It provided a calm, safe route west next to the river, which is nearly dry upstream part of the year but whose rapids rage in springtime.
VOA: standard.2010.04.29
One of 250 volunteers taking part in a dry run two weeks before the first working day, teacher Sue Knight from Hillingdon, Middlesex, spoke of the problems.
Even that would involve filling the hull up to the lower deck with electrolyte and, to balance the pressure, probably flooding the bottom part of the dry dock with Thames water.
During the dry period, a large part of the energy supplied by radiation is used to sublimate snow or ice and therefore, energy available for melting is low, which leads to low melt rates.