Dave123

Hahaha very good! A few years ago we followed a full sized widebeam from Braunston up the north Oxford to the first marina (Barby I think?). Took them about 10 minutes to negotiate each bridge but the comments and jokes from boats coming past us in the opposite direction were priceless!

Interesting lock! I think Cookham lock on the Thames has the same kind of duplicate gates but never seen them working...

Well...It doesn't really seem anyone has any evidence of this boat swapping conspiracy! Posts regularly come up on London boaters Facebook asking if there is a space free in this or that spot and it always gets shouted down as being useless info as by the time the boat wanting it arrives it is likely to be gone. When I was in last in Milton keynes I did notice a lot of night time cruising which i thought might be boats swapping moorings. Until I thought about it and realised nowhere in Milton Keynes is so popular to make it worth getting organised to swap moorings at 1am!

Couldnt agree more! It's absurd that people even think this happens. The degree of organisation required is unlikely even if it was worth it. And so much could go wrong...a rogue boat pinching a carefully orchestrated mooring vacancy! I should add I am no longer based in London before I get accused of an attempt at covering up this conspiracy?. In reference to the comment above about never being able to moor at Bulbourne picnic site in 15 years...how many times did you try? How do you know boats were swapping? It sounds more like a boat or 2 chronically overstaying or having a very limited range...which is a totally different and very real and annoying issue of course.

But how would it work? One of the two mooring spots being 'swapped' would have to be empty for some time unless both boats leave simultaneously and are not very far apart. Are these boaters with home moorings shuttling/bridge hopping? Otherwise they could only swap once before having to move on and leave the Bulbourne area for most of the rest of the year to comply with range? And when was this? I have never struggled to find a mooring at Bulbourne, it's hardly Bath or Kings Cross in terms of popularity.

Mooring swapping might happen in the odd rare instance between 2 boats close together...and so what. but if you actually think about the logistics it's ridiculous to think it could happen on any scale. It would need a chain of boats all moving from one mooring to another, with boat 1 arriving at the mooring where boat 2 is so boat 2 leaves and goes to where boat 3 is and so on. It's just another myth perpetuated by out of towners who dont like London!

You'll probably get a more helpful answer on either of the London boaters facebook groups. P&S Marine or Winkwell boat yards might know someone. They gave me the number of a boat handyman a couple of years ago but lost it?.

But who defines what is a small part of the system? Back to the topic...there are many parts of the country with an awful lot of waterway within commuting distance.

I think this might be more to do with leakage from the Dudswell locks than water levels in general or in the reservoirs...

I think the title should be 'don't be utterly intoxicated and steer'. Obviously loads and loads of boaters steer while drinking alcohol difference is how much and not being drunk?

https://reddit.app.link/1MJ0Y0o8VX Photo here of the weir incident! According to fire brigade the chap was intoxicated!

A real shame the Bridgewater wasn't nationalised and given to BW/CRT

Yeah...I agree the lack of liveaboards on the BCN in numbers like London probably has more to do with property prices! So the BCN is never going to become like London. I think the inability to have widebeams there puts off other liveaboards too. It was an area I was looking at relocating to for work but was in part put off by the loneliness and emptiness of so much of the BCN. To me so much of it just doesn't feel safe to moor in because of a lack of other boats. I know this puts of holiday makers as well as liveaboards and the BCN is chronically underboated. Aren't most of those IWA silver propeller places in the BCN? It's never going to become as swamped as London but equally some increase in boats must be a good thing? Also I would say that mooring is an integral part of navigating. And that we must recognise that goongoozling is to be encouraged if CRT are to keep getting government money in the future. Not really sure where I am going with all this to be honest?. Other than an attempt to defend liveaboard continuous cruising. I can imagine a future in say 20-30 years when the current generation of baby boomer leisure boat owners have moved on and the next generation are unable to afford a boat unless they can live and work from it. And if the ability to freely do that has been killed off by restrictions to ccing then the canals as a whole will suffer. ?

Sorry! I should have said BCN and the general west midlands area. And having moored boats improves the canal 'experience' for everyone except boaters who want to 'open the throttle'. I'd suggest a jaunt down the Severn or another big river for doing that. CRTs own Twitter survey recently found looking at boats to be the number one reason the general public visit a canal.

Should have added...obviously lots of forum users will want to go to London as we are canal enthusiasts by definition. But I seriously doubt London would ever see the boat numbers the Llangollen or South Oxford get. And if it wasn't for the rise in liveaboards much of the canal away from little Venice (all of Hackney/Kensel/Mile end) would still be a desolate no go zone as opposed to the vibrant colourful community it is now. And it isn't that hard to find a mooring anyway, so long as you are happy breasting up and don't expect to cruise until dusk and stop immediately wherever you have got to. Birmingham is an interesting example that someone mentioned above. I have often wondered why there aren't more liveaboards similar to London. It would improve the canal. We broke down at spon lane locks 3 years ago and the place is about the most depressing and desolate I have encountered. Yet the London equivalent would have had boats and people and a totally different vibe.

I think it has more to do with the fact a cruise through London just isn't as scenic as the Llangollen or the South Oxford. And for those doing long trips on private boats London is just a long haul from the main system through a lot of locks and gritty suburbia like Hayes and Harlington. My point being, I don't see why there is so much griping about London being full of liveaboards when I doubt many other types of boats want to go there anyway.

The walk to Cheddington station is not easy. The direct footpath from Horton lock goes through a field that generally has cows. Two successive years I have had to abort walking through this field as been mobbed by the cows. I am very used to hiking in the countryside and generally don't let cows put me off. The walk on the road to Cheddington isn't fun either as no verge and fast traffic. Tring cutting is fine but just use plenty of pins as people do speed there. May not be other boats but have left my boat unattended for a day or 2 with no problems in the past. Cowroast is quite a walk...closer to 20-30 mins. Mooring at Water Eaton and walking to Bletchley is 20 mins and nice secure moorings with armco. Or south of the disused railway bridge in Leighton Buzzard about 15 mins walk and also safe moorings with armco. ?

Seen on Facebook the limited opening will be for 'essential journeys'. Not in the area so this is pure curiosity, but how on earth is a definition of essential arrived at? Suspect this is office staff wording an email and the reality on the ground will be those queuing longest go first?

I have heard many times the "that boat looks like it's been moored there forever" because there are some possesions on the towpath. I do think the 'types' of boat are changing though. Many more new shiny boats with young(er) people, and a lot of older divorcees forced into a boat as split of house prevents purchase of another house in the South East where they want to stay due to friends/family/connections etc... Whether people like it or not the way boats are used is changing. But I think the system can more than cope. Perhaps the Bath area is the only real example of a tiny geographical location with genuine strain as it's popular with every type of boater. London isn't under the same strain/conflict as most holiday boaters avoid the place for one reason or another.

Sadly the country (and jobs etc) are heavily biased towards London and the South East so for many many jobs it is very hard to be elsewhere. And some people actually really do love the place!

Exactly. Shiny boats with wealthy retirees would get one treatment and scruffy boats with young liveaboards another. It's already the case that a lot of opposition to 'continuous cruisers' is just boat snobbery.

I think Imray guides (one for Nene one for G Ouse) are the most widely used and sold. But they dont include a full ordanance survey map so in my opinion not as good as Nicholson's for exploring surrounding area etc

As an aside to this thread, just read an interesting article in waterways world on the history of the Nicholson's canal guide; what is the reason Nicholson's don't make one for East Anglia? I know there are other guides available, had to use Imray when we did a trip to the Cam and really didn't find them very useful.

Also a store by the bridge at High Lane. But my advice would be to get as much as you can carry from the Kidsgrove Tesco as there aren't big supermarkets close to the canal until Whaley Bridge. Plenty of pubs though ?

A boat would have to be moving 12 hours a day 365 days a year to even claim to spend half the time cruising. ?