Braunston Locks 1 to 6 Buckby Locks 7 to 13 Stoke Bruerne Locks 14 to 20   Oxford Canal Hillmorton Locks 2 to 7 Napton Lock 8 through to Marston Doles Lock 16 (Top Lock)   Coventry Canal Glascote Lock Lock 12 (Top Lock) to 13 - (Bottom Lock) Atherstone Lock 1 through to Lock 11

We hope that this window of opportunity to travel will support boaters and boating businesses but strongly advise that everyone continue to check these notices for any updates and plan their journeys to ensure they have enough time to navigate through the restricted areas of the network.

We will update this notice to confirm the proposed plans on 7th October or sooner if we have further information

 

We had planned to be down in Milton Keynes late October. Finally (and it's been years in the making) my brother Andre and partner Sally would be coming for a visit from Australia. Our son Colin and daughter-in-law Iwona had agreed that they could stay with them during the visit. We did so want to take them out on FS for a few days, and for a while now we thought those plans were scuppered because of the stoppages. But yeah, it looks as if it will all come good in the end.

It took roughly 5 hours to get to Sandiacre, our planned stop for the first night. There was a big news item on Midlands Today about sunken boats at Loughborough, well we could do with some news coverage here on TV as well. Derby radio has covered our concerns, but to date CRT haven't down much about it! I'm talking about the sunken boats on the Erewash. It's fast becoming a dumping ground for unloved and unwanted boats, which end up being vandalised and then sunk! To date, only the boat at Sandiacre lock has been removed. The one in the middle of navigation before Gallows lock is still there, as are a few others along the route.

j

At Sawley

Not had one of these on the Erewash before! Another abandoned boat?

Today (3rd)  

With the first named storm (Amy) this season heading our way, it was a very early start then. The plan was to get the upper River Trent section done and dusted before it went into flood. Well, we needn't have worried. I have never seen the river so low, flow was minimal, and I think it will take a vast amount of rain to bring the levels up. 

 

 Best laid plans etc, we had hoped to make Weston Lock on the T&M, but rain started just as we entered Trent Lock. It threw it down, we got well and truly soaked and stopping early wasn't that bad an idea, so Shardlow, above the lock, was where we got to. Here we may stay until Sunday. Tomorrow's weather looks to be worse than todays, and these days if we don't need to move, we don't.