Boaters are racing against the clock to beat canal closures as waterways run dry due to extreme heat. He was in Norbury on the Shropshire Union Canal when he spoke to the BBC and estimated several hundred of boaters were weighing up similar calculations. Advertisement Advertisement"[It is] 30-something miles long and it's already about eight inches down and that's a huge amount of water," he said. He was part of a 15-boat campaign cruise heading for Preston and Lancaster this year, which he said had been "thwarted completely by lock closures, failed locks, droughts and failed assets". Howles, who is not a boater but describes herself as a canal lover, said both existing canals and those being restored needed protection.