Hi there, I have finally registered after just reading posts for the best part of three years!
I am primarily, a once a year hirer, and have been doing this since around 1988, and been all over the system.
This thread about narrowboatworld has struck a chord with me. There is a lot of aggressive and negative moaning on a lot of messageboards, wether it be canals, football, expats or whatever. But really, the moaning, almost constant ranting on narrowboatworld is quite outstanding. Its like going into a pub and coming across someone mouthing off at the bar while on his 8th pint, while everyone else in the pub goes about their business and ignores him (which i suspect is what a lot of people have done with NBW)
Theres a section on NBW reviewing certain canals "telling it like it is" which is precisely what it isnt!! Its "telling it like I think it should be told" which is something entirely different.
I dont want to re-tread all the moaning about BW, heavens knows that can be done about all sorts of things (and I've been hiring since 88). Just seems to me there's a lot of uncertainty, almost fear, out there from people who really dont know what's going to happen to the waterways in the future. Thats understandable, particularly if you live on the waterways, as you see funding going down year on year.
Nobody knows what the waterways system is going to look like in 5 years time. There are lots of remainder waterways our crowd havent done yet and I fear they wont be there in 5 years time to visit.
You'll never get cyclists, anglers, walkers, residents, liveaboards, owners, hirers, restorers and operators to agree all the time (much like the highways really!). What is needed is support and some plans that everyone can work towards. Mud slinging and ranting, in the end, wont do anything except turn people off. Which is precisely why I'm on here and not on NBW!!
