Closed for Winter

Generally the canal has closed in mid November and reopens at the end of March. Here are the main reasons.

• The water supply becomes low. During the Summer the barge traffic consume the water supply which is stocked in the main reservoirs. This water supply is accumulated during the winter period.
• There is much less boat traffic during the winter, maintaining all the lock keeprs at their posts is not very resonable.
• The locks and canal require maintenace, which often requires streches of water between locks to be emptied. Therefore navigation is closed.
  

Although the canal is very calm with regards to the lack of barges navigating during the winter, it is still very interesting to watch the locks being repaired. To have access to the lock doors, the streach of water (called "a pound" above or below the lock must be emptied. The sluice gates are simply opened to allow the water to evacute at a pre-caluated rate, just fast enough to not flood the pound below.
Generally there is enough water tleft to keep the fish alive, however the fishing guards will come along to rescure the larger fish, netting them and then transporting them to the pound below.
The canal workers can now remove the pieces of oak used as seals, replacing them with new oak which is finished on site to have an exact fit. They will also repair or maintain the sluice gates when required.
When finished, the lock doors are closed and the canal pound is refilled with water from the lock above. The whole job can be done in 48 hours.