Full on Gongoozlers

[Alway Swilby]

I think Camden is probably the winner but Hebden Bridge is busy on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

[junior]

Definitely Camden. I go through regularly with the community boat and it can be pretty full on in the summer or winter sometimes.

[bizzard]

Sewer lock on the GU is always utterly devoid of any of these goozler people.

[MHS]

How about Wigan flight? The gongoozlers bring their own refreshments.

 

Special Brew.

Diamond White etc, etc.

[luctor et emergo]

Of all the places mentioned, Camden has to be the worst, or best. At least the top two locks are fenced but you have your work cut out at the bottom lock getting people to get up and remove their dangling feet from over the lockside.

 

I nudged the gates when going up, and if possible, opened the gates with the bow..

If having to open the gates by hand, I started opening them regardless of anybody sitting on them.

 

They always move..

[Ange]

I'll second Stoke Bruerne. We went through there on a Saturday when we were moving the bat down south to move aboard. I swore we'd choose a weekday when we moved back up. I forgot and we went through on Fathers Day! It's actually quite a shock when you've been working the boat through rural locks to suddenly find your rather sweaty and grubby person such a focus of attention.

 

Outside the Mucky Duck at Fradley was the worst one for unattended children swarming around the lock gates while their parents sat back and enjoyed a beer.

 

Don't get me wrong I was a gongoozler once and have some great conversations with them, but I do find it a bit embarrassing when there's loads of them - especially when our rather scfuffy boat resplendent with roof clutter rises in the lock

[luctor et emergo]

Stop caring what other people might think of what you are happy with.

[Ange]

Stop caring what other eople might think of what you are happy with.

You're absolutely right Luc - I do care too much. Good advice - thank you (and I mean that)

[luctor et emergo]

You're absolutely right Luc - I do care too much. Good advice - thank you (and I mean that)

 

Just once in a while, I come out with a sensible thought.. ;-)

[MtB]

Got any links?

 

 

:D

[john6767]

I don't know Camden, so perhaps that does eclipse everywhere else.

 

Of the places I know I would say the Bancroft Basin in Stratford in the place when you will get the most people (many 100's) watching when you go down the lock onto the river. Given the nature of Stratford it is a very international audience. I don't mind that, but what I do mind is the (primarily Japanese) tourists wandering about on the pontoons in the basin taking pictures.

 

A place where it gets a bit tedious sometimes is a Hatton, there are less people per lock than at Stratford, but it goes on for perhaps the top 8 locks where the lock side is rammed with people if it is a nice day on a weekend.

[Laurie Booth]

At Bradford on Avon sometimes David Hemmings would be there watching.

[Leo No2]

Stoke Bruerne

 

Stoke Bruerne top can get very busy on Saturdays/Sundays/Public holidays during the warmer months but devoid of anyone during the winter. Days/times also when it can be busy are 23-April in the early evening (local Morris Side dancing on St George's Day) and the following weekends are extra busy - Gala - mid June / Village at War - mid-September and Morris dancing day for which I can't seem to find a date but maybe early July from memory.

[junior]

Camden on what i would describe as a quiet to average day.

 

[Guest]

Camden on what i would describe as a quiet to average day.

The trust should sell tickets, they'd make a fortune!

[furnessvale]

I got a large round of applause when I went up Camden Lock singlehanded. Nobody offered to help, though. (On second thoughts, I'm rather glad of that>)

Star lock at Stone can be busy but at least there is a good "lead in" above and below the lock to hold the boat when single handing and minimise the chance of making a cock up.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[luctor et emergo]

Are there signs on those fences "don't feed the boaters" ?

[churchward]

In the 1980s I can remember coming down through the last lock before Stratford-on-Avon (I forget its name/number) from the North and being inundated with Japanese tourists all who wanted their picture taken with this rather less old sea dog at the time.

[RockSodem]

_{Newbury Lock?}

[Hawthorn]

 

 

The trust should sell tickets, they'd make a fortune!

Indeed. On the way to the Olympic Park is an outdoor cinema. There are banked seats on one side of the cut and a screen on the other. When it is not working the seats, covered with artificial grass at weekends are used by hundreds of people to pic-nic. Cruising past them last year we held buckets out imploring them to throw money, as we were the entertainment! They didn't. It does show though that the great majority of people who use and enjoy the canal network are not directly contributing to its upkeep. Same at Foxton, the entertainment is the canal traffic, but nothing from car park to pubs shop the museum, is in CRT ownership.

[Peter X]

What surprises me about that photo at Camden (never been to the lock there) is how few gongoozlers are actually on the lockside, with nearly all nicely out of the way behind railings, apparently in pub gardens. The one time I went somewhere really busy on my brother's boat, Stoke Bruerne on a warm weekend afternoon, there were plenty of people hanging about close to the top lock and wandering the towpath up to the tunnel entrance. It didn't matter to us, the top pound was the limit of our weekend cruise so we just moored there for a few hours, turned around in the winding hole and went back through Blisworth tunnel.

 

At Oxford I heard, though it may have been made up, of a student who hung about in the places most favoured by tourists wearing full subfusc (suit, gown and mortar board) and carrying a few books, charging tourists to have their photo taken with them. It was said to be a good earner. In my experience the Japanese seemed to take more photos than all the rest put together. I never bothered getting out of the way, so I'm probably walking along slightly blurred in the background in albums all over Japan.

[Laurie Booth]

I was moored next to a narrowboat in Bristol Docks, with lots of people looking at our boats. After about 30 mins the other boater got out an A board that said "50p to look around my boat" Yes a line of people formed and were handing over their 50p.

[pearley]

The top two locks at Camden are fully fenced with gated access via a CRT key. Nothing to stop people climbing over the fence, its not too high, but they might spill their beer.

 

The bottom lock has a barrier between the towpath and lockside but open at each end hence more people getting in the way.

[Woodstock]

Fradley-its quite local to me and I used to love watching the boats-but now we're boaters,its full of people shuffling about. Funny how your perception changes. Slightly off topic- but has anyone been in to the Mucky duck recently-we stopped after having a few terrible meals there