Chelmsford or bust Dinghy Raid

Tam Lin, live locally so will be using my car, don't mind the direction and will be using my Avon inflatable.
Bru & Jane (no idea what boat we'll have by then!) arriving by boat Friday evening, prefer "upstream", using inflatable, need transport to/from Chelmsford
Uncle Albert, live in the Basin so can assist with some transport either way (and no its not a minibus). Also Aunty Albert can assist it ferrying bodies (and/or un-inflated RIBS) to Chelmsford.
Not bothered whether its an 'uphill' journey or 'down hill'.
I don't think that the river to Beeleigh and porterage to the canal is really viable as there is no landing, that I am aware of, on the tidal stretch.
DOM Count me in, I will arrive in a dinghy, and I don't care which way we go

I am in, but logistically will need to sort out a few issues. Need to launch into tidal and lock through either Friday pm or Sat am. I would like to go upstream and will look to do it over two days, coming back down the next day. Happy to act as mothership and tea room for the passage up.
 
I really like a tender trip up from Heybridge when we berth there as visitors.

Last July however we made it up no more than half a mile from the basin in our RIB due to thick choking weed, after clearing the outboard of weed for the umpteenth time we decided to give up. Weed tends to be cyclical so hopefully this year it will have died back.

Look forward to some pictures :encouragement:
 
A couple of small logistical questions:

  • Are there slipways of any sort at either Heybridge Basin or Springfield Basin ends for launching/recovery of dingies?
  • Also what about car parking, we know there is the free public car park at Heybridge but what about the Chelmsford end?
 
The Romford Navy said:
A couple of small logistical questions:

  • Are there slipways of any sort at either Heybridge Basin or Springfield Basin ends for launching/recovery of dingies?
  • Also what about car parking, we know there is the free public car park at Heybridge but what about the Chelmsford end?
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No slipways at Heybridge basin but for a tender it shouldn't be a problem, just chuck it in! You should be able to literally push it down the bank and then get in, recovery the same especially if there are enough strong blokes to help.
There is a pay and display car park in Chelmsford in Wharf Rd where the old gas works used to be. It is not too expensive and there is always plenty of room. The car park is beside the river and there is a set of rollers so that boats can be portaged above the weir so recovery is practical there.
 
pks1702 said:
I really like a tender trip up from Heybridge when we berth there as visitors.

Last July however we made it up no more than half a mile from the basin in our RIB due to thick choking weed, after clearing the outboard of weed for the umpteenth time we decided to give up. Weed tends to be cyclical so hopefully this year it will have died back.

Look forward to some pictures :encouragement:
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I had better have a look before we go then, thanks for the tip!
 
pks1702 said:
Last July however we made it up no more than half a mile from the basin in our RIB due to thick choking weed, after clearing the outboard of weed for the umpteenth time we decided to give up. Weed tends to be cyclical so hopefully this year it will have died back.
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I am sure you know of your experience, but I wonder if you were just unlucky, because there is a 12 person motor boat that takes passengers on 2 hour boat trips up the canal to (I think) Beeleigh Abbey
 
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I read it as going up the canal, with tides only being mentioned for those who want to arrive by boat before going up the canal in their tender. I stand by for being corrected.
 
Hi every one I thought I had better chip in here as I have done this trip many times mainly by canoe but sometimes by inflatable. There and back in a day is not really feasible unless you are racing, It is probably best to start from Chelmsford as if there has been any rain in the preceding 24 hours there can be a reasonable flow on the nose. As said the best place to launch or recover is Heybridge car park up the steps and straight in the river. At the other end you can launch or recover either at Wharf road by the gas works or Waterhouse lane by the fire station both have public car parks.

The biggest problem that I can see is the date, the river will be choked with weed mostly at the Heybridge end but there will be rafts of weed most of the way up so plenty of spare shear pins needed. Someone mentioned taking a 16ft boat, the only way to do that is go through the locks as some of the portages are very narrow and steep, you can only get people on the front and back of the tender without falling in or wading through stinging nettles.

If I was doing this I would start at Waterhouse Rd ( no height barrier that I remember), unload all the cars and then all drive to Heybridge leaving someone to keep an eye on the kit with one car bringing everyone back. There is a set of rollers around the gas works weir, the rest of the locks you will have to carry round. Lunch stop would be in the paper mill lock area. If you left Chelmsford around 1000h taking it easy you should arrive about 1600h ish, send one car back to collect the car you left behind then into the pub. On a nice day it is a very pleasant trip. Hope this helps.
 
toad said:
Hi every one I thought I had better chip in here as I have done this trip many times mainly by canoe but sometimes by inflatable. There and back in a day is not really feasible
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Perhaps we ought to just go to Beeleigh and back. That would save having to make arrangements for either an overnight or someone to pick us up ... What do others think?
 
DavidofMersea said:
I am sure you know of your experience, but I wonder if you were just unlucky, because there is a 12 person motor boat that takes passengers on 2 hour boat trips up the canal to (I think) Beeleigh Abbey
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Funny David I do know my experience I was there?.

There is a trip boat but even they were struggling with a weed guard fitted. The operator was telling me that no sooner had the weed cutter been up (he is only allowed to clear a strip in the centre) than it closed in again. A number of times the cutter was working way up from the basin and had to be trucked back to clear a path.

As I said in my earlier post weed tends to be cyclical and often a really bad year is followed by almost none at all.

Fingers crossed it will be fine this year.
 
Weed growth on my home waters, the river Glen, tends to be in line with sunshine, a hot summer so ideal for boating, you can't move unless you want to walk on water, pray for a bad summer or take loads of sheer pins, gave up with the mobo, and the EA wanting me to pay for a licence when I was stuck on my mooring going nowhere was nuts
 
CLB said:
With the title of this thread, you really can't start at Chelsmford :D
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Could start a new thread. Maldon or Heybridge or Bealeigh or Bust (delete as applicable)

With all that weed I reckon we should all buy hovercrafts!

Cyclical weed sort of makes sense. my garden pond is a bit like that.
 
Don't let the weed put anyone off, it sounds like a cracking day to me, just maybe make the start point a little closer to the destination and take oars for the bad parts. Weed doesn't put me off using my rubber duck to get to the pub down river, I just make sure to take oars and get to know where the weed is really bad, I'd do this trip if I thought I could get there
 
I walked up to Beeleigh Falls today and took some photos which, I hope, will help answer some questions. There are two locks there about 100yds apart and a weir between the canal and the river. The first picture is of the weir at high tide. The river is to the left and there is a sill which runs under the bridge which was barely covered. At low tide there is no water in the river and a drop of about six feet.
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The next photo is looking back towards where the first photo was taken at the river bank where there is the only possible place to take boats in or out.
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This is a close up of the landing/launching place in the previous picture.
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This is the approach to the first lock showing the landing place by the two blue posts.
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Looking back from the bridge at the first lock showing the landing place on the right
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This is the bridge across the weir between the two locks. it is about 4 ft wide and you would have to cross this is you wanted to portage past both locks at the same time.
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Above the upper lock, the bank is fairly low down here.
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A landing stage before the upper lock.
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So, can you transfer between the river and lock? Yes, if you don't mind a bit of a scramble, have a small boat and equipment to deal with vegetation. You would have to time it right as there is no way you can get to the weir at low tide. And I expect the landing space is full of stinging nettles in the summer!
For the rest, going through or portaging the locks is eminently possible. The banks are steep in some places but there are landing stages. You would have to manhandle your boat though. I hope this gives those of you that don't know the area a better idea of what it is like.
 
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Here is a map of the canal for info. I think you have to get a lock key to operate the locks. My friend and I once had a harebrained scheme to transport commuters into Chelmsford from Paper Mill lock but soon put paid to that idea when we discovered, after experimenting with a rubber dingy, how long it takes to transit the locks. So I suspect it may take most of the day to get to Chelmsford from Heybridge as there are eleven locks.

https://www.waterways.org.uk/essex_waterways/visitor_information/chelmer___blackwater_navigation_map
 
So what do we do when we eventually arrive at Chelmsford, after all of the travails that the Canal is going to throw our way? just turn round and go back ?? it's not the nicest part of England to make an arrival and nothing is really that close to provide the R&R required after such exertions :o)

I suggest a better plan might be to 'escape' Chelmsford and head for the open sea at Heybridge....

The destination now has fresh air, sea views and two riverside pubs ready and waiting to refresh and revive, definitely a goal of some merit........something the Gas Works car park in Chelmsford is unfortunately sadly lacking.

as I said it's just a thought
 
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