Extended cruising—is there a problem?
My usual response is to cruise down the Trent & Mersey and Coventry canals and spend the next six weeks 'hiding' on the relatively quiet Birmingham & Fazeley Canal doing maintenance, (mainly painting). I move every couple of days, just for a change of scenery, and work my way back to Fazeley for water, food, dumping rubbish at Peel's Wharf etc every week/ten days or so having winded at the bottom of the Curdworth Flight of locks.
Fall foul?
Prior to the Tony Dunkley case I thought nothing of this, but I am now wondering am I going to fall foul of some new 'rule' dreamed up by a 'desk jockey' in CaRT that is not in the Waterways Acts? You see the bone of contention would be not whether I have overstayed on a 48hr mooring, or that I haven't moved in 14 days. Both would be untrue.
However, what would be true though is that I have stayed in one area for six weeks. I'm not aware of any rule covering this as I am not a continuous cruiser and have a bona fide home mooring in Aston Marina. Answers please!
Home mooring
Now that Sally Ash is no longer Head of Boating it is perhaps an opportune moment for CaRT to clarify how long it thinks you should spend on your home mooring? I see a trend where CaRT 'expects' boaters to conduct short cruises interspersed with spells on your home mooring.
What Sally Ash did not like (and tried to make 'illegal'?) was the common practice of retired folk, like myself, of setting off in March and not returning to my home mooring until the end of October. Again I cannot see any section of the Waterways Acts that prohibits such a modus operandi, but Simon Salem has gone on record as saying CaRT can interpret the rules as it likes, so just where do we stand on this issue too? Maybe now Simon Salem is no longer responsible for enforcement we might get some common sense and just as importantly, boaters are made aware of what is expected? Let's hope so.
Time to move on?
If the answers come back that the above use of the canal i.e. extended cruising and/or spending time in one area is now no longer acceptable, (but has been for the last ten years at least), then in my case it may well be time to give up cruising and perhaps buy a motorhome instead. At least then if you pay your camp site fees, road tax and insurance, you know you will not be harassed on some (trumped up?) charge by the DVLA !
Useful photos
I take a photo of my boat at most moorings which I use to add to my written log. I've just starting taking ones to prove movement too. This photo below is taken at bridge 87 on the Trent & Mersey canal and the picture is time and date stamped. A series of these together with the mooring shots should convince the most sceptical that I'm not guilty of continuous mooring?