 | Allington Lock and Slipway | | Gateway to the rural River Medway |
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hi to all the navigation team, as my summer of boating is nearing its end, i would like to thank all the navigation team for doing a great job, especially the people we meet the most at the lock at allington, what a difference a few years make, as now its a pleasure to enter the lock at allington and allways be greeted with a smile and plenty of help, thanks lads, as a point of interest to the navigation team, this last few weeks i have struggled with the lock gates at farliegh lock, as you know the lower gates are leaking badly through the lower concrete sill, and i have had to ask for help from passers by to help open the gates, lower and upper. also 1 of the lock paddles has come addrift at the base of the winding screw. apart from that keep up the good work. C/C "Twins" |
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Adrian, many thanks for the good feedback on the Medway Canoe Trail. I am sure that users will find your tips useful. There should be signs on the landing stages at Teston, I will re-check with the navigation team. |
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I went from Allington to the Leigh Barrier & back this weekend, with a Pal in a 16ft Canadian Canoe. We both had a great time & fully appreciate all the enhancements made along the way.
We camped at Oak Weir Lock during a flash rainfall & saw the river change depth by approx 6 inches.
We tested Sluice Weir in the open boat & confirmed the bow wave does completely soak the guy upfront (not me!) & we had 3 inches of water to bail out, but nothing scary.
Some tidbits of advice/info for others...
- Those in cruisers were friendly & offered good advice.
- There are many kingfishers to be seen in the Barming to Maidstone stretch.
- the canoe shoots start off very shallow & each one downstream then gets steeper. But only Sluice Weir gets "exciting".
- Camping at Yalding is a good site, but if the perimeter gate remains locked you cannot easily get out of it (i.e. no pub/loos!)
- You cannot sit outside the Anchor pub at Yalding with your canoe nearby.
- Option 2 at Yalding (Hampstead Lock - a very impressive drop) is a long Portage. Option 1 is much easier, although very slippery on the 2nd large bank when wet.
- the campsite at Barming is quite open/windy & can get boggy from rain running off all the higher horse paddocks.
- camping near locks/weirs can be quite noisy - take earplugs for sleeping.
The only thing I would mention as a real problem here, is that the Teston landing stages are definitely still being taken for fishing platforms. They even caused problems for a cruiser to moor downstream while waiting to enter the lock. Quite a few had camped up with chairs, brolleys & multiple rods, etc. They moved eventually, but kept querying where it says it is not to be used for fishing. In fact we could not see any signs which said "no fishing" or "canoes only" in line with the other locks. Perhaps they have artfully removed all the signs now?
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Dear Steve, I'd be grateful if you could clarify which link is broken so I can get on and fix it. In the meantime if you'd prefer a splashproof hardcopy of the Canoe Trail Map, please email Michelle.waterman@environment-agency.gov.uk with your home address and she will put a free copy in the post to you. |
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A great site just one big draw back, the link to the trail map does not work. A big dissapointment after such a lot of effort has gone into rest of site and facillites its showing. Please contact me so i may obtain the promised map, and enjoy the meadway trail. |
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Ted, thanks for your kind words. In response to your enforcement issue: The navigation team are just 7 in number and they have to cover a seven day week. In this week they cover items like mowing, strimming, greasing, fixing, tree lopping, painting, cleaning, selling licences, checking the sluices, responding to customers (to name a few). Enforcement activities such as checking licences, and enforcing speeding is also undertaken, however, when we undertook a user survey 2-3 years ago it was deemed as less important than general maintenance of the river. I believe 90% of those surveyed wanted saw enforcement as less important than maintenance. All of the new structures you see on the river are from "one off" Capital sums of money and not from the Agency's general annual revenue budget. If you think the service the Environment Agency is giving is below par, then I would recommend that you contact the Medway River users Association as they are the voice for all river users. Please bear in mind however:
1. The river is a loss earner. ie the amount of income it receives from boaters is FAR less than it spends on running the river. (essentially the tax payer is picking up the bill).
2. The outlook in terms of future funding doesn't look good. (ie cuts on the way). |
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Hi there.... been cruising The Medway for a few months now. and are most impressed with the impeccable service offered by the EA especially the lockeepers at Allington Steve & Tim.Doing a great job there guys, both very helpful and informative.<br />
Fish pass is a great idea and look forward to seeing it operational.Really good to see all the extra innovative ideas that are being carried out on the river(mooring posts better landing stages,canoe passes, general facilities), i fear they all come at a cost though.. lack of ea staff checking rod licences, foreign looking fisherman fishing out of season and eating their catch bankside.Infact i called the EA helpline 2-3 times over the last few months to report illegal activites and got put through to a lady somewhere halfway up the country to be asked if i knew a road name nearby, can you believe it !!, not only that but when checking phonebill i discovered i had been charged nearly £10 per call, pretty disgusted with that...Whats more there i was teaching my sons about the rights and wrongs regarding the close season, and all along the sections about the Maidstone town area are fisherman breaking the rules, and children fishing off landing stages I will stop moaning now, just put more money into governing the laws please |
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Ann, thanks for your feedback. Sluice Weir Canoe slide has been in place since 1999 and is very popular as it is a fast direct slide with nothing to slow boats down. Sadly the brushes we install at other sites are not designed to be used on a slide that steep so will not work.
In terms of Oak Weir Lock, we expect users to take a trowel or similar with them and bury their toilet waste. This is common practice when wildeness camping so should work there also. Sadly we just don't have the time or money to add bin collections to our navigation officers' duties. |
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Firstly, I just want to thank the EA for spending the money and making the Medway much eaiser to paddle. I have been paddling the medway for years and it has been interesting portageing in the past. The canoe passes are great, particularly the one at sluice wier lock.However, is there any chance of putting those lovley brushy things on it as my friends and I have noticed our boats getting badly scratched underneath. The other passes dont harm our boats. Also, decided to give the camping a go and headed up river to Oakwier Lock which is a lovely spot. Appreciate there are no facilities but it very noticable that people still want to use paper when going to the toilet and just discard it in the bushes. Is there any chance of putting some kind of waste bin at this location to encourage those to put it in a bin rather leave it in the bushes. As over time this is going to build up to alot and it is not very pretty in an otherwise lovely spot. I dont know how often the EA cruise the river but i wouldnt have thought it would need emptying more than once a week and may encourage those who want to paddle and camp to be more responsible with thier waste. |
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Steve, I'll pass this one on to our Navigation team at Allington Lock. Appreciate the feedback. |
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could you please ask the operators of the day hire motor boats that have appeared on the medway (non tidal) to instruct their customers on basics of lock operation and which side of the river they should be on.
they constantly single gate through the locks and leave paddles completely up or only partially closed this is frustrating and time consuming for next boats in the lock it is also ill mannered and makes one wonder if the hire operators should be allowed to profit at the inconvenience of other licence payers, also a little more evidence of speed enforcement would not go amiss. sorry to gripe its a lovely river but is somtimes ruined by inconsiderate people. on a happier note the lock and mooring improvements are great |
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Jonathan, thanks for your feedback. We'll look at the signage in this area. |
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Kayaked the River Medway from Tonbridge to Allington on 17th and 18th July 2010.
Enjoyed the trip very much, followed the useful Canoe Trail guide which wasnt as waterproof as it was suggested but nevertheless very interesting.
We were very impressed with the work that hes been carried out by the EA for the benifit of Canoeists and Kayakers. The portage platforms and canoe passes were brilliant and made passing locks light work!
My only gripe was that on approaching Teston Lock portage platform the "general public" appeared to think that these platforms were put there just for them and their kids to sunbathe and dangle their feet in the water. As we attempted to portage with our kayaks we were faced with stern faced looks as if we were doing wrong! We had the same problem on the downstream side and could not actually enter the platform due to the numbers of kids playing on them with their parents, none of which were keen to move for us making portaging at this lock very difficult. This is mainly due to this Lock being within the Country Park and is a regular spot for picnics etc. My advice would be to place signs at these platforms to remind the public of their primary use!
Otherwise very enjoyable and i would like to add that Steve the EA Navigation Officer at Allington Lock was more than helpful to us and gave good advice before and after our trip, many thanks to him and his colleague at Yalding who allowed us to use the EA toilet facilaties near teapot island. |
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Thanks Johan. Nice website. |
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Thanks for sending the Medway Canoe Trail guide overseas to the Netherlands.
I enjoyed kayaking on the river very much.
I added info about my trip and photo's to my website about kayak routes:
www.kanoroutes.nl
Johan |
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Anthony, the mooring piles at Teston now belong to Kent County Council. Probably best that you speak to Louise at the park rangers office at the Country Park itself (just inside the car park).
Thanks for the feedback on the East Farleigh moorings. I'll speak to the ops team to see if we can put some smaller ones in lower down. Their quite busy at the moment so it may be a few weeks. |
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Hi, I was out this weekend and used some of the mooring piles above Teston. I was wondering if there were any plans to link each pile with a plank of some sort around water level that way we could have more effective use of fenders. I also noticed that the mooring rings on the piles below Farleigh were very high above water level and I observed a man on a small boat having to reach up high in order to get the rope through. This led to him being unbalanced. Is it possible to get some more rings about half the height of the present ones?
All in all excellent progress on the river, now if only there was a shop and somewhere to buy petrol.... |
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Dear Mr Edwards, I understand your frustration and I am sorry for the ongoing inconvenience. The project team has decided to bring forward all works that would have involved closure of the walkway (such as the fish pass, the new steps, and disabled access ramps) instead of protracting them out with separate closures over long periods. Closing the walkway to the public allows the contractor to work as quickly as possible so that overall the disruption is minimised. Please bear with us and keep an eye on this website for any updates. |
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I gather the Allington Sluice gates will now be closed to pedestrians until the end of July. Must be about six months altogether, with no alternative method of crossing the Medway provided. Bad news for people living in Allington who enjoy a walk into Maidstone, or would like to visit the Malta Inn. I wonder how long it actually took to build the sluice gates with less sophisticated machinery than is avalable now ?? Very unimpressed. AE |
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Mike, the Environment Agency take speeding and creation of excess wash very seriously. I must emphasise that if you or anyone else witnesses this behaviour then please phone Allington Lock 01622 752864 to report it immediately. With evidence of times and dates the Environment Agency Navigation Officers can then make best use of the speed recording equipment they own. |
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