[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >Are there any other British tidal locks that are boater-operated? > Hanham.
Whenever I've been through Hanham it's been at least under supervision of a keeper, even though we may have operated it ourselves. > Old Ford (Lee) used to be. Presumably between sometime around 1990 when it lost its keeper and 2000 or so when it lost its tides. > City Mill may be again soon (sort of). Carpenters Road too, I guess. Are they likely to be restored to use before the waterway below them ceases to be tidal? While Adrian's, Mike's and Neil's suggestions may be perfectly valid answers to my questions (to which there may well be some further additions eg Molesey Lock on an exceptionally high tide that occurs outside of keepers hours), they weren't quite what I was thinking of. My question came from a fantasy discussion a few weeks ago that followed the disappearing hireboat story. Would there be any conceivable way in which a boat stolen from somewhere on the main canal network could escape to sea (by water, not on a lorry!) without a lock keeper having the opportunity to stop the thieves. And without having to resort to tactics such as cutting padlocks off to get through manned locks while the keeper was off duty. I couldn't think of any way of doing it. The nearest I could come up with involved craning the boat out, moving it by road and craning it into the Great Ouse then heading for the Wash via Brownshill, the New Bedford River and the tidal Great Ouse though Kings Lynn. (Sure, somebody would probably still spot you anyway, But you get the idea?) Are there any possible routes that I've missed? Every possible route I could think of involved one or more manned locks (usually at the head of the tideway). Even where they might be bypassed (eg go over Maisemore weir on the Severn at high spring tide) there's another manned lock (in this case Upper Lode) where you could be checked by the keeper. And no, I wasn't actually planning on doing it! Martin
