VISITORS TO THE towpaths can obviously realise the lock they are passing on a waterway can be empty.
Especially if a boat has just gone down, reports Keith Gudgin.
They take care
And so they take care, yet empty locks on the Trent & Mersey Canal has its towpath closed, Canal & River Trust tell 'to keep everyone safe from the risk of falling from height' and will 'remain closed until further notice'.
This is because these locks from the top of Heartbreak Hill are de-watered. Yet with the tunnel closures and few boats, a boat going down the long flight would leave all the locks empty. Anyway no visitors as they may fall in!
How silly is that? As when passing any lock on a waterway there is a chance of it being empty.
Latest diction
However that is the latest diction from the trust and covers the locks from Red Bull Lock 43 to Thurlwood Lower Lock 54.
But what about the hundreds of other empty locks—not only in the event of normal navigation but empty due to no water during this drought—are the towpaths now going to be closed to visitors?