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Rather than cutting a path through the jungle I would prefer a 2ft wide strip next to the bank to be cut and kept short. This would stop saplings growing in the Armco thus reducing damage to the bank and enable boaters to see where there was somewhere decent to tie up. Leave the rest of it for ecology and sod the cyclists.

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1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Rather than cutting a path through the jungle I would prefer a 2ft wide strip next to the bank to be cut and kept short. This would stop saplings growing in the Armco thus reducing damage to the bank and enable boaters to see where there was somewhere decent to tie up. Leave the rest of it for ecology and sod the cyclists.

And you would be able to see where the dog s#£t had been left when you are stepping off the boat 

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On 09/06/2022 at 09:09, Rob-M said:

We get the shears out as soon as we stop and cut back any long bits that may give ants easy access.

Quite right. We do similar. A good pair of shears on the boat is a very useful tool.  It can make what seems to be a place unavailable to moor into a cosy spot.

 

I have seen one person use a small battery strimmer which is not a bad idea.

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Here in Milton Keynes I have travelled 11 miles and the overgrown vegetation looks awful, the wife and I are pensioners and the advice I have been given is that the CRT have a duty of care towards its users. And if she who must be obeyed or me  goes face first into the towpath again. start taking pictures and visit the solicitors, apparently its even better if an hospital is involved but god forbid that happening.

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6 minutes ago, Soupdragon said:

Here in Milton Keynes I have travelled 11 miles and the overgrown vegetation looks awful, the wife and I are pensioners and the advice I have been given is that the CRT have a duty of care towards its users. And if she who must be obeyed or me  goes face first into the towpath again. start taking pictures and visit the solicitors, apparently its even better if an hospital is involved but god forbid that happening.

C broke her metatarsal in hole on a set of lock stairs as she was coming down to board the boat.  BW said she should be more careful in future and it was nothing to do with them.

Doubt you would get far in any action against cart. :(

 

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Coming through from Alrewas to Fradley it reminded me of locking in the 70's where the lock sides were fairly wild with a small trodden path through the long grass from one end to the other.

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29 minutes ago, Soupdragon said:

Here in Milton Keynes I have travelled 11 miles and the overgrown vegetation looks awful, the wife and I are pensioners and the advice I have been given is that the CRT have a duty of care towards its users. And if she who must be obeyed or me  goes face first into the towpath again. start taking pictures and visit the solicitors, apparently its even better if an hospital is involved but god forbid that happening.

 

 

Is this 'paid for' advice from a professional lawyer?

 

Or 'free advice' from some random barrack room lawyer on the towpath or in the pub?

 

 

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When my children were small, some of the saplings at the towpath edge used to get repurposed as fishing rods and bows & arrows. The woodsaw blade on my swiss army knife was very effective, and I always used to pack a ball of twine for this sort of activity. 

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5 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

Is this 'paid for' advice from a professional lawyer?

 

Or 'free advice' from some random barrack room lawyer on the towpath or in the pub?

 

Afraid he is a professional Lawyer but his expertise is in international contracts, but he should know what the general situation is.

 

 

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Interesting that CRT mention that lock mowing will continue as  the  grass round some of the locks between Hatton and Stockton is very long currently and could be fairly easy to trip over now. It doesn’t look like there’s been any cutting since early April as it’s all coming to long seedheads now over a foot tall. There is some unevenness and holes very hard to spot too.
 

I can see CRT saying all the right things re sight lines locks etc but who judges all the sight lines, probably the contractors who are unlikely to be boaters and eager to cut as little as possible .

 

The maintenance generally seemed poor on these GU locks with very stiff paddles and several squeaking. A contrast to Hatton and Stockton where the paddles are fairly easy to open after the first turn. 

 

 

The long straight towpath on the GU  from Calcutt approaching Napton Junction hasn’t been strummed for what looks like 3 years or more, several Ash saplings are over 6 foot now. 
 

 

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On 01/06/2022 at 09:51, Pluto said:

Perhaps it would be best to go forwards environmentally to horse power, as the grass would be kept down naturally, and rose growers would have something to take home from their boat.

 

OOh, no. Not horses

 

Sheep! All we like sheep

 

Richard

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34 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Does this mean instead of going back to horse boats, we can have sheep boats in future? 

 

 

Brilliant!

We're up for that. Oates was originally horse-drawn anyway and there is a large flock of sheep next to our mooring. Only problem is that we have an offside mooring and would need to ferry the sheep across the canal first (they can swim, can't they....)

 

Alec

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6 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 

I can see CRT saying all the right things re sight lines locks etc but who judges all the sight lines, probably the contractors who are unlikely to be boaters and eager to cut as little as possible .

 

 

 

 

 

I think CRT specify where to cut

3 hours ago, agg221 said:

  (they can swim, can't they....)

 

Alec

They can indeed, we often had to row across the river Bure to retrieve our ram

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2 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Thanks, would have hoped so but it must be a very detailed contract, which is new given that the old one presumably stated mow all every x weeks? 
 

perhaps sight lines were mapped out years ago? 

 

The mowing specifications are a layer on the reference map.  Zoom in to see the mowing regime for a specific area.

 

https://canalrivertrust.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTools/index.html?appid=b46e3e0bda4a44a0be267df7674139a5

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