According to http://www.waterscape.com/ , Britain's shortest canal is the Wardle Lock Branch on the Trent and Mersey at some 80 odd feet, including a 75 ft lock.
The cut from the existing Willington Lake (rechristened Mercia Marina) is some 275 metres which makes it more than a cut and surely Britain's newest canal? Most marinas are just offline, leading to the hazardous T-junction and nervous poking out of bows and warning horn blasts as boats nose their way into the canal from a tight marina entrance.
Mercia is set well-back from the Trent and Mersey and the junction will have a wide angle, or mouth, so that boaters will be able to 'see and be seen' which was the mantra of the London Waterbus Company (http://www.londonwaterbus.com/) and Jason's Trip (http://www.jasons.co.uk/) when I was steering for them. The others mantras were unofficial and unrepeatable in a family blog.
The photos you can see are of the base for the new road bridge (described by the experts here as a matiere arch) with the channel in the middle, digging out the new drydock and the T-pieces used to guide the piles for the new Willington Canal.
The new bridge will be delivered, pre-cast, on May 13 which should be a fascinating day.
The cut from the existing Willington Lake (rechristened Mercia Marina) is some 275 metres which makes it more than a cut and surely Britain's newest canal? Most marinas are just offline, leading to the hazardous T-junction and nervous poking out of bows and warning horn blasts as boats nose their way into the canal from a tight marina entrance.
Mercia is set well-back from the Trent and Mersey and the junction will have a wide angle, or mouth, so that boaters will be able to 'see and be seen' which was the mantra of the London Waterbus Company (http://www.londonwaterbus.com/) and Jason's Trip (http://www.jasons.co.uk/) when I was steering for them. The others mantras were unofficial and unrepeatable in a family blog.
The photos you can see are of the base for the new road bridge (described by the experts here as a matiere arch) with the channel in the middle, digging out the new drydock and the T-pieces used to guide the piles for the new Willington Canal.
The new bridge will be delivered, pre-cast, on May 13 which should be a fascinating day.
