A PIECE in the country's leading newspaper, The Times, complaining about Canal & River Trust's waterways, will come as a blow to the Trust as it does its best to cultivate the newspapers.
The piece was written by G R Newman and entitled Canal Gridlock. It told that the writer had returned from a seven weeks cruise and 'found that it had become so populated that a lot of the stress-free pleasure of canal cruising is being spoilt, particularly when it comes to finding mooring for the night'.
He told that one had to be 'moored by early afternoon or even lunchtime to be sure of finding a place at a designated site' and mentioned three causes:
Battered old boats
'One is the growth of people using battered old boats to squat at a bank side with belongings spilling on to the towpath, rendering stretches of canal little more than floating slums'.
'Second is the the appearance of continuous cruisers, often retirees who have sold or let their houses to live on their boats. Supposedly staying on the move, they have few time pressures so often stay at a mooring....up to a month'.
Fortnightly dumpers
'Finally there's the fortnightly dumpers who do not live on their boats but leave them moored on a bank, returning every two weeks to move the boat a mile or so, circumventing Canal & River Trust maximum stay rule'.
The writer ends his piece suggesting that those who do not have a home mooring be charged a higher licence fee 'to encourage the navigation for which the canals were constructed'.
Fill all mooring spaces
There is little doubt from the above, that is supported by the many emails we receive, that the Trust issuing more and more continuous cruiser licences to people who have no intention of complying, will eventually fill all the available designated mooring spaces, leaving none for the genuine boater, who will find it simply too fraught to continue.