Richard Fairhurst

I think one of the earlier Transport Acts repealed most of the obligations in the original Acts. Not 100% sure though!

Yes and no. The towpaths (by and large) remain permissive access rather than public rights of way. But CRT's Government grant is conditional on towpaths being open to the public: "2.4 The Trustee [CRT] must obtain the Settlor’s [Government's] prior written consent before: restricting pedestrian access to any part of the towpaths within the Infrastructure Property; for example by charging a fee for access, save that consent will not be needed for any temporary restrictions either to allow maintenance/repair works or to protect persons from risks to their safety" So CRT can't permanently withdraw towpath access unless DEFRA agrees, unless it wants to lose its grant. It can temporarily restrict access for safety reasons, which would include the current situation.

It'll do until someone publishes a proper red-covered cruising guide to the Middle Level!

The current issue of Waterways World can be read for free online, in recognition of the fact that most people can't get to newsagents/chandleries right now: https://reader.waterwaysworld.com Lots of good stuff in there (not just my map of the Middle Level ).

No-one is really speaking up for the working-age leisure boater either... The working-age leisure boater needs two things IME. First, unoccupied short-stay visitor moorings at "destination" locations, so that they have somewhere to go in their rare leisure time. For example, we now have the realistic option of a day-trip from our Worcester mooring to Upton: for years that wasn't really possible because of boats overstaying on the visitor moorings. When we moored in Burton, the changes to introduce more short-stay moorings at Alrewas were really valuable - and predictably, they were loudly opposed by retired people who wanted to be able to sit for 14 days on their preferred village centre mooring. Second, reasonable 7/14-day moorings near stations for "weekending" (i.e. moving from place to place over successive weekends). These don't need to be particularly plush - just somewhere, ideally piled, where you can leave the boat for a week or two in the reasonable expectation it will still be there when you get back. The sweeping bend just south of the hire-base at Alvechurch is one such. This sort of spot has, inevitably, become harder to find in recent years because they're also prized by continuous cruisers.

Doesn't help that they screwed up the election (as chronicled at the start of this thread) and the voting pages were incredibly user-hostile to begin with, especially on a small screen. I can't be the only one who tried and failed to vote, and then didn't return to try again when the bug had reportedly been fixed.

No, they don't. There's a de facto closure from Ryders Green Junction to Swan Bridge Junction due to pollution. CRT have put a sign in the middle of the channel asking people not to proceed (at least, they had a few years ago... I presume it's still there).

Loco2 is good.

I spent a day poking around the Leominster Canal, photographing the remains - the occasional in-water patch, the random embankment, the blown-up aqueduct, the inexplicably difficult tunnel. It was when I was working as assistant editor of Canal Boat magazine and had decided to write an article about it. Lots of traipsing around fields and taking photos. I got a few funny glances, but that's par for the course when you're sniffing around obscure canals in the middle of nowhere - I guess I'd technically been trespassing on occasion and landowners are a bit sensitive about that. On the way home, I thought I'd stop in Leominster and buy a few nice bottles from the specialist cider shop there. "It's good to know you can still buy a decent pint even though the end of the world is imminent," said the shop assistant while I was paying. Ok, seems like a slightly pessimistic angle to take on life, but hey, you do you. Driving back along the A44, I switched on the radio somewhere around Bromyard. It was a news programme, which seemed weird for that time of day. Apparently some people had flown planes into buildings in America that morning. Oh.

The Leominster!

Yes, it does.

Goodness me. He's back and not very conciliatory... https://twitter.com/Cutdreamer/with_replies "What are you on about, you tosser? Come out from behind your anonymity and say who you are. You're just a keyboard troll with no interest in the truth. You make me sick" "Come on say what you mean, say who you you are. I'll add you to the court papers." "Ill informed gossip from anonymous people like you who know f*ck all about boating but make accusations with out seeking the other side of the story. " "It was an attempt to regain control of the boat. And why had I lost it? Because I'd been in full reverse and the boat was twisting, caught by the oncoming weir stream. Not what it says in the video, though." etc., etc.