Canals closing in Scotland

Daydream believer said:
Having first ponced off the cash we send via the Barnet formulae.
You seem to forget that the camper vans have to get to the Cally canal & the occupants spend money as they travel the area. Just because they go to look at a certain part of the scenery does not mean that they do not go shopping in another part.
I think that you will find that one of the arguments provided by your waterways whallas is that by attracting others, apart from those transiting the canals, greater income is being created elsewhere.
I do agree that it is a shame that the canals might be allowed to go into disrepair & i do understand the frustration expressed on this forum. However, I suspect that the campervaners, the walkers & all the others that associate with the surroundings all have an interest.One might suggest that they may have a greater influence if the net overall financial return to the community produced by them is greater.
Pity though because it b..ggers up my plans for a third, round UK via the canal, trip.
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Which part of the UK do you propose going round, via a canal?
 
JumbleDuck said:
The Big Question is whether there is enough money available for any management system to be able to keep things going as we might wish. Or to put it another way, from where in the Scottish Canals budget should money come from to replace the collapsing gates on the Crinan, repair the failed bridge on the Forth and Clyde and do whatever is needed on the Caledonian?

SC also has responsibility for the Monkland Canal, which has been closed to navigation for years and is mostly now the M8.
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This yet again shows the futility of trying to do everything "within Scotland" and funded from within Scotland. I am pretty sure when it was all under the umbrella of "British Waterways" funds would have flowed around the system more freely to where there was a need for some repairs.

The logical conclusion is canals in say Lancashire should only be funded with money raised in Lancashire etc.

Imagine how the whole of Scotland would perform if everything was organised and funded entirely within Scotland with no subsidy from elsewhere, who would be daft enough to propose such a thing........
 
JumbleDuck said:
SC also has responsibility for the Monkland Canal, which has been closed to navigation for years and is mostly now the M8.
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I'm not so sure a motorway from Ardrishaig to Crinan would help even the bloody camper vans. :)

Although there would probably be a commercial opportunity for some company with a fleet of trucks and a hoist at either end to make money transporting boats.
 
lpdsn said:
Although there would probably be a commercial opportunity for some company with a fleet of trucks and a hoist at either end to make money transporting boats.
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I have seriously wondered whether there would be commercial possibilities in a road-legal hoist plying between Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert if (when) the Crinan Canal closes. Or maybe between Cairnbaan and Bellanoch.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I have seriously wondered whether there would be commercial possibilities in a road-legal hoist plying between Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert if (when) the Crinan Canal closes. Or maybe between Cairnbaan and Bellanoch.
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Tarbert to here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.855...yr4uxSRhHg9jTV9UQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-GB
on West Loch Tarbert is just over a mile:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tar...!2m2!1d-5.415608!2d55.863246!1m0!3e2?hl=en-GB
That bit of the loch looks shallow but half a mile further on, on a narrow B road, you'd be here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.850...X0I4_Zaa3yYZvN1Sg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-GB
The A83 would need to be closed for the boat lift to operate, or passing places built! What is the gradient of the road as it leaves Tarbert? Is it do-able?

Edit:
Have a GoogleDrive from here and find out!
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.863...GTnE2O41eJKQ7xmWg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-GB
Too many houses would need demolished to build a private road parallel to the A83, but one could be built alongside the A83 from this point southwards:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.861...hw6h2gZWwdtS2R4WA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-GB

JumbleDuck's Nautical Highway:encouragement:
 
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ProDave said:
If it was on a private road with sufficient headroom to transport with masts up........
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Shouldn't be a problem on the Crinan route, as the clearance above the canal is 90' and any telephone or local power cables over the raod could be easily rerouted. I haven't checked the Tarbert route, but at worst it might mean hoiking up a power line a bit.

A1Sailor said:
The A83 would need to be closed for the boat lift to operate, or passing places built! What is the gradient of the road as it leaves Tarbert? Is it do-able?
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I honestly believe that it would be worth investigating. To avoid holding up traffic too much and to get a suitable throughput the lift would have to be a lot nippier that the normal crawl-about-the-yard version. Maybe one of those at each end with a road-going low-loader (or several) equipped with hydraulically adjustable props and chocks?

JumbleDuck's Nautical Highway:encouragement:
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Remember folks, you read it here first! 10% discount to all forum users.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
If we are playing fantasy canals, then I propose that a Corinthian style canal at Crinan would be a better cost effective option than what we have at the moment. It is after all, only 67' above sea level at it's highest point. It would kill off a lot of the current problems once dug.

http://elevation.maplogs.com/poi/crinan_lochgilphead_pa31_8sr_uk.251559.html
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And with the tides each end about 6 hours out of sync electricity could be generated and very little fuel would be needed if you chose your times carefully.
 
awol said:
And with the tides each end about 6 hours out of sync electricity could be generated and very little fuel would be needed if you chose your times carefully.
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The old chestnut of the Tarbert (east to west Loch) option needs looked at again. It's barely a mile in a straight line, so perhaps double that to ease some contours? Make it a real 2.8m draft canal, and secure some decent water supplies- much shorter than Crinan so less water involved.
Crinan, Cairnbaan and Adrishaig wouldn't like it but you would pop out just north of Gigha. Tarbert would take up the tourist slack. You could transit in a morning. What's not to like? (excluding the "experience" at the Crinan)
Me - I use Sanda, the Mull and Gigha:)
 
For a canal you need a water catchment, that is why the Crinan was built where it is, I suspect a few pairs of lock gates might be cheaper than any of the fantasies.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
If we are playing fantasy canals ...
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Let's go the whole hog and return the Crinan to its originally intended route north of the Add, with branch north via Kilmartin to Loch Awe. Then add the proposed canalisation of the River Awe down to Loch Etive and, some minor awkwardness at Connel aside, job's a good 'un.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Let's go the whole hog and return the Crinan to its originally intended route north of the Add, with branch north via Kilmartin to Loch Awe. Then add the proposed canalisation of the River Awe down to Loch Etive and, some minor awkwardness at Connel aside, job's a good 'un.
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How about a scenic tram running alongside the canal?
 
JumbleDuck said:
I have seriously wondered whether there would be commercial possibilities in a road-legal hoist plying between Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert if (when) the Crinan Canal closes. Or maybe between Cairnbaan and Bellanoch.
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Me too! And I have put it as a semi-serious proposition to people in the boating industry (I might even have mentioned it to Martin Latimer!) The answer has been to the effect that the road between Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert is already heavily used by Forestry Commission traffic, and that although the crossing from tidal water to tidal water isn't very far, you'd have to take boats some distance down West Loch Tarbert to reach water that is conveniently navigable (I gather the inner end of the loch is a rock garden)
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Me too! And I have put it as a semi-serious proposition to people in the boating industry (I might even have mentioned it to Martin Latimer!) The answer has been to the effect that the road between Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert is already heavily used by Forestry Commission traffic, and that although the crossing from tidal water to tidal water isn't very far, you'd have to take boats some distance down West Loch Tarbert to reach water that is conveniently navigable (I gather the inner end of the loch is a rock garden)
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See #107
This point is about a mile and a half from Tarbert:
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.850...X0I4_Zaa3yYZvN1Sg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-GB

I remember as a child watching three fishing boats thundering up West Loch Tarbert - all bouncing over the same rock! Probably coming up to the pier at my link...
 
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