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Reading doesn't want boaters anymore!


nipper

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Typical mooring rates on the French Canal System (by length)

 

http://port-royal-auxonne.com/Prices-portroyal.php

That's quite dear, I pay 660 for 10m

10 to 15 ........780

15 to 18 .......900

over 18.........either 2340 or 1755 depending on right or left bank

 

that's per year, in euros. our boat is 3.4 m wide,

plus of course the licence is a good bit cheaper,

Of course narrowboats suffer because of the length and I think they also suffer with the licence fee as well but I'm not too sure about the figures.

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What would happen if you untie a boat without the knowledge of those on board and the boat goes over a weir or something else happens that results in the death if those onboard. Manslaughter charge perhaps.

What would happen? Well, we'd have a good laugh to see their boat floating down to Dagenham. Manslaughter? It would simply be their own fault for being illegal and selfish moorers.

Now you're going to ask how do I know they are not in hospital havng a hip.operation or with a 'bad back'.

24 hours to get yer horse burgers at Tesco's and then it's time up.

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Dagenham?

 

A rubber duck might get there (unlikely) but a vessel navigating the Thames is going to either get caught up in the trees near "that tw@ rowing lake" or "that software tw@ who won't put up no mooring signs but has a man who will aggressively hassle anyone who moors there" or other bits of vegetation or if there is a bit of flow they will sit at the top of Sonning weir. Not a nice place to be if there is excess water about.

The three billy goats gruff comes to mind.

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Thinking of selling your boat after your huge history and contribution to the waterways is very sad.

I think the problem for you might be that you are a leisure boater in one of the most congested parts of the country.

We return to the K&A every winter and have increasing apprehension every year as it gets harder and harder to find good places to moor, especially with a deeper boat. Relaxing the visitor moorings to 14 days this year is also gong to make life very difficult for leisure boaters and "real" continuous cruisers. I expect you don't want to relocate your boat and face a long drive?,There are still many lovely parts of the system that are almost empty and with very little enforcement. Cruising spring and Autumn is also another good option.

 

..............Dave

 

We moor at Calcutt and last year we did Liverpool, the L&L, Trent and Leicester arm. I was still apprehensive about about upsetting CaRT. We even visited Saltaire by bus because of the ambiguous CaRT signs there, then there are the reports about the enforcement officer at Newark. I suspect that next year we will spend less time cruising. We intend to do the Ashby and the lower reaches of the T&M and possibly the S&W. We will see how leisurely it is possible to take it. Maybe the year after we will visit the Fens but now the Cam wants an extortionate fee it is a little less attractive. Then the boat will be about 30 years old and the hassles when cruising makes he ever increasing maintenance cost far less attractive. Especially as I can hire a boat for about three weeks for the same cost as my license and mooring fee. This option would allow me to walk away from CaRTs ire and take advantage of the mooring advantages given to hire boats over private boats.

 

Actually I hate the K&A, my knees make the stirrups for accessing the lock beams dangerous so we simply stay away apart from the occasional ,local tripping with friends when I have a crew. When we come to the Thames, but even then finding stop-over moorings for a few days around Reading is all but impossible or expensive - the expensive options are not best best with public transport.

 

 

As can be seen by some of the replies I am far from alone with my views and if CaRT do not take notice and action I suspect the number of real waterways lovers will decrease and the numbers of CM'rs will increase.

  • Greenie 1
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I feel a bit of an anomaly here having pottered around the system over the past couple of years and never felt threatened, harassed or in any way bothered by CRT, what am I doing wrong?unsure.png

 

With regards the idea of 'anchoring off' on the Thames it rather reminds me of an anecdote from 2012 when sailing in the Ionian around Greece. We, and a whole lot of other boats moored in a bay 300 yards off two tavernas, we had an a arrangement to descend upon one of the Tavernas for an evening of eating and entertainment however the owner of the other taverna wasn't happy and his brother was the local Police Officer. The Police Officer turned up on the beach shouting to us that we all had to move on and get out of the bay. The comment of the skipper when told of this development was "Does he have a boat?" Answer "No". "Does he have a gun?" Answer ,"No", "Well tell him to go forth and multiply thenbiggrin.png ". We stayed the night.

  • Greenie 3
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My theory is that there was some serious haggling going on between two factions in a sub-committee meeting at Reading Council. Incidentally their offices are (or were when last I knew) in a block on the southern edge of town about as far as you can get from the river; read into that what you will. According to my theory the dialogue went like this:

Let's charge £4

£12

£8

£10

£9

£9.50

£9.25

(pause) OK then, you can't halve 25p exactly.

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Nor me. Don't fall for the guff written in here.

Same here. 40 years cruising the cut, the last 11 living aboard of which the first six were CCing. Had one encounter with a nasty jack-in-office in all that time, had to overstay once or twice for ice or other force majeure, BW/CRT always been fine about it.

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Mmm! Those that will, have turned this into an anti CART thread!

 

I started this thread as a knocking Reading Council Thread!

 

But, those that will, have now turned this thread into a CART bashing one!

 

Just for clarity, The Environment Agency, have jurisdiction over the River Thames.

 

It is Reading Council that is wanting payment for moorings, not The environment Agency.

 

Nipper

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Well put nipper. Can anyone shed some light on Reading Council's thought process here? As far as I'm aware, the legal position would be that as riparian landowner they can more or less charge what they like for mooring, limited only by such things as anti-discrimination and consumer protection law. Therefore, if the council's real motivation is revenue and/or to drive away long term moorers, the best that boaters can hope for is to persuade the council to introduce a more practical set of charges, by explaining politely to them that asking £9.25 for a one hour shopping stop is counter-productive.

 

To the person who suggested anchoring a little way out in the river, I'd say that might well get around the council's charges, because if the test is whether your boat's presence is creating a nuisance, it would be hard for the council to argue in court that you are. Being near that path is not the same level of nuisance as if you were just off the end of someone's riverbank garden. The river's wide enough that you're unlikely to get into trouble with the EA for obstructing navigation. However once you put a gangplank across the gap you might be deemed as moored, and otherwise how are you going to get your shopping unless you have a tender, which itself will need to be moored to the bank? This is all a bit unclear to me, I'm guessing and you'd need Nigel Moore to get a good answer to it.

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As a Thames boater, it's disappointing that my nearest convenient shopping stop may not be cost effective to use in the future.

 

Not so long ago the 'Tesco' moorings effectively policed themselves. Liveaboards kept to either end of that stretch of embankment where access was poor enough to discourage shoppers and short term moorers (that's fine we are happy to tie to a tree and leap ashore..).

In the last two years the whole stretch has been taken over by liveaboards and doubtless folks wanting to shop have complained to the store management. Previous attempts by the council to restrict the centre section (where there are the remains of skiff moorings) to short term use has been ignored - and the signs removed by 'persons unknown'.

In todays attitude of 'sod-em-all, I'll do what I please' it's not surprising that the council is taking some action.

You can't expect special treatment for shopping mooring as the scheme - if any - costs to manage, so revenue has to be found from somewhere. It will be interesting to see what happens in the winter as there are lock closures in the area which will restrict movement.

 

If only folks would manage themselves and understand other peoples position. The Thames and canal system can tolerate - perhaps I should say - accommodate a number of free bankside moorings, but these are becoming saturated - thus drawing attention of 'the authorities'.

  • Greenie 2
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As a Thames boater, it's disappointing that my nearest convenient shopping stop may not be cost effective to use in the future.

 

Not so long ago the 'Tesco' moorings effectively policed themselves. Liveaboards kept to either end of that stretch of embankment where access was poor enough to discourage shoppers and short term moorers (that's fine we are happy to tie to a tree and leap ashore..).

In the last two years the whole stretch has been taken over by liveaboards and doubtless folks wanting to shop have complained to the store management. Previous attempts by the council to restrict the centre section (where there are the remains of skiff moorings) to short term use has been ignored - and the signs removed by 'persons unknown'.

In todays attitude of 'sod-em-all, I'll do what I please' it's not surprising that the council is taking some action.

You can't expect special treatment for shopping mooring as the scheme - if any - costs to manage, so revenue has to be found from somewhere. It will be interesting to see what happens in the winter as there are lock closures in the area which will restrict movement.

 

If only folks would manage themselves and understand other peoples position. The Thames and canal system can tolerate - perhaps I should say - accommodate a number of free bankside moorings, but these are becoming saturated - thus drawing attention of 'the authorities'.

Very true, yet again the selfish actions of a few spoil things for everyone. As you say little consideration and self regulation by everyone prevents situations like this. Have a greenie.

  • Greenie 1
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I was out in Reading town centre for a beverage or two last night and they wanted to charge me £10 to get into the purple turtle!!!

 

 

That's odd, it's always been free when I go there. Getting very successful!

 

When they first opened they had a very amusing dress code: "Anyone wearing smart casual will be refused admission."

 

Very sensible way of keeping the undesirables out in my opinion!

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Very true, yet again the selfish actions of a few spoil things for everyone. As you say little consideration and self regulation by everyone prevents situations like this. Have a greenie.

Went past this lunchtime and there was acres of space... And then I woke up...

 

There was no space as usual and so up I went to the stop by the new bridge and they want money off me there now... Makes for an expensive pint of milk and bread...

 

Agree entirely with OG

Edited by Paringa
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Seems to me there may be an opportunity in Reading for a boater to do a similar thing to what Steve RB does in Henley. If there are several moorings needing patrolling a person living there on a boat is exactly what's needed.

 

OK so reading is a bit of a bin compared with Henley but someone might look into it. I was once approached about collecting at Cookham years ago when I lived aboard there, in return for a mooring and a percentage of recovered mooring fees.

 

It does take a certain type of person though :lol:

 

 

We didn't get as far as Reading this year because of my mum doing herself in (We only got to Staines -how appropriate ) so I have not seen the new bridge.

 

Is it between Tesco and Caversham lock somehwere ?

Edited by magnetman
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Seems to me there may be an opportunity in Reading for a boater to do a similar thing to what Steve RB does in Henley. If there are several moorings needing patrolling a person living there on a boat is exactly what's needed.

 

OK so reading is a bit of a bin compared with Henley but someone might look into it. I was once approached about collecting at Cookham years ago when I lived aboard there, in return for a mooring and a percentage of recovered mooring fees.

 

It does take a certain type of person though laugh.png

 

 

We didn't get as far as Reading this year because of my mum doing herself in (We only got to Staines -how appropriate ) so I have not seen the new bridge.

 

Is it between Tesco and Caversham lock somehwere ?

 

Not the best picture - but, Hey, I tried. I like the off-centre support with the slenderest of support wires.

 

 

Sorry to hear about your mum - had a relative doing the same to us this year - very unsettling.

 

Steve would be amused at being called a warden (others might liken him to an HMP warden though...). A great bloke though.

 

The bridge (not seen it absolutely completed, but the span was very impressive) is 100m (or thereabouts) above Reading bridge, just nudging Fry's Island

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Sorry to hear about your mum - had a relative doing the same to us this year - very unsettling.

 

Steve would be amused at being called a warden (others might liken him to an HMP warden though...). A great bloke though.

 

The bridge (not seen it absolutely completed, but the span was very impressive) is 100m (or thereabouts) above Reading bridge, just nudging Fry's Island

Ah I see now where the bridge is thanks for that :)

I'll tell Steve about the HMP warden next time I see him ;)

 

He does a good job keeping the other "undesirables" out of Henley which I imagine the good people of Henley appreciate :lol: keep the River looking beautiful and all that

Edited by magnetman
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If they paid me £9.25 a night it's still not enough to visit Reading.

I agree. When I last went through, the 'tow path' through the town centre had a barrier in the way (must be elf and safety). Ironically the one way system in the flow was hounded by a distinct lack of safe mooring to operate the traffic light system.

 

Yep, someone in Reading has a problem with boaters. Is it you MtB? ;)

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Went past this lunchtime and there was acres of space... And then I woke up...

 

There was no space as usual and so up I went to the stop by the new bridge and they want money off me there now... Makes for an expensive pint of milk and bread...

 

Agree entirely with OG

 

Must of passed me! I'm on the park moorings, and i have no intention of paying!

 

And now the new bridge is up and running, Aldi is but a short walk away!

 

Nipper

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