Ducketts Day Three

Okay, I have a pocketbook full of notes, and pictures and videos from my phone. I've been at the Hertford Union Locks when they've been busy and when they've been very quiet, through rain and sunshine. I've talked with residents, old boaters, new boaters, CRT volunteers and staff and operatives, and some businesses on the cut too. I think I can begin to draw some conclusions.

But first, today's activities:

Head of the lower Lock 3 on the Hertford Union
where a large pile of rubbish has been cleared from above the weir.

Today started quietly and stayed quiet. No boats had been through the locks since I knocked off yesterday. Given that you might think that the first pound would have drained completely away.

A full pound and Fountains' contractors.

Instead it was more than full, the level had reached the top of the paddle vents, and seemed to be staying there, fed by a gentle leak from the top lock.

A smile from the guy in full PPE.

A pair of contractors from Fountains came down the locks to trim back the foliage, which they did efficiently, cheerfully and messily - chopped up nettles were spread cross the towpath. I guess they'll self-compost.

My little encampment outside Growing Concerns.

I chatted some more with Caroline from Growing Concerns. My managers seemed to be very enthusiastic about the living wall when I emailed them about it this morning - so that looks like it might be something that'll happen here soon. Caroline had some more leads on experts in growing such walls, but I asked her to save it for when my bosses come to talk with her.

Damage to the new-ish lock mitres near the low water level is not as bad as it could be.

Last night, late, I did a little research on the second lock. Turns out its lower gates were refurbished in 2015, which explained the 'new' look to the wooden parts. The steel gates themselves were new in 1999. That means the damage to the lower parts of the mitres, and the dislodged rubbing strip have occurred in the last year or two!

After a little more boredom I noticed the weir above the middle lock. There was something a bit odd about it - no water was going down it!

I looked below the lock, there was water coming out where the electrical cooling flow exited, but nothing else. Eventually I twigged to the fact that this lock has no working overflow weir - if the first pound gets overfilled the only exit for the water is over the lock gates, which explained the anecdote I'd heard from a nearby resident about the lock occasionally overflowing.

Eventually, at about 2pm a boat surprised me by coming up the locks, and almost immediately a pair of narrowboats coming back from Cavalcade towards Ponders End came down. Two lock workings dropped the first pound by about five inches, a couple of inches below the 'weir'.

This is not the weir exit - this is water used to cool the cables
under the towpath entering the canal below the second lock.

As my day drew to a close I walked from the top lock to the bottom and met up again with my friend RE at the bottom lock. We strolled up to Old Ford Lock No. 8 stopping only briefly to deposit an abandoned Boris bike (Santander hire bike) from the towpath into the Trust secure stores at Bow Wharf. He brought tales of a strange boat recently arrived from Leeds(!) It's aluminium and equipped with some advanced sonar that will be used to conduct a detailed depth survey of the Lee Navigation. I'll look out for that.

At Old Ford Lock, we met with operative Aiden (remember Aiden?), who it turns out is a bit of an expert on the Hertford Union and its locks, as well as being the chap who coordinates volunteer lock keepers around here. He explained that water is let down into the first pound every morning to help keep up the levels - much as the lock keeper who staffed this flight used to, until permanent lock keepers were retired by BW. His opinion is that the flight is functioning as well as it ever has done, it being a listed monument and all.

Which brings me to my conclusions - which I think might be better written up when I'm a tad less tired. Something for tomorrow.

I believe I'm done observing this flight now, so I'm going to do something different tomorrow. I'm going to head back to Old Ford Locks No. 19!

7 hours (5 hours of VTR duties.)