stagedamager

having been bought up on the cut for most of my life, i remember the good old days of being thrown off the boat with a bike and pointed in the direction of the next lock and told to go set! now i quite like towpath cycling, especially when you manage a whole trip without a puncture! having relocated to milton keynes, i now only use the towpath for cycling to and from work, as i have no time or money for getting my own boat. there seems to be a trend happening recently, and i don't know if it is just related to mk or not, but there are little communities starting to spring up, towpath side, mainly just out of view of any road bridges, and people expanding their worldly goods all over the towpath and beyond, the worst one is just north of fenny stratford lock, where, tied up under a dual carriageway bridge are a few boats, who are obviously there for a long time ( been at least 1 year now) as the towpath is totally blocked, items tied up along the railings and rubbish down the embankment next to them, leading to their cars parked at the bottom. When there is a gap on the towpath, it is blocked by the owners' several dogs, which can be distressing at times, especially when they are hungry! i remember hearing of another one at braunston with signs up saying towpath closed! surely this shouldn't be allowed, i thought the towpath should be kept clear? anyone else had issues on this matter?

What was scarier, meteor half way up or torpedo-ing out of the lock with a bunch of fresh hirers coming through the bridge hole chester bound with the fear of god on their faces!!!! i wish i had the money to buy it and put it back, i think conversions can be tastefully redone, and quite clever. however, and unfortunately, too many working boats seem to be being chopped around and converted as the ever increasing house prices creep ever higher and force 1st time buyers off the property ladder, and onto the cut, as the space in a converted town class probably equates to the same amount of space as a modern london flat but a third of the price, financially this is viable, but i feel it isn't just as simple as "Bunging a cabin on the hold", care has to be taken to ensure that history is maintained with these boats, rather than being swallowed up into suburbia and covered in tubs of french marigolds!

on a side note, its nice to see a butty with a tasteful conversion that doesn't stand out........................then again! think i preferred it as a camping boat!