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Kennet and Avon


Bobbybass

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I've been on the canals for the past 12:years. I'm now based on the K&A. I've been traveling down to Bath and Bristol and think it's the worse I have ever seen it.  The locks are in terrible condition and haven't been repaired in years apart from the very gallient efforts of volunteers at Caen Hill and Croften ...there is not a single...a single paid person doing any repairs ...ANY repairs... 

It truly is finished isn't it.?.

 

I was warned of this .but had to see it for myself.

 

RIP canals.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Bobbybass said:

I've been on the canals for the past 12:years. I'm now based on the K&A. I've been traveling down to Bath and Bristol and think it's the worse I have ever seen it.  The locks are in terrible condition and haven't been repaired in years apart from the very gallient efforts of volunteers at Caen Hill and Croften ...there is not a single...a single paid person doing any repairs ...ANY repairs... 

It truly is finished isn't it.?.

 

I was warned of this .but had to see it for myself.

 

RIP canals.

 

 

Try the Rochdale ...

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Lock gates fallen apart... Miles and miles of tick over...I moored on a 48 hour mooring outside a pub and instantly someone knocked on the side at 6.15 and told me it was a quiet zone...and I must stop my engine. This is s nightmare. When I started 12 years ago...the canals were in a reasonable state of repair.  Is the rest of the network in this state ?

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Nope, but the western K&A is a dump, I feel sorry for all the hire boaters. Lovely place to live, dreadful dump of a canal I think crt have given up with all the CMers, the low point a few months back was a helpful sign warning walkers to avoid straying off the towpath due to human waste in the bushes - I boat in the midlands. What is also sad is people around here think all canals are like this which is very sad.

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27 minutes ago, Cas446 said:

Nope, but the western K&A is a dump, I feel sorry for all the hire boaters. Lovely place to live, dreadful dump of a canal I think crt have given up with all the CMers, the low point a few months back was a helpful sign warning walkers to avoid straying off the towpath due to human waste in the bushes - I boat in the midlands. What is also sad is people around here think all canals are like this which is very sad.

I found it ok up until Caen Hill. After that it was a tip. There are many boats displaying a licence..but they are covered in junk and crap and some are half sunk. To get my license I had to have BSS and insurance but there is no way they have that which leads me to think that CART don't check..or just want the money. Going east from Bradford on Avon today..there are areas as you describe. You can smell the excrement in the bushes ..its disgusting...but why is nothing done ?.  I came back to boats after a break but I'm totally shocked. I will be in Bristol in a few days and then head back to Newbury. If anyone wants to buy a 43 foot cruiser stern ...let me know !

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11 hours ago, Bobbybass said:

I found it ok up until Caen Hill. After that it was a tip. There are many boats displaying a licence..but they are covered in junk and crap and some are half sunk. To get my license I had to have BSS and insurance but there is no way they have that which leads me to think that CART don't check..or just want the money. Going east from Bradford on Avon today..there are areas as you describe. You can smell the excrement in the bushes ..its disgusting...but why is nothing done ?.  I came back to boats after a break but I'm totally shocked. I will be in Bristol in a few days and then head back to Newbury. If anyone wants to buy a 43 foot cruiser stern ...let me know !

Are you having a bad day? It aint that bad. I had a mooring there at Bathampton in 93/94 and there were in total about twenty or thirty boats between B o A and Bath so it was then fab. I have been down there a few times since then and its progresively filled up to be a shanty town. However I went again last year and every day found a decent mooring nearly always at a specified site. Yes its much like the southern end of the GU and certainly grotty if you put it against say the Oxford or the Selby but its still worth doing. We also moored overnight in bath twice with oodles of choice. Dont sell yer boat, the beauty of boats is that they move. Just move somewhere nice theres plenty of it out there, especialy up the Trent and beyond ?

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I feel very sad about the K and A having contributed to it's Restoration. It had all the prospects of being a wonderful canal but soon realised all was lost when attending the boaters meetings in Devizes somes years ago now. The meetings were taken over by the newly arrived floating residents who have turned it into a linear tip at the western end. Looking back I think I prefered it as a derelict waterway and enjoyed many walks along it at that time.

  • Greenie 1
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I never saw the K&A before this/last year, but I really don't think it is that bad. From BoA all the way to lock 1 it is very interesting and picturesque, I didn't find the locks too bad at all on this stretch, though I'd appreciate the banks being a little better dredged and cleared in certain places. Only Harris lock concerned me - despite the lengthy winter closure it feels as though it's going to be a problem again soon and I look forward to getting on the eastern side of it before that happens!

I've not noticed any human waste dumped in bushes - only the ubiquitous piles of dog sh*t left by a few careless owners, same everywhere.

There are a hell of a lot of hire boats on the bath end, they outnumber the rough looking boats by a good margin. I wish the hire companies were just a little more careful of letting large groups on.

Other than that, my only gripe is the blatant disregard for the rules (people encamped on the river section moorings and overstaying on 48hrs generally).

But as I said, it's my first time on so I have not seen it in "better times."

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I went down the full length of the K&A 6 years ago and it seemed ok to me. All the locks and swing bridges worked fine and I was moving a widebeam single-handed so apart from a bit of help on the Caen hill flight I opened and closed every sluice and every gate on every lock. Has it really gone downhill that quickly? I can't help thinking someone's just having a moan.

Edited by blackrose
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I had a rant about the K&A a few years ago and said if I never went down it again it would be too soon.  But I have since spoken to folk who tell me it has improved no end in the past couple of years, and largely because CRT have made a real effort with the liveaboards who simply ignore the licence conditions.  I'm tempted to give it another go but there have been issues with water levels this year has there not?

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