Forty Foot River

[David Take 5]

Hi, can anyone confirm the status of Middle Level Navigations(Forty Foot River)?

The last time I was out on the Middle Level was several years ago and I took a route across from Salters Lode to Stanground using Popham's Eau, Sixteen Foot River and Forty Foot River to its junction with the Old River Nene near Ramsey, then Benwick and Whittlesey. Clearances under the bridges on the Sixteen Foot were quite tight for my narrowboat, but it made a nice trip.

Looking on the site's journey planner today, it won't find routes that way as it considers the entire Forty Foot River to be non-navigable. The site's Waterway Information says; \"This waterway is excluded by default from route planning with the following explanation: \"Closed at Welches Dam Sluice\". I appreciate that's definitely the case at and up to Welches Dam, but is it still possible to navigate along the Forty Foot from the Sixteen Foot Corner to the Old River Nene, as I did on my earlier trip?

[Stephen Atty]

Its a messy situation which we've discussed before. The river is excluded from automated route planning by default but you can add it back in but of course that means it might route you through Welches Dam Sluice if you aren't manually controlling your route. We have put a long term stoppage in so if you take it off the exclusion list it will flag up when planning that it is closed..

As for actually navigating the river - I have no idea. From online reports of trips I suspect passage is difficult

[David Take 5]

Hi Stephen, thanks for the information.

I have only travelled that way once and that was several years ago. I have a 54' narrowboat and found the passage very straightforward. The only potential problem is clearance under a couple of bridges on the Sixteen Foot River. My air draught is 6' 5\" and I got under them. On the Forty Foot River there were no problems at all with the river itself.

I'm intending to use the same route in the opposite direction next month, so I was really enquiring whether there's been a change over the last few years. I can't see any notices which indicate anything has changed, so I'll just go for it and see if I can get through. However it goes, I'll report back here.

[FLHerne]

I have altered the map to reflect the status quo:

40 Foot Drain drain split into two sections:
 - navigable from the Old River Nene to Horseway Lock, made routeable.
 - unnavigable from Horseway Lock to Welches Dam Lock (inclusive), still unrouteable

Old Bedford River and Counter Drain marked as unroutable. A few boats have battled their way up there (although the last time I'm aware of was 2018) but it's not at all usable for ordinary/sane boaters.