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It may come as a surprise to you but not everyone wants to dump their boat on the towpath indefinitely. Change the record, it's getting a tad boring now.

Well I was impressed that not only did the chap think about it (tho' not quite enough) but wrote the letter & the paper published it with no comment. Mind you, the chap is involved in some horse-drawn boat venture, and in my experience, horses are rubbish at drawing and they're not even any good at colouring-in.

On the Grand Union, above lock 65 and bridge 153, at about ten past four, I came across a boat with the stern on the towpath side and the bow on the off side so it was blocking the cut completely. Bow and stern lines, together with the centre line, were all dangling in the water with moorings pins attached to each. It was steel hulled, wooden topped, narrow boat number 78233, Frederick, according to Jim Shead I pulled the boat in and boarded another unoccupied boat, a black wide beam with a cruiser stern (522781 unknown by Jim Shead), to borrow a very large hammer I could see so that I could resecure the drifting boat. So if anyone knows whose boats these might be. I have the answer to why the narrow boat is where it is and to why the owner of the the wide beam might suspect someone has been on the back of his boat. As an aside - when re-securing Frederick (and the bow pin of the boat behind it by the way) I found the bank to be quite soft so I suspect, surmise, etc, that a boat has gone past far too quickly and, in Frederick's case, pulled all three mooring pins out

Could you post a photo, you know, a sort of shelfie. P

Yes, how frightful that a boat going pass once in a while slows down and looks at your boat. Whatever next! If that is all you have to get worked up and worry about count your blessings and enjoy life instead. I hope your winding us up.

Even I who is considered fairly liberal on most mooring issues think that would not work. CRT have to draw the line somewhere yes an extension maybe for a month or even 2 would seem fair but there comes a time when even a broken down boat has to move. As this thread has shown plenty of people are prepared to offer a tow. I do support the 14 day law just have a problem with CRT'S interpretation on distance. If you want to do up a boat then you either calculate the cost of a mooring into your budget or you move every 14 days

I've just received this nugget from CRT: "Weve been looking at our sighting records and they suggest that your boat XXXXXX has been moored in the same general area for more than 14 days." For context, imagine a journey of ABCD (actually much longer). Having travelled to D, the boat turns round and returns to somewhere fairly near C, but definitively not C. Lets call it C2. I'm assuming that the spotters have missed the trip to D (definitely far enough), and I'd have accepted the warning if I'd overstayed at C (which the message suggests they accept I haven't done), so this must mean that they think C and C2 are too near each other. How big is a "general area". Is it bigger than a neighbourhood or a place? Is there a map? If its okay to warn boaters who moor too near previously visited spots, how exactly should one make a return journey these days?

Feel free. My conscience is clear and I'll argue all day that I took the only reasonable course

But you have only one drum to beat and it is getting very repetitive.

Wow. My first girl friend owned 252! A condition of going out with her was learning to sail, so she taught me on said Scorp, an interesting sail trainer but by jiminy you learnt about balance... It proved the basis for an enduring relationship, we've been wed 44 years.

I wonder if they'd loose just as much money from people giving up a mooring they pay for as it isn't required anymore? I dare say all the marinas and boatyards would kick off too as their income plummets.

You are showing admirable shelf-discipline.

Please let's not assume that "the people of Rochdale" are as one in not caring about their heritage and environment in general, or about the canal in particular. I'm sure most Rochdalians would prefer to see the canal in a better state and wouldn't personally do anything to spoil it, but it only takes a few careless and irresponsible people to create a visible problem with litter, grafitti etc. It's also worth remembering that at the end of the day, the canal and towpath are the responsibility of the CRT and not of local residents (or even the council). Of course we should all be grateful to volunteers who get involved in litter-picking etc. along the canal, but it's those people who are going "above and beyond", not people who don't volunteer who are to blame for neglecting their environment.

Except there are plenty of vested interests with 19th century mindsets pushing for the HS2 and our government hasn't got the vision to look into the future

I think you'll find the term is now "Kriss-take"

14 days (or longer) in a 'place' is just the test for 'bona fide navigation' according to what a House of Commons select committee were told in 1993.

Those are generally taken up by regular travellers, students, rail buffs and retired people with lots of time on their hands. It's even cheaper if people want to go into the labyrinth of splitting journeys and having the guard/ticket collector as bemused by its legality as ordinary travellers. The system has been turned into a competition; crack the code, steep yourself in the lore, wallow in the small print and have photocopies of permissibility blown up into 48pt to fend off the shaking heads, and you too can get from A to B at a reasonable price. On the other hand, if you need to be somewhere the day after tomorrow, dig deep! No way to run a transport network IMHO.

Thanks for the replies,what a lot of words, it takes me along time to read everything that's been posted. I'm not shure it's worth it either as not a lot of it is relevant but hey ho as long as your enjoying yourselves. Daniel the analogy you used about the cars , if I expand on that surely my boat is liscenced,insured and tested.so actually if it was a car I'd have no problem keeping it at the side of the road. System 4-50 thanks for the in depth analysis, just from reading posts on a forum wow you must be good. Or do you just work for a dating agency? Mike is just Mike and can't contain his glee, I expect he'd like to see my boat scraped so he can say I told you so. Proving how right he is. As for Rachel, forgive me if I'm a bit wary of your new overly friendly forum persona. Once bitten twice shy as it where. All the people who have expressed concern/interest thank you very much. Oh yes blizzard thanks very much for the info about bishop storford pump out! Regards kris

A good moon is of benefit though. I once travelled from Lincoln to Bardney in the dark with no moon (and no headlamp) and by the time I got there I looked like this

You missed out the real reason he is sitting on it. To avoid being done for vagrancy for sitting too long on the other bench, across the park...

Many people are killed by cars...perhaps they should be banned. Many people die hill walking and climbing...let's stop that too. Stairs can also be fairly fatal.... Where do you fancy stopping? Cheers Gareth

And people taking responsibility for their own safety and actions. CRT is a navigation authority not a rescue service.