Moorings

I thought it was about time that those of you that are remote from Norbury had sight of the towpath improvements that are now nearing completion on our moorings on the mainline of the canal. But firstly you had better see what they were like previously, so a couple of pictures courtesy of Jim Davies blog off of Starcross.

As you can see, the moorings were somewhat overgrown and in places were unusable due to the fact that the piles had given way and the towpath was somewhat treacherous. Boats also constantly came adrift as the mooring pins pulled out of the ground. Not only was this irritating to our moorers it was very time consuming for us. So last at the beginning of last May we decided to make some drastic improvements.

As you can see from the next set of pictures major works were required.







It's taken a while, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel.

So here we have it...

The work comprised of: Widening the existing path to allow room for the machinery to be moved along the length of the moorings. Then we dug out behind the original concrete piles that line the bank, straightening them up and tying them back. We then replaced the wooden wailing infront of the piles and installed a one metre wide deck which extends the length of the moorings. This has inturn been supported at the back edge by large timbers which are spiked into the ground and concreted in. The mooring rings have been attached to four foot long steel pins that have been driven into the ground, concreted in and bolted to the back of the decking. This forms one large and strong structure. We are now nearing the completion of the one metre path that runs along the back edge of the decking. Three additional water points have been installed which serve the first eight boats (or further if you have a long hosepipe!) and the pressure has been increased! (Lorraine reports that it used to take her husband three hours to fill her water tank and it now only takes twenty minutes, a vast improvement). We are still to move the existing electric point and to install a second which will also serve the first eight boats. These electric points are metred and work on a prepayment system.

You can see that we have also landscaped the bank leading up onto the field above. This will have grass and wildflower seeds scattered on it over the coming weeks and to allow it to bind together we have got netting to fit on the steeper parts.

Our moorings are currently full, but if you would like to be added to our waiting list please contact us by email or telephone (01785 284292).

Another weekend has passed by. Simon will be back tomorrow, but he will definitely be on a wind down as he is off on holiday on Friday!

Until next time.

Regards,

David.