Canal & Rivers DISTRUST

Canal and Rivers Trust (C&RT)  have recently been 'consulting' with interested parties on a review of how boats are licenced for using the waterways under its control.
National Association of Boat Owners (NABO) which is the most broadly representative of all the boating pressure groups has been involved in this and has become disillusioned by C&RT's approach.  The 'consultation' seems to be a sham. C&RT appear to have decided how licensing is going to change and are going through the motions and massaging the results to support this decision.
NABO issued the following message to all members and I urge ALL boaters, whether members of NABO or not, to make their views know to C&RT as soon as possible.

Your Council met recently and felt that we should urgently communicate our 

views and recommendations with regard to CRT's latest consultation.
Canal and River Trust have spent considerable time and expense getting to 

this stage yet in our view have now effectively ignored the majority view.
CRT have in this consultation posed questions intimating that these have 

the support of the two earlier stages and of the Navigation Advisory Group

(NAG L&M) where boaters views were requested. This is not the case.

At the specially convened meeting of NAG and the boaters representatives 

Mark Tizard and Alison Tuck from NABO attended) we were advised that after
getting the views of the boating organisations (stage 1) and the boaters 

workshops (stage 2) the only common themes emerging were the approval  to

change the way licensing was charged from length to area and to review 

discounts generally (keeping the prompt payment discount). We understood

that this basically was likely to form the core of the questions to be asked.

There was a majority view that there should just be one license charge

regardless of whether a boater had a home mooring or not) and it was agreed

that licensing cost should not be used to address congestion but that this

was the function of enforcement. 

Despite being rejected at stage 1&2 this was brought up again at the special 

NAG meeting and again rejected unanimously.

Despite this we note with dismay that CRT have chosen to be divisive and have 

included questions that suggest that the boaters should pay a different fee 

dependent upon whether they have a home mooring or not, see questions 24,25 

and 26. NABO's view is that there should be one license fee for use of the

waterways under CRT's control and would urge members to vote accordingly. 

In addition we note that CRT in question 24  is suggesting a new license with 

increased fee  (in our view potentially  illegal unless there is a new act of 

Parliament) for boats that wish to remain in one area. This is in our view a 

function of creating a sustainable mix of towpath, short and long term 

moorings supported by enforcement.

Members can read a pdf of the consultation here. 

We would URGE all members to respond to the consultation, 

if you have not received a copy contact customer services who will email 

or post one out to you.

NABO is planning to launch a wider campaign shortly whose aims are to ensure

that CRT and EA put boating and boaters at the forefront of their
thinking and actions when promoting the waterways. 

This will have the tag of ' As a boater are you feeling marginalised ?' 

NABO Council 

With highlighting and italicizing by Peter Lloyd 

Never Had It So Good ?

On BBC Radio Four's consumer programme this morning You  & Yours Winifred Robinson was discussing the report from the debt help group, Step Change.  This reported a rise in the number of  people with debt problems and highlighted the following from callers to their help line:

• Six out of ten callers were under 40
• Four out of ten were single with no children
• Eight out of ten were renting their home

Their representative made the following statement in support of  the third point here:
"more people are renting than ever before"  
The population of UK is greater than ever before and so his statement might be true. However to make the claim meaningful it should be based on the proportion of households renting, not the  number of people in the population.
And on that basis it is not true according to the Office of National Statistics.
The chart below clearly shows that the proportion of rented households in UK was greater  than it is today prior to 1981 - one generation ago.



The second contributor on this topic was Katie Morley, the Consumer Editor of the Daily Telegraph.
I hazard a guess that Ms Morley is in the age group under discussion because of her unbelievable stance.  For a person in her position on a national newspaper to say that the young are in debt through no fault of their own is naive if not immature.
"Look who created the system - the old people. They are to blame"
Does she believe this drivel?
Part of this system, according to Ms Morley,  is the growth in channels to buy goods on deferred payment. This is not new. When I was her age every other household had a catalogue which allowed them to purchase on tick. Is this ancient (irrelevant) history to the the under 40s?
There has always been credit available but what has changed is society's attitude to it. We were always told . Never a borrower or lender be.
An incentive to heading this advise  was the rate of interest and inflation.   The interest rate on our first mortgage reached 25% at one time which is a far cry from today's rates.

There seems to be growing support  for the view that the baby boomers have "never had it so good", to borrow from Harold Macmillan.
This may be the case but I doubt that many of the current  under 40's  have ever had to cope with the financial problems that the baby boomers did at their age. If I had voiced Ms Morley's statement at her age it would have elicited the response
 Stop blaming others and  cut your coat according to your cloth.

A conspiracy?

Our plan today was to make sufficient progress along the Bridgewater Canal to get us through Wigan tomorrow. As some stretches of the Bridgewater Canal can be quite boring M agreed to take a turn on the tiller in one hour shifts.

Towards the end of her first shift this obstruction necessitated a stop and then a squeeze past.


Once past, she could not get under  way again as there was no response from the throttle.  All we could do was drift until we managed to reach the bank where we bow-hauled Gecko into a safe mooring position.
Once again our itinerary went out of the window as we sought an engineer who could come out and fit a new cable.
In less time than I expected we had an offer from the engineer at Clyamore Navigation at Preston Brook. First on the scene, however, was Ken Wheeler who had us up and running again in less than an hour.  Our demeanor passed from desolation to elation in 60 minutes as we resumed our journey.
Events like this reinforce my preference for canals over rivers. Had this happened on the Thames the outcome might have been quite different.

Tegu or Not Tegu

Quite an eventful day. We set off from Middlewich  at 7am in order to descend the five locks before other boats were on the move.. In fact this worked well as we passed through the fourth narrow lock at 7.30  and then picked up another boat to share the Big Lock with.  Our aim was to make as much distance as possible which we hoped would get us onto the Bridgewater Canal.  Two attempts were made to prevent us achieving our target.
As we approached Lion Salt Works  and realised we would have to forego a visit to this site which we first visited 30 years ago when it was derelict, a boat pulled out ahead of us heading in the same direction. It then proceeded as such a slow pace we could not keep our engine in gear but had to keep idling it. This went on for over two miles by which time we had decided to hail him to let us pass.
We also met a novice boater who was (apparently) trying to turn her boat around. We only know that because she told us. Her maneuvering gave no clue to that intention.  Her technique, which remained unsuccessful for the time we were around, involved getting off and on the boat  and then steering the stern into the centre of the canal before returning to the bank and repeating the whole process. All this was being carried out ten yards past a winding hole.
Eleven years ago, on our very first trip down the Grand Union to our old stamping grounds in the Chilterns we were looking for a mooring in Bulborne. By the time we reached the Wendover Arm we realised there were no spaces long enough for our 58ft.  As we debated what to do a guy with a Gecko tattoo on his shaved pate emerged from a small boat having guessed our problem. He and I then moved the boat moored in front of him and made a suitable mooring for Gecko. 
During our  week there we had a number of conversations with Martin, who was a master baker. His boat was named Tegu which is a rather large gecko from South America. Over the past ten years we have seen him from time to time around the country in various boats as he has changed them. We have also seen Tegu with its new owner. We last saw Martin on the Macclesfield canal when we were diverted from Middlewich to Manchester when the breach occurred at Dutton a few years back.
This morning as we pottered along behind the snail boat we were accosted by  a guy carrying his shopping. He doffed his cap to reveal the gecko tattoo and we caught up with our life histories in the few minutes available. This is feeling more like a farewell tour each day.


22 miles / 6 locks / 3 tunnels / 2 obstacles

Name Check

We have been dogged with communication problems this trip. When we have cellular coverage we have been too busy with other activities to write on the blog and when we have a free evening we seem to be in the cellular wilderness. Cellular operators claim to cover 97% of the population but they seem capable of achieving this in 65% of the land mass. Where do you suppose the canals are?
As this is likely to be our last trip in Gecko it seems appropriate that we have seen so many boats we know.
The sister boat to Hampshire Rose, which we saw twice on the Oxford Canal,  is Autumn Venture and we passed them on the Coventry Canal. Neither has their original owners.
Inanda, which used to belong to Carole and Robin in Cosgrove we saw at Fradley. This is another Severn Valley boat and was originally named John Barleycorn.
A few years ago we shared some locks  at Stoke Bruerne with The Antidote.  That we passed at Fradle, too, but was not occupied so we could not say hello to Paul and Julia. 
Early the same morning we passed Brian and Brenda asleep on Colehurst at Whittington.
At Fazeley where we had a new mattress and seat cushions made we met and chatted to  Tony and Pauline on Iberia. They, too, are considering selling their boat and retiring from the canals. Whilst we were mooring up there the newest member of Cutweb - Cousin Jack passed us.
It doesn't make leaving the canals any easier to see all these boats knowing we may never see them again.

 

Postman stole our stamp

Last Saturday we posted  a birthday card to our ten year old grandson. 

We handed it in to the post office near Barleston Station at 7am. as there is no pillar box thee.

When it arrived at the destination in Lancashire the stamp had been removed. 

The envelope was franked on the back where it could not cancel the stamp.

Why does this matter?

The stamp we used was very special: it was one of the fruit and veg range to which we could add facial features and clothes.  

This one was an orange with beady eyes, a bow tie,  a moustache and a viking hat. 

Our grandson was looking forward to receiving it.

But some unmentionable person in the postal network stole it 

How despicable can people get?

Nuneaton to Fazeley

More activity by C&RT today.

Above Atherstone locks dredging is taking place and the spoil used to broaden the towpath (and  consequently narrow the navigation)

Several of our friends have sold their boats in the last few years and we were commenting to Ali & Elaine on Ellie Mae last night at dinner that we had not seen any of these boats around with their new owners, except Hampshire Rose
So we were pleased this morning when we passed the sister boat - Autumn Venture which had previously belonged to Jeanette & Nigel until his untimely death.

We have always encountered a queue at the Atherstone Locks (11) so were surprised to find no boats but three volunteers to assist us on the top two locks.  There were very few boats during our passage which afforded us time to pick the golden plums on the off-side near lock ten. These will follow on nicely from the blackberries we picked in Hillmorton and the gooseberries from Maggi's freezer clearout which came to us in Hillmorton courtesy of some German visitors.

After refueling at Alvecote we pushed on to Fazeley as we need some time here to get the mattress replaced.

On the aqueduct over the River Tamar (not that one!) we discovered this pillbox which we must have passed on numerous occasions but not noticed.
Another for the collection




15 miles  /  13 locks

Rugby to Nuneaton

Using the weather forecast again we decided to make a long day cruising  but could not set off until we had returned the hire car we had used over the weekend. We had moored at Hillmorton because we knew where we could leave Gecko for a few days whilst we fulfilled some commitments   up in Lancashire. When we set off we soon passed through Brownsover where we have moored many times in the past. This location is very popular, partly because of the proximity to a large Tesco store.  However, the moorings are not good and the narrow channel with boats moored both sides some boaters find difficult to negotiate. But today we found  about 100 yards of new mooring rings.
The water point has been moved but fortunately we will be ok for a while.

Last time we passed through Newbold Tunnel it was illuminated with coloured lights. I never discovered the reason and now they are gone. Only 250 yards long and two-way, it is not much more than a long bridge.
When the Oxford canal was built it provided a route from Birmingham to London via the River Thames  from Oxford. The construction of the broader and straighter Grand Junction canal cut journey times between the two cities jeopardised its survival.
In response to this threat the Oxford Canal Company undertook a programme of straightening their canal. Cutting Newbold Tunnel was part of that programme.

They also dug cuttings to eliminate the original twists and turns as evidenced by many bridges like this across the resulting  redundant loops.

Throughout our cruise today we have encountered contractors and C&RT teams working on bank improvement.










These coir rolls are the current method of  planting vegetation.

I guess this balances out the mooring improvements in Rugby.

It always takes a time to get  through Rose Narrowboats, with their swing bridge linking the site.

But today the passage is even more involved than usual.

At Ansty  bridge 15 which had been looking very precarious for many years has now had the span removed leaving just the abutments.





The U-turn at Sutton Stop where we joined the Coventry Canal was executed expertly as you would expect.

As we headed up towards Nuneaton we admired the gardens backing onto the canal and  contrasting them in our minds with thirty years ago when all we used to see was broken fridges and bedsteads

22 miles  /  1 lock  / 1 tunnel

Going West

The next job we need doing is an engine service so we have crept out of bustling Braunston to Willoughby, by a bridge where the engineer can park his Land Rover Defender (300,000+ miles on the clock and looking immaculate).

Across the canal and the road from us is what used to be the Navigation Inn on Willoughby Wharf. It is now private residences.

Moored behind us is Pilot

The bows look like they were designed for ice-breaking and there is a chimney on the roof big enough for a steam engine but also a rooftop exhaust pipe further aft.

It looks in good condition but I missed speaking to the owner  as he left in  a hurry soon after we arrived.

As we left Braunston this morning we passed the wreck of a Sea Otter which had been burnt out a couple of months ago but which had only sunk recently, possible due to people looting the few usable remains. The cause of the fire is unknown.

As we still have no phone signal, I had to go up to the road to arrange a service for our generator later on our route north. The electrical engineer mentioned that he had just fitted a new alternator for nb Tamora who was headed our way. We know Ian and Maureen from mooring with them in Aylesbury  so I was disappointed when I returned to Gecko to find they had passed whilst I was on the phone.


I was less disappointed to have missed Timothy West following them as I  deplore his performance on the recent TV series. He seems to relish bumping into boats and bridges and believes this is acceptable behaviour.
 He missed Gecko!

After the engine had been serviced we walked into Willoughby village.  Initial impressions were not particularly favourable but then we arrived the the old centre and changed our view. I have often said that we find something of interest wherever we moor and this is another example.
As a youngster our nearest railway was the Metropolitan Line immortalised by Sir John Betjeman as Metroland. I recall seeing the Master Cutler on its way from Marylebone to Sheffield but this ceased around 1960.  Willoughby and Braunston Station was on this line but this too has long gone, along with the 13-arched viaduct.

Another village pub which is no longer a hostelry is The Four Crosses. Originally this was named The Three Crosses. Leegnd has it that Jonathon Swift fell out with the landlord's wife during his stay there and engraved the following on a window with his ring.
You have three crosses on your door
Hang your wife up and you will have four 




2 miles  /  o locks

Banbury to Priors Hardwick

Whilst in Banbury we had a little welding job done on Gecko by Tooley's Boatyard  adjacent to the Castle Quay shopping centre. I do like the way Banbury has embraced the canal over the last 30 years, although I am not sure the plans to demolish one of the car parks  by the canal and replace it with more large shops will encourage shoppers into the town centre.
Terry Pratchett published a book some years ago which I have  not read but have always liked the title -  Thief of Time. Amongst the thieves of time I put Facebook and most TV programmes. It seems to me that a documentary on the radio which would occupy 15 minutes has to be spun out to 45 or 60 minutes on TV with repeated shots of irrelevant, and sometimes inaccurate, views. I recall being encouraged to watch an episode of a series about the canals of northern England which was illustrated with a picture of a lock on the K&A.
However, I must confess to using a smartphone to check the weather before planning the next day's cruise.  The forecast for today is wall-to-wall sunshine but rain arriving tomorrow at lunchtime. Taking this on board we decided to make today a long day to compensate for a short cruise tomorrow.
As we approached Cropredy  I was negotiating a particularly narrow corner where boats were moored both sides of the canal when an oncoming boat suddenly appeared. I drew great satisfaction from the manoevre I exercised to avoid any collision. And to make my day the helmsman on the other boat praised my boating skill. I have worked all my life in activities where brickbats are the norm and bouquets don't exist so have grown accustomed to not having achievements recognised . Now I feel like celebrating this evening with one of Graham's home brews.


15 miles  /  12 locks

Somerton to Banbury

Rain forecast in Banbury for 11am so we set off at 6.30.
Apart from low water levels between Grant's and Kings Sutton locks  the journey was fairly uneventful. We arrived in Banbury at 10.45 as planned ...........and the day was glorious sunshine all afternoon. No rain!


9 miles  /  6 locks  /  2 lift bridges

Thrupp to Somerton

We have now spent four weeks in Thrupp during which time a new Grand-daughter arrived in Kidlington and we had four other grandkids on board , two at a time, for a week each.
Rain was forecast for around lunchtme so we filled up with water  early and set off at 7.30.
As we left Shipton on Cherwell we passed the church (more about that on another post)  behind which is the Manor.

For people of my generation this is a very famous place.










A clue to the reason is found in the front gate.


It was one of the first residential recording studios

Which made Mike Oldfield and (Sir) Richard Branson famous.

Just round the corner we passed a  derelict bridge buttress just before the current bridge.

In the foreground is the remains of the Kidlington to Blenheim railway branch which the Duke of Marlborough built in 1890.

Shipton Bridge in the morning mist

The mainline bridge is more famous, however. In 1874, on Christmas Eve a train from London to Birkenhead derailed here and crashed down onto the frozen canal. 26 died at the scene and four more on their way to hospital. The injured, numbering over 60, were taken to the paper mill adjacent to Hampton Gay Manor where they received reluctant assistance from the  lord of the manor. I have read that the Duke of Marlborough brought some staff to assist the injured. He was certainly staying at Blenheim (about four miles away) as his son (Sir) Winston Churchill had been born on November 30.
Amongst the dead were two children who were buried in Hampton Gay churchyard without inscriptions as no one came forward to identify them.
The cause of the crash was determined by a Board of Trade enquiry. Apparently the train was very full and before it left Oxford station an extra carriage was added to the train. This proved to be in poor condition with an incompatible braking system. When a third-class passenger alerted the driver to a noisy wheel he immediately braked. This caused one carriage to crash into the one in front and push it off the bridge and into the canal.

Despite the torrential rains during the previous night the river Cherwell was quite peaceful and we made good progress whilst the world appeared asleep. At Northbrook Bridge (210) we had time to take a brief look at the old pack-horse bridge which spans the adjacent Cherwell.
One surprise was that at the previous lock - Pigeons Lock - we saw two pigeons making up to each other on the telegraph wire.

Our aim was to moor just above Somerton Deep Lock before the rain came.  We were thwarted, however, as it took us an hour and a half to get throught the lock. when we arrived there were two boats above and two below. The first one up was fine but the first one down got stuck. This was not the first time we had been held up by a  Sea Otter in a lock. These aluminium boats have fenders everywhere and eventually we managed o pull most of them up and squeeze the boat out. The next boat up was a single-hander who could not manage on her own so more assistance was gien. The last one down was also a single-hander and this also got stuck on the bottom gate which was not opening fully.  With two of us pushing the gate and one pulling the bow rope this was extracted and we finally had our chance.
The rain started, of course, about 20 minutes before we tied up.


11 miles  /  8 locks  /  2 lift bridges

It Ain't Alf Ot Mum!

Today is the Summer Solstice, often called the Longest Day. But surely all days are the same length - approximately 24 hours. It has also been the hottest June day since the drought of 1976 when the hosepipe ban started in February. Inside Gecko the temperature reached 95F / 35C again today but the breeze made it more comfortable cruising than mooring, unless shade could be found.
Whilst in Banbury we say the narrowboat Whio from Aylesbury which is owned by two Kiwis who are in the last year of a five season plan to cover all the waterways in England. We saw them last summer on their way to the Lancaster canal. They are now en route to Cambridge and Ely.

Whilst we were waiting for the Aynho Weir lock to be vacated nb Hampshire Rose passed by. This was originally owned by Ann & Gerald who we also wintered with in Aylesbury  until they sold it last year.

Aynho Weir lock is a strange lozenge shape. Immediately before descending it the River Cherwell crosses the canal and the lock was built wider than necessary for navigation so that even when the river is low a reasonable quantity of water is transferred to the canal.

On the agricultural front this field of  flax was just coming into bloom. Presumably for the production of linseed oil. The almost lavender colour is a welcome change from the ubiquitous and garish rape.

What this Heron was hoping to catch I am not sure.

Ride a Cock Horse

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady on a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bell on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes.



She also appears to have a small frog.
The reason for this is very philosophical and beyond me.

Forty years ago Banbury had the reputation as a no-go area for mooring canal boats. Since then the town has embraced the canal with retail development and mooring bollards through the town. Shoppers often park one side of the canal and cross by footbridge to the town centre. There are a number of small shops and the main chains but the proportion of empty stores and charity shops seems to be increasing.

Banbury Cake

One cannot ignore the Banbury Cake in my experience. Like the Eccles and Chorley cakes, the recipe and presentation of them depends considerably on where they are made and by whom. Having eaten each of these in their respective  locations I offer my verdict.

Eccles Cake

Eccles Cake
This is my favourite. Made with a butter-ritch flaky pastry and crammed with currants

Chorley Cake

Chorley Cake
This is my least favourite of the trio. Made with short crust pastry and a stingy filling. This resembles an individual version of the Sad cake found on the Lancs/York border.

Sad Cake

Like the Sad cake, it can be a bit dry.

Smoke on the Water

Boats seemed to leave Cropredy in waves this morning. When we arrived at the first lock there were five of us in the queue.After that initial delay, progress through subsequent locks was more evenly spread as we arrived at 15 minute intervals. Not quite as sunny as yesterday but just as windy.

The marina in Cropredy has been constructed since our last visit. With 249 moorings (currently) I expect it has an impact on traffic in the season but we encountered no adverse effects.

We did encounter a few DIStance posts in varying levels of condition. These were installed equidistant from a lock and when a working boat reached the post from either direction they would crack their whip to indicate that the lock was theirs. In the days of motorised craft, they blew the horn.

This field puzzled us: patches of the crop appear to be dead. The regular and geometric pattern indicates that this is deliberate. But why would a farmer deliberately kill patches of his crop?
After consulting out agricultural advisors the suggestion is that there may be an infestation such as blackgrass. In this case the farmer might decide to kill everything in the area for the long term benefit of the field.

However, other activities on that farm were not beneficial to canal cruising.
Of course we did meet an oncoming boat here but had no spare hands to photograph the encounter. And, yes, it was pale grey.




5 miles / 4 locks

My New Friend

It can be lonely sitting in a lock whilst the crew gossip with other boaters but at Marston Doles yestoday this bird comes up to me...

and gives me the eye

She flirts with me

and even gets a little saucy

With suggestions beyond my repertoire

Then we get to some serious talking



And I invite her back to my place

And that's when I blew it.


Still it was good whilst it lasted