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It wasn’t exclusively addressed to you or about this incident. At this time of year there are plenty of places where moored narrowboats restrict passage. Places like Clifton or Tardebigge old wharf. Yes I know that some folk will get excited about that but for the most part folk deal with it rather than putting it online. Leisure boating in the summer is easy. Things get more complicated when you’re moving a boat that potentially has no equipment on board, in poor light and weather and when all the convenient places to moor have been taken up and you need access to public transport or some specific amenity on the bank. As it turns out there was a better solution seemingly available here but it’s easy to criticise and it’s almost certain the number of people criticising was infinitely higher than the number of people that were actually inconvenienced.

Yeah they should have taken it past that narrowboat. Plenty of piling and not too close to the marina entrance by the look of it.

You should query that. You might get the blame for my overstays up north. I wonder if your five digit number is getting a zero added to the end rather than the beginning. I also have a five digit registration but don’t have problems. Despite my sightings being a little sporadic I was sighted on or near that day when we met at the centre of the boating universe.

I’m always amused at notions CRT are engaged in malevolent practices. They really aren’t resourced or smart enough for that. Cock-up over conspiracy every time. Having worked in the same sector I also suspect they have a bit of a victim mentality and are paranoid about folk trying to do one on them.

I don’t know because I don’t know the full circumstances. Sometimes you have to moor in less than ideal places. In this case it would have been a lot more palatable if the crew had remained on board and moved early the next morning. How you do something can be as important as what you do. I’d also observe that similar things happen with narrowboats but of course they are less likely to get lampooned.

As a regular paid mover for a well known brokerage or two I’d say there’s no point in arriving after hours. For one of my regular clients I routinely moor up less than an hour short of destination where I have access to facilities and can arrive at opening time the next morning when the staff have plenty of time to deal with the boat and I have plenty of time to get home.

Did you leave it somewhere and forgot you owned it?

Yes Arthur because too many folk show their prejudices without the need for clickbait. My CRT sighting record shows a range of 182 miles this year and includes stays on short term paid moorings of which I can evidence nearly six months. My true range is also longer than the record. The week on a two day mooring was at Marple and was in part because I had to plan around the limited opening times of the lock flights and the fact I don’t live aboard. It just so happens that on the Macc all the VMs seem to be limited to 2 days and when I leave the boat unattended I prefer a solid mooring rather than stakes. At Marple there is only a short length of piling outside the VMs and it was taken so I moored just inside the VMs. For similar reasons I spent 3 days on a 2 day mooring at Congleton. I travel to and from home by train so have some limitations on where I can moor. In each case the moorings were not full either when I arrived or departed. It’s also unlikely they were at any point the boat was there given boat movements were restricted by the lock opening times. The 41 days were at Whaley Bridge. I had intended to not even stop there but to wind and have lunch at Bugsworth before returning to Marple and descending the flight the next day. I was booked across the HNC the next week and to a mooring at Aspley basin (although none of that would have happened as it was closed). However I arrived at Whaley Bridge in a cloud of steam and smoke with what I suspected and turned out to be a blown head gasket. It being summer and my chosen engine man being busy and wanting a holiday it took a little while to get things sorted. For most of the time the boat was there the canal was cut off by the swing bridge failure near Disley in any case. There were no permit moorings available at Whaley Bridge. The locals I encountered were aware of the situation and I eventually managed to make contact with CRT but their left hand and right hand aren’t well connected so although they knew my situation I can’t say they ‘agreed’. In any case I don’t believe they should ‘agree’ to overstays. They have the ability to decide whether to take enforcement action or not based on the circumstances. I’m not worried that’s going to happen. I did get a letter reminding me about the need to move. The point is that things aren’t always what they seem but boaters do seem very willing to have a go at each other; particularly ones they think aren’t like themselves or are getting something for nothing. Personally I think it’s at least as much about social status as it is about boating habits.

It isn’t

That’s exactly the point I was making in response to @Jerra’s suggestion that my overstay was OK if the mooring had never been fully utilised while I was there. I wasn’t advocating doing it or suggesting that I do it.

Take it to the nearest CRT bins or council tip in a car. i know folk who do that.

I could extend that logic to it being OK to stay on a remote spot on the towpath as long as you like. Why?

I don’t know.

But therein lies the issue. Obviously I thought it was OK in the circumstances but I was still ‘hogging the mooring’ as far as anyone observing would have seen things. In neither case did I absolutely have to leave the boat in the positions I chose either at all and/or for that duration of time.

I suspect it’ll be somewhere on the fringes. Somewhere like Yeovil, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford or Wolverhampton. I’m just thinking though that if it’s in Somerset then Patrick might have remembered it.

I moored for 41 days on a 7 day mooring during the summer. I also spent a week or so on a 2 day mooring. Although I am apparently a ‘proper’ boater. Or perhaps it’s easier to make enemies of stereotypes rather than actual people.

Good find Sir. I think it’s still being updated. I was last spotted on 25th October on the Staffs & Worcs which is after the link was taken down. From then up until a week or so ago I’ve been squirrelled away on the BCN. That’s twice this year I’ve managed to spend a month on the BCN without being spotted.

I doubt it. The remaining branch is a combination of the Wycombe Railway - which ran from Maidenhead to Oxford and Aylesbury via High Wycombe and Princes Risborough - and the Great Marlow Railway. Both were built to broad gauge and converted by the GWR to standard gauge.

There is some truth in that and liveaboard boaters are at least not nearly so precious about proximity to the adjacent boat as leisure boaters seem to be. But I think it's probably more to do with the ability to not have to move for 14 days. Which in itself suggests a willingness to comply with CRT restrictions.

Looks to me like it's possibly more about reducing administration costs than any real change in enforcement. I think the vast majority of boaters with no home mooring know exactly what they need to do to keep onside of CRT. Almost all of the rest don't care and they are the real problem for CRT. But I suspect they are very much a minority even amongst boats without a home mooring (noting that I do not observe what happens in London). As @Stroudwater1 says many boaters are happy to divulge their mooring patterns even if they aren't totally compliant (me included). If you traverse the same section of canal repeatedly over the course of a whole year (the only way you can start to understand how boaters move over the course of their licence) and talk to some of the boaters you will start to understand it's because they know how the enforcement works and are happy do what's necessary to be on the right side and balance that with their own convenience. Therefore I don't think there will be a significant change in behaviours unless CRT improve their enforcement system. I think it's probably not very fit for purpose but if folk think improving it will reduce the number of boats tied to the towpath I'm far from sure it will make much difference. The congregation of liveaboard boats on visitor moorings does increase once they revert to 14 days out of season and it can be annoying for those wanting a short term mooring. But if you find a mooring full on one occasion and return to the same mooring approximately 14 days later you may find it relatively deserted (as happened to me on two boat moves involving mooring in Newbold recently). Also bear in mind that many visitor moorings are available for long term winter mooring permits from 1st November to 28/29th February so may be legitimately 'colonised' by boats. I'd be happy for a system whereby short term visitor moorings retain at least some time restricted length all year, complimented by the winter mooring scheme.

Not sure if @MartynG’s comment was made in reference to that. I suspect not. It can be argued that CRT is funded to enable replacement gates in timber rather than steel. I guess we could have steel gates if CRT was funded totally through boating revenues.

I think they have a role because CRT takes funding from the public purse. As I understand things it is their requirement that gates are replaced in timber.

Which is the same place as originally suggested. I had a feeling it was.

So where is that compared to where @beerbeerbeerbeerbeer suggests. Assuming it’s not the same place?

I didn’t pick up that comment earlier but now I can see that’s correct. The thing that looks like it’s supporting the ‘beam’ is in fact a mooring stump (or similar) in front of the plank.