Where can we go?
Andy Tidy describes the challenges facing roving traders this season amid widespread infrastructure repairs and water shortages
This summer’s drought-related stoppages have been creeping up on me, one here and one there, often with deferred implementation dates, which have made it difficult to see the big picture.
The scale of this year’s problems hit me as I stood in the office of hire company Anglo Welsh at Great Haywood, staring at a map on the wall on which all the prevailing stoppages had been marked in chinagraph pen. They were everywhere, and the issue was so acute that holiday-makers were finding it hard to know where to go.
Problems with water levels on canals like the Rochdale have been a feature ever since they were restored – similar in many ways to the water-starved Basingstoke in the south. Then there is the Leeds & Liverpool, which is prone to water issues during any drier-than-average summer. It’s not unknown for even the GU Leicester Line to suffer and I recently saw some photos of a dried-up Welford Arm from the hot summer of 1976.
But this year’s water issues are everywhere, and these are, unfortunately, coupled with an unusually high number of structural failures and breaches, making an already bad situation worse.
Where can we go?
Almost overnight, the limitations of movement caused by impending stoppages have become regular topics of conversation. This means some boaters have had to alter their routes, while others have decided to make a dash for their home mooring for fear of getting stuck in the wrong place.
While all this uncertainty is irritating for many, it is creating real dilemmas and tension among Roving Traders, many of whom rely on the canal festivals held in August and September to make a living. Furthermore, a vibrant floating market has become a cornerstone feature of many canalside events, and if the trade and historic boats can’t reach them, they will also suffer.
Trying to second guess future stoppages has become all the rage, with everyone becoming an armchair expert on the main water sources supplying various canals.
This new pastime was much in evidence at the Roving Canal Traders Association’s floating market in Market Drayton on 26th-27th July. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that the Shropshire Union and Staffs & Worcs were probably safe because their primary feed comes from the massive Wolverhampton sewerage works, and as long as the good people of Wolverhampton keep flushing their toilets, the boaters on these canals will bob along nicely.
A BCN challenge
The problem for many of the trade boats attending the Market Drayton event is that the next group of festivals on the calendar lie up on the Birmingham plateau, far along the weedy and winding Wyrley & Essington Canal. Who would think that places like Wednesfield and Brownhills host some of the most vibrant canal festivals in the region? The issue came to a head when a surprise notification came through from CRT to say that the Wolverhampton Locks, which were already on reduced hours, would be closing completely just three days after the market finishes.
It’s physically possible to get to the locks in two days, and it’s also possible to take the longer route round via the Stourbridge Locks. But what happens if this back door to the Black Country closes as well?
So, the traders are all busy debating the pros and cons of getting onto the BCN only to find themselves potentially unable to reach their destination due to low water levels, or worse, becoming stranded there with no way out. If this happened, they would find themselves unable to attend the subsequent canal festivals around the network. Where would they go if they were unable to leave the BCN for months on end?
Navigating uncertainty
The traders, therefore, find themselves gambling against future stoppages, hoping that if their movements are curtailed still further, they will have enough notice to get ahead of the problems and complete their season’s trading plans.
What we all want, I guess, is rain. Weeks and weeks of the wet stuff, but only on Mondays to Fridays, because we still need the sun to shine and bring out the crowds for the festival weekends.
Given the vagaries of the British summer, this issue may have completely gone away by the time this appears in print, and everyone will be worrying about canals overtopping their banks. But, to my mind, it is likely the situation will become more acute, and we will all be hoping for a very wet winter and rather damper conditions in 2026.