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Geoff, if BSP has been fulfilling her CC requirements and BW have been satisfied, what is it to you, who may only have see a snapshot. I cruised in the are for a while, Cheddington,Marsworth, Tring St, Cowroast, below Cowroast,Berko, by Waitrose,Top side lock, sewer lock, winckwell, boxmoor and back up again. I loved the area, which is why I went down, back up and down again, then moved on. There are people who have stayed in the same pound for years, why pick on BSP, who has moved around as the guidelines require?????

Next time I'm doing Marsworth Flight, or walking five miles a day when commuting from Pitstone, or having to chat up local gongoozlers to help me with the swing bridge over the lock in Fenny (never yet managed to open it on my own), I'll be sure to request your help, Geoff. With the greatest respect I have never even met you but you've commented on this website that you've seen me in the pub. Of course you have, I know people in the area and I am working on a series of painting commissions for a boat in Cow Roast, you'll have probably seen me in the pub with the chap who has commissioned me. Cow Roast is on my bus route as well as my cruising circuit this year. I was supposed to be in the Leighton Buzzard area this winter (I'm still pointing north!) just can't go anywhere now. I've cruised three counties just this winter and seven in the last year. But you wouldn't know that because you don't travel with me. In the last 15 months I've cruised eight or nine different waterways from the northwest and Wales through Birmingham to the southeast right across the country. All of which is entirely irrelevant to the point of this thread about the Tring Summit stoppage and the fact that any opportunity to leave was communicated in much too short a timeframe to be feasible for many.

BSP. Haven't you been in the Cowroast area for at the least the last year without a permanent mooring? Why is it such an issue now that you are asked to either move or pay for a mooring?

I am certain to annoy Mr T and possibly some others but is it not beyond the wit of man for the navigation authority, BW in this case, to intervene before this happens. I have no problem with people "doing their boats up" nor having them in various states of decay but when they deliberately leave their boats and adjoining banks covered in crap (which even when they don't sink often falls into the canal) it is as irresponsible as flytipping and should be pursued through the courts as such not withstanding the problems with tracing owners. I am aware that there are sometime situations that make the owners unable to improve their situation but this does not apply in many cases.

BSP, as you will be well aware, I am something of a stickler for CCers doing just that, and regard the "as is reasonable in the circumstances" fairly narrowly, to encompass unforseen personal circumstances and short notice stoppages. I have never regarded "well I need to be in an area for 4 weeks for something predictable" or " well there is a planned stoppage that I've contrived to be blocked by" as fitting the bill. However, in this case I find myself unexpectedly on the side of the doves, with other forum members distinctly more hawkish. Provided you can honestly say that you moved onto the summit without being aware of the impending closure, and provided you could not easily have left the summit between the closure being announced and it being implemented, you are currently trapped through no fault of your own. BW are within their rights to say "well you must move on or pay", but NOT to impose such a restrictive time window. I would suggest that you respond explaining that you are not able to move on that date, and that you do not wish to remain there. You should then explain that in the absence of this stoppage, you would have continued your journey on [DATE], and again on [DATE], listing all the dates on which you are able to move between now and March, and offering to move off the summit level on any of these dates if they will facilitate it, but making it clear that whilst you are fully able to maintain a cruising pattern that involves moving at least once a fortnight, and have agreed to do so, you are not able to move at a few days notice, and that if you are unable to move as expected on a particular day, you are not able simply to move on the next day. NABO would probably help if you are a member. If you would like me to help with drafting a letter, let me know (and you DON'T have to join my fan club).

Have they sorted it out then? Typical elitist "I'm alright Jack" rubbish. A representative organisation should be working for all boaters, not just their members. If a member isn't trapped because of this stoppage does it mean that the organisation isn't interested in the overall policy that is being implemented? BW would not favour a boater, because they are a member of a club and NABO or RBOA have no pull whatsoever to "sort out BW", If they are not getting involved in a major national incident, splitting the main spine of the waterways system, just because there are no members stranded, then they are not fit to call themselves "National".