Four Counties Ring rings

[junior]

I was sat on the towpath eating my dinner with a friend in Rode Heath the other day when a chap with a clip board came past. We got chatting and at first he made out that he was from CRT doing a survey for installing rings in certain places around the 4CR.

 

The conversation went on for a while and i brought it round to mooring time limits, stating that i thought it great that they were looking at putting more rings in but not if they came with the 48hr time limits that seem to go with all the rings on the Shroppie.

 

I stated quite strongly that i thought it important to have a mix of time limits. He sort of went along with what i was saying but i got the feeling he didn't agree. I can't remember how he let it out, but it turns out he was from the IWA and that it is them who are doing a survey for installing rings around the 4CR. No wonder i got the feeling that he didn't agree with me. What's the betting all these new rings come with a 48hr time restriction.

 

Such a shame that a nice village like Rode Heath that is currently 14 days is likely to end up with a 48hr limit.

[dor]

I find it difficult to understand this objection to 48 hour visitor moorings. Yes there are many on the Shroppie, and very well appreciated they are too. However they take up only a tiny part of the length of available mooring, and where they are close to villages or towns, there are still ample places to moor just as close to the attraction.

 

And the rings are very useful when boats pass without more than a token nod to slowing down, which seems to be the norm these days.

[Arthur Marshall]

Most of the Shroppie rings were put in by the Shropshire Canal Society, not by BW. I presume that the cnal societies can put the rings in, but it'll be CRT that decides the stay length - an't see why that should change just because there's a ring.

[Keeping Up]

I'd like to see a mixture, but only if the existing 48 hour moorings remain as they are and any new moorings are additional to them.

[alan_fincher]

The new national framework for visitor moorings now requires that a process is followed before any length of mooring is made short stay. Part of that process should be provision of evidence that current demand for that site is high enough to justify it, and any decision to make changes requires a series of "sign offs" before it can go ahead.

 

Only time will tell if CRT are now serious about sticking to this, but at least this framework states what should now happen, and makes it easier to challenge any case where it still does not.

 

Putting rings in should itself not be a factor, except of course there is the possibility that doing so makes it a more attractive mooring to some people, so demand increases, and that increased demand can then be used as data to support a shorter stay time.

I'd like to see a mixture, but only if the existing 48 hour moorings remain as they are and any new moorings are additional to them.

 

Perhaps you are only referring to the 4 counties ring, but how could you possibly justify, for example, the pounds lower down the Atherstone flight that were relatively recently made 48 hours? There has never been the demand there to support such a decision - why on earth can they, for example, not be reverted to 14 days?

[Machpoint005]

Rings are irrelevant to permitted mooring duration. I moor where I think I'd like to moor, and if there are rings, that's a bonus.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Here at Church Minshull, a mooring with one of the finest views in all England, barbecue frames (I think!) have appeared (one in the background), together with something else under construction which I can't work out. Presumably all provided by the SUCS.

 

[Jim Riley]

So if it's 48 hrs on iwa rings can I stay 14 days if I bang my own pins in next to them?

[Arthur Marshall]

Here at Church Minshull, a mooring with one of the finest views in all England, barbecue frames (I think!) have appeared (one in the background), together with something else under construction which I can't work out. Presumably all provided by the SUCS.

 

Is that the bit where all the rings are neatly placed where you can't get into the side without hearing the bottom of your boat wear away on the stones? There's a nice deep mooring space just after the visitor moorings though. Edited to add that I agree with you about the view.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Arthur Marshall

[Paul C]

Is that the bit where all the rings are neatly placed where you can't get into the side without hearing the bottom of your boat wear away on the stones? There's a nice deep mooring space just after the visitor moorings though. Edited to add that I agree with you about the view.

 

No, insofar as I was there just a few days ago too an got to the edge of the bank fine, and out again. My boat is average draft though.

[jonno22]

 

Perhaps you are only referring to the 4 counties ring, but how could you possibly justify, for example, the pounds lower down the Atherstone flight that were relatively recently made 48 hours? There has never been the demand there to support such a decision - why on earth can they, for example, not be reverted to 14 days?

 

one of the stupider decisions made recently. Its in the middle of nowhere (relatively) with nothing in the way of amenities nearby.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Just come down to Ellesmere Port. Several 48 hour mooring stretches have appeared since I was last here, mostly in the middle of nowhere, and all with rings provided by the SUCS. There is absolutely no pressure on mooring anywhere along here - relatively few boats cruise this stretch. So it seems that SUCS providing rings does indeed generate 48 hour restrictions.

 

Ironically, the best place to moor along this stretch, with a good pub along a pleasant farm lane, has none of this nonsense. Bridge 138, Stoak:

 

[jddevel]

May I cynically suggest that in times of austerity and the need to seriously review "management" levels in many areas this is an attempt to justify ones position by creating a need!!!!

Of course the real way forward is yellow lines or tape between marker bouys.

[dor]

Here at Church Minshull, a mooring with one of the finest views in all England, barbecue frames (I think!) have appeared (one in the background), together with something else under construction which I can't work out. Presumably all provided by the SUCS.

 

 

Many of the improvements on the Shroppie are now actually put in place by groups independent of SUCS. E.g. on the Middlewich branch, much of these small enhancements are don by SUMBA, the Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch Adopters. Similarly, other work is done by STTV, the Small Tasks Team Volunteers. SUCS of course continues to carry out other improvements and of course the restoration of the Montgomery (when the incompetent employees of Natural England allow them to).

 

ETA: these works are done in conjunction with C&RT, who provide support and supply much of the materials.

Edited April 29, 2015 by dor

[ditchcrawler]

Just come down to Ellesmere Port. Several 48 hour mooring stretches have appeared since I was last here, mostly in the middle of nowhere, and all with rings provided by the SUCS. There is absolutely no pressure on mooring anywhere along here - relatively few boats cruise this stretch. So it seems that SUCS providing rings does indeed generate 48 hour restrictions.

 

Ironically, the best place to moor along this stretch, with a good pub along a pleasant farm lane, has none of this nonsense. Bridge 138, Stoak:

 

I must say I find these rings very useful and have no desire to spend a week there. I like mooring overnight in the middle of nowhere and wouldn't want to rely on pins on the Llangollen the speed some of the boats passed while I was still in bed in the morning.