Counted moored boats proved Times correct

I WAS boating on the Grand Union when I read the excellent piece from The Times which described, in my view very accurately, the many boats now seemingly permanently moored along our waterways, writes Roger Fox.

I decided to try and get a better idea of the true scale of the problem and do an accurate count. So using my manual ‘clicker' counter I logged all the boats meeting some or all of The Times criteria which I found moored to the towpath or pubic parks between the south portal of Braunston Tunnel and the bridge at the entry to Delamere Terrace in London.

Counted a staggering 1137 boats

I counted a staggering 1137 boats which represents around 3% of the declared number of CaRT registered boats.

A geographical breakdown may be of interest:

• Braunston Tunnel to Weedon Bridge 47
• Weedon Bridge to Stoke Breune 91
• Stoke Breune to Fenny Stratford Lock 136
• Fenny Stratford Lock to Marsworth Top Lock 159
• Marsworth Top Lock to M25 Viaduct 158
• M25 Viaduct to Bulls Bridge Junction 61
• Bulls Bridge Junction to Delamere Terrace Bridge 485

Alarmingly large

This is my very unofficial survey and it was my subjective judgement of which boats met the criteria. Others may come to a different figure. Whatever the margin of error, the total is alarmingly large and shows that on the section of the Grand Union which I counted there are about a dozen moored boats per mile, a figure which far exceeds the number of towpath users.

From my observations I would say that many boats have been in the same location for considerable periods. Certainly I recognised boats which were in the same location as when I passed northwards in May.

Turning 'blind eyes'

Tell-tale signs like the state of the knots on mooring ropes, the amount of grass growing around mooring pins, and especially the amount of junk piled on back decks preventing access to engine control and tillers make me believe that either the Cart staff are turning blind eyes or they are encountering major challenges in shifting some of the keener continuous cruisers. If it is the latter then they require greater resources to get the waterways moving as they should.

I intend to carry out further research in the future when my targets may include the number of petrol cans and generators adorning our colourful canal fleet.