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Towpath Vegetation


noone

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Letting the tow path veg run wild is completely out of character for a canal. In the days when they were used for towing they were kept well surfaced and clear of growth. See here for folks in their Sunday best walking the Peak Forest Canal path. The modern cycle path upgrade is actually closer to the historic condition than the muddy track through the weeds and trees that people have got used to. 

Jen

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16 minutes ago, cuthound said:

I dont care about how tall the towpath vegetation gets (within reason). I just wish they would deal with the offside tree and reed growth.

Have you tried only paying half your license fee,because you can only navigate half of the system!?...Dont think we will be in much luck of our waterways staying navigable.Crt are looking to change terms and conditions of licensing,exonerating themselves from the responsibility of providing navigation...There is a link to yet ANOTHER Crt survey about these changes on here somewhere?.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/boating-blogs-and-features/boater-report

No mention of off-side vegetation here!

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On 02/10/2020 at 20:46, ditchcrawler said:

During the Corona shutdown there was lots of campaigning to let the towpaths grow wild so they could see the wild flowers  

During the Corona lockdown round here, there were so many towpath walkers, joggers and cyclists that the surface lost all its grass and became an almost concrete like way along the canal.

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On 02/10/2020 at 17:43, Leggers do it lying down said:

Love it or hate it!?...

Go here if you love it  https://www.change.org/p/canal-and-river-trust-environment-agency-let-the-towpath-grow

Start your own petition if you dont!.?

No need for this petition, CaRT have already implemented it.  In September had a trip up the Caldon, Macc. & Upper Peak Forest and the vegetation was the worst I've seen it in the last 5 years. 

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On 02/10/2020 at 18:01, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Letting the tow path veg run wild is completely out of character for a canal. In the days when they were used for towing they were kept well surfaced and clear of growth. See here for folks in their Sunday best walking the Peak Forest Canal path. The modern cycle path upgrade is actually closer to the historic condition than the muddy track through the weeds and trees that people have got used to. 

Jen

Back then,the whole of the system was in tip-top condition!,locks,bridges and all.?.........

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26 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

No need for this petition, CaRT have already implemented it.  In September had a trip up the Caldon, Macc. & Upper Peak Forest and the vegetation was the worst I've seen it in the last 5 years. 

We were on the Caldon about the same time.  In places you couldn't see walkers for vegetation.   With no reception for the phone I wondered how long you might be marooned (if something went wrong) not being able to get to the bank.

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I'm of the opinion that allowing the towpath to grow unchecked to encourage wildlife is wrong on at least two counts, the first is that it encourages wildlife into conflict with those who use it (trodden on, nests, etc. disturbed), and the obvious fact that for much of it, the towpath has an unmolested nature strip on the offside. 

  Safety is also compromised with holes and other hazards being invisible. 

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C&RT speak of the six canal habitats, these are

 

1 - back of towpath

2 - towpath

3 - towpath side margin

4 - surface of the water

5 - the water body itself

6 - the offside margin

 

The Towpath side margin is managed more intensively than the offside margin for several reasons - one of them is nature conservation, a twice yearly trim is a good thing as some more delicate species survive it well and some more robust ones that will throttle the delicate ones do not.

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13 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

one of them is nature conservation, a twice yearly trim is a good thing as some more delicate species survive it well and some more robust ones that will throttle the delicate ones do not.

Going by some of the vegetation I have seen on towpath side margins recently a trim twice a decade would be an improvement.

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On 02/10/2020 at 17:43, Leggers do it lying down said:

Love it or hate it!?...

Go here if you love it  https://www.change.org/p/canal-and-river-trust-environment-agency-let-the-towpath-grow

Start your own petition if you dont!.?

 

So how do I comment on a change.org petition without adding a vote in favour?

 

No I thought not. Just encourages 'bubble' thinking.

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1 hour ago, David Mack said:

 

So how do I comment on a change.org petition without adding a vote in favour?

 

No I thought not. Just encourages 'bubble' thinking.

Which is why I said if you DON'T LIKE IT,START YOUR OWN!!  ??

Edited by Leggers do it lying down
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  • 1 month later...

Reminds me of a tow path we once spent the night at a couple of decades ago: piled, deep, but with a very heavily overgrown towpath side margin, with much sapling growth several feet high.  I was able to clear enough of it away to provide  bow and stern access for mooring using the wood saw blade of my swiss army knife, the saplings providing bows, arrows, and fishing rods for my young children. That the growth was indeed a wild life haven was evidenced by the stowaway we acquired in the form of a mouse. Expanded polystyrene granules on the kitchen work surface suggested it had started to make a home for itself in the insulation. I discovered it a day or so later in the larder, munching its way into a pack of instant mashed potato and dispatched it with a convenient tin of baked beans.

Edited by Ronaldo47
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27 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Reminds me of a tow path we once spent the night at a couple of decades ago: piled, deep, but with a very heavily overgrown towpath side margin, with much sapling growth several feet high.  I was able to clear enough of it away to provide  bow and stern access for mooring using the wood saw blade of my swiss army knife, the saplings providing bows, arrows, and fishing rods for my young children. That the growth was indeed a wild life haven was evidenced by the stowaway we acquired in the form of a mouse. Expanded polystyrene granules on the kitchen work surface suggested it had started to make a home for itself in the insulation. I discovered it a day or so later in the larder, munching its way into a pack of instant mashed potato and dispatched it with a convenient tin of baked beans.

Some years ago we had a stowaway rat on Fulbourne. Never saw it, but you could hear it moving round at night, and we found that it had been nesting in a much-chewed sleeping back stored under one of the bunks. In it's time with us it munched its way through most of the packetted food in the kitchen, as well as the contents of the first aid kit and a tube of sun cream, without apparently coming to much harm. We had a rat trap, and heard it go off in the middle of the night, but all we caught was the skin off its tail. I never did find out what happened to it - whether it left the boat of its own accord, or whether one of the fellow owners disposed of its remains.

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