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A snotty shiny boater just gave me and my boat the right stink eye, then came over with a look on his face like someone was holding a turd under his nose and asked if I was staying long. I told him I'll stay as long as I like. If you're one of these types, I hope your area gets invaded by a horde of real hardcore water gyppos from London who are A LOT less polite and quiet than I am! Thanks for reading. Isobel.

I don't think I have - I don't even know where she lives.

After years of hearing about all these unlicensed boats.....on our trip North along the Leicester Line and River Soar, taking in the Market Harborough Arm as well, we just enjoyed our boating, laughed at lots, said hello to lots, and had a jolly good time. CRT have licence checkers, License Support Officers, Waterways Chaplains...and probably Free Licence Giver-Outer Managers to deal with the 4% nationally that dont have one for whatever reason.

Years ago I was riding my old 650 Triumph Thunderbird along a country lane, a lane I knew well, summer, shirt sleaves, no helmet, breezing along, approaching at high speed a very sharp left hand bend which I'd forgotten about. No chance of braking for it in time. luckily there was only a ditch between the road and a cabbage field, so I braced myself, kept straight on, jumped the ditch and crashed in amongst the cabbages, a cabbage amongst the cabbages. No injury, bike had a bent clutch lever, rode it home taking a nice cabbage for mum.

I guess it depends on where you are moored. It would be interesting what he has to say about you and your attitude.

Its to stop the captive electrons running out, because then they will be non conducting and useless. If you take only one end off they will be semiconductors.

Or pootle down river from Hawford a short distance and moor overnight on the lock mooring above Bevere Lock. From there it is a short walk to the Camp House Inn below the lock.

How arrogant that you think you can dictate how other people should use the canals. May I remind you that canals were built for rapid transport of goods and that not everyone wants to waste their life away doing everything as slowly as possible. There is no virtue in sluggishness. How arrogant to presume that no-one may be on a deadline, especially when the majority of canal users, except perhaps those using the canals for cheap housing, are probably on some sort of deadline. End of hire period, end of holiday, booked public transport, meeting up with other people, getting to a shop or business before closing. In fact the only people not on some sort of deadline are people with absolutely nothing of interest in their lives except waiting for death. All that rant said, yes it is normal practice to slow down for fishermen, for the reasons explained.

imagine all the fun you could have had with that time you wasted pointlessly checking licenses? if we guesstimate at 5mins per boat, to note number, fire up the webpage & check details = 1490 minutes thats just shy of 25 hours. you wasted an entire day of your trip

I hung around Gas St in the 60s, helping out with the newly formed Birmingham & Midland carrying Co. One evening I was in the cabin of Ash with Eddie Hambridge and Dave Hogg. Things were not always going well for the company and consequently their boatmen. We put the following together, a parody of “ Bloody Orkney “ a song composed by a disgruntled soldier from WW2. I’ve just discovered it in an old notebook... The bloody pay is bloody bad The bloody boss is bloody mad It makes the brightest bloody sad In bloody Gas Street. The bloody folks are bloody poor They throw their crap out on the shore We’ll slide about for evermore In bloody Gas Street. The bloody water’s full of muck And Waterways don’t give a fuck There ain’t enough to float a duck In bloody Gas Street. The bloody gaffer’s on the drink Goes down him like a bloody sink Bank statements they are all dark pink In bloody Gas Street No bloody cash, they’ve stopped the dole We’ll starve to death in this dark hole We’ve burnt up all our bloody coal In bloody Gas Street. No bloody sun, no bloody sky The stench is getting somewhat high We’ll rot here till we bloody die In bloody Gas Street.

After many years of seeing an increasing number of unlicenced boats we decided to do a survey on our trip in September up the Macclesfield, Upper Peak Forest & Caldon canals. These are the findings :- No. of boats checked not showing a valid licence was 298, running these through Cart's licence checker 90 were unlicenced. A lot were showing licences that were 3 to 5 years out of date. 90 unlicenced boats in 50 miles of canal seems an awful lot to me. As CaRT is short of funds they need to get out and about more and catch these licence evaders or all the legitimate licence holders will soon be paying a lot more in the future.

No.. Merely interested in the facts!! Think we often can judge people/situations from first appearances.. I would not automatically assume anything about another boater from how shiny or not their boat is.. Very sad if you fall into that trap!

I'd like to know a bit more before conclusion jumping. Where this happened, and why some bloke thought they had the right to ask how long someone was staying somewhere - assuming that person A is on an ordinary mooring and within the usual time limits. If you're on a water point, or a service station, then it's a valid question, though there are ways of asking... same on a short shopping mooring. I've asked a few at full visitor moorings who looked as if they might be moving on, in case it was worth waiting. I've also been asked to move a ring or two to make space, though I usually notice and offer first. I've certainly been sneered at a few times by shiny boats and one or two have refused to share locks (my boats about 60 years old and a bit bruised). Can't say it bothers me, but ivnever been spoken to particularly unpleasantly. The original post looks like someone whose been pissed off by someone's attitude and is venting, and most of us have done that one time or another and a fair few of the comments are imo uncalled for. ETA I also do wonder if some of the responses would have been quite so extreme if the OP had been male....

Snotty. Judgmental opinion. Shiny boater. Judgmental opinion ”right stink eye”. Judgemental opinion ”Look on his face (etc)”. Judgemental opinion ”I told him I’ll stay as long as I like”. Rude and obnoxious ”hope your area gets invaded (etc etc). Plain nasty.

I was logged four times in an hour one day. A harassed spotter fighting his way through Skipton towpath carnage on a sunny summer day. He logged me where I was moored, then the other side of the junction as he'd been up the branch while I was moving, then again on the water point and finally after I'd winded and was coming back the other way. I asked him if he wanted to go for five sightings and he laughed.

Perhaps Higgs should get a mooring like this one, probably no need for a licence then.

I was clocked on the move Just the once as far as I’m aware Probably going so slow I looked static

I've sunk, been burgled, been shouted at... didn't spend tons originally but made up for it later. Thirty years later, still love the old tub, the sound of rain on the roof and those odd days sitting on the back in the sun with a good book...

Love the idea that in a crisis someone doesnt help but just waves a phone filming the crisis rather than being useful.

Whilst I have a bit of sympathy with this, there are many good anglers who love fish and take great care with them. Sadly, there are also plenty of muppets - that comes with it being the biggest participation sport in the country, I suppose. However, again to maintain a balanced view, it is worth bearing I'm mind that, if it wasn't for the angling lobby raising the issue, there'd have been no fish left in our ever more polluted rivers and canals a few years ago. The environmental lobby is a much more recent force for fishy goodness.

Good luck with it, very difficult to see what is happening as it happens so quickly, I would suggest putting the carboard under the 2nd contact trick first to see what happens, then try without, you really need a slow motion video to see when it starts turning 'vigorously'

Thankfully I cannot see anything when I click on the pix.

That's what we do as well although would add that we never move to left or right when requested but stay in mid canal. On the Trent a couple of years ago the anglers were out in force. Many of them have really long lines stretching far into the river. OK when they stay by their rods but when they sit in their cars up on the bank and suddenly see you appear round the corner, boy can they run!

And some want you to pass close to them, others further away. They have to take "misery pills" to get them in the mood for fishing. Best to pass at a slowish speed, bang in the centre of the cut , say "hello" to them and enjoy being ignored.

When working a swim to catch fish most anglers will bait 2 or 3 areas with either ground bait (fine ground bread) bits of the hook bait or a combination of both, this has the effect of keeping the fish feeding in a localised area and encouraging competition amongst the fish, which makes them less skittish of the hook. All of this can take time and careful attention to build the swim to enable a good catch, boats moving through can/will disturbe these baited areas and can bugger up some hours work, so the request for slow and steady. Obviously fishing on the canal brings boats as part of the challenge and this should be taken into account by the fishermen, it's just courtesy on the behalf of boaters. Saying all that some people are just shouty arses and are best ignored when encounterd

I'm going absolutely nowhere and certainly not rushing - covering miles is not vital or even an aim. We only ever do a few miles and a few hours a day (I'd wager much fewer than most). We did four miles in four hours today - in effect a mile and an hour are about the same thing, considering locks and passing moored boats. I'd consider 1mph a rather leisurely pace on a motorway. Less than that and you start blurring the lines between cruising and mooring!

From the CaRT boaters handbook :- "If you’re passing an angler, keep to the centre of the channel unless they ask otherwise. Reduce your wash, but keep a steady pace".

Railing, two turns sorted. Would have needed a spare rope - we all got one though have we not?

Not making excuses, but I can sort of see the C & RT dilemma. A boater phones in to report a problem and C & RT has no idea how clued up or subject to exaggeration the caller is. But it doesn't (shouldn't) take a fortnight to get someone out to take a look. When I came through on Thursday (and started this thread), CRT were obviously aware as they had a man there with a tirfor operating the top gate. I don't know how long they had been doing this. I guess they were hoping they could carry on like this until the stoppage season, although the man there told me it was getting worse by the day.

It does seem boating is not for fainthearted people like me... first you got to spend tonnes of money not knowing for sure what you are getting, then be careful as not to sink your boat, not get burgled, not get shouted for travelling too slow/too fast ... thank god for youtube... all I need is 360 degree VR videos and I can safely enjoy boating from my bed

There is some narrowing of the cabin front on the Canal Slime boats which probably prevents too many impacts with the bridges. Either that or the silly names on the bow flanks frighten the masonry away!

Well it will certainly look odd when that flimsy looking handrail (and possibly the corner of the cabin extension) gets crushed against the arch of a low bridge

That's a great idea! Only 5-10 minutes each way.

That is pretty much a result of history rather than modern legislation. Whilst the exemption is jealously protected, it is quite expensive and at times can lead to the same situation that gave rise to this thread ie conservation turns into preservation. Any matter that involves judgement will throw up examples of what may appear to folk as irrational or restrictive. In my experience, other pressure groups, such as the Victorian Society, are much harder to bring onside when proposing changes to give better functionality to listed buildings. Just try and ad a toilet to a medieval church! (It can and is being done but can take a lot of negotiation)

Excellent explanation, if you keep to the centre at the low side of a moderate speed you can't go far wrong and will only upset those who are generally intolerant (not unique to anglers, and growing in numbers by the day!) Lone anglers may leave lines out to the far bank, with special weights to keep their lines at the bottom of the channel, in this situation most boats will pass easily without incident but at speed, particularly with a deeper draught, their lines will be snagged. Backing off the power for a few yards as you pass will avoid this.

My most interesting fishing experience was of a Common Tern that followed me along a narrow and muddy channel, diving and catching a fish every thirty seconds. After about ten minutes he was full, and stopped for a rest! The Tern had clearly worked out that the boat was good for fishing!

Wow, that must have been an interesting trip! All the time effort to check 298 boats not displaying a licence......I'd rather enjoy my trip and worry about where my next beer is coming from, not who has or hasn't licenced their boat!

This applies to our home marina which is fine by us. About 4 years ago we did a check on moored boats with no licence disc displayed or with no number between Market Drayton and Stourport. There were about 40 unlicensed which we checked/confirmed on the online checker. We reported the findings to CRT for which we received an acknowledgment and a reply implying they were on the case. Two years ago we followed a similar trip and altho' we didn't make any serious notes, there did not appear much of a change. This leaves us with impression that CRT are not on the case. Regretfully we haven't been able to cruise this year but in future we won't bother about unlicensed or unnumbered boats or corresponding with CRT. They will just continue taking their cut, which we don't mind. Bit of a rant I suppose....

99.9% of all youtube vloggers (not just boating) are pretty bad. They all seem to copy the same approach, staring at the camera while telling you things from a highly personal perspective, interspersed with shots of them doing things, sometimes taken from a drone. All highly unimaginative. It all seems rather pointless and aimless to me. I'd like to see a boating vlog which borrowed the tv idea of a series. Each year could have some kind of overarching narrative. I'd like to see a bit more background thinking, maybe do a bit of proper research and try to inform the viewer a bit about what you're filming. A vague 'I think this canal was built by Telford', doesn't really cut it for me. Most of the canal vlogs I've seen seem to work on the premise of trying to find their own angle. The problem is that this angle is usually pretty thin, along the lines of: "we have a cat", "we are gay", or "I'm obsessed with batteries". Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but these people are trying to make a living doing it. What do I know though? Lots of people follow the popular ones. I suspect viewers are mostly non-boaters who are dreaming... similar to most readers of waterways magazines.

Not to mention the English blonde buffoon and his puppet master

I predict that what will happen in the end is that canalside sellers will still sell red, but that they will be forced to charge based on a government determined split. Then the government will get to look all magnanimous and boaters will have to grudgingly accept it, or they risk showing up that they've been lying on their declarations for years!