Victor: It says it all

THE Canal & River Trust is up in arms as people are using the towpath that half a dozen workers are upgrading.

It's Project Manager, Luke Edwards, umbrages the users of the towpath telling 'the safety of members of the public, staff and contractors is our primary concern, and it will be difficult to maintain the correct social distancing measures if people ignore the temporary closure'.

Though all public parks and paths were officially closed during the recent lockdown, he goes on to tell 'canal towpaths have remained open throughout the coronavirus lockdown and provide a great place for daily exercise', even though admitting 'however some waterside paths are narrow so it’s vitally important for people to abide by current social distancing guidance and share the space sensibly'.

So there you have it.  The hoards of towpath visitors were encouraged—surely 'a great place for exercise'—is conformation that it did not matter about the 5,500 continuous cruisers moored by these self same towpaths but sure as hell does about half a dozen workers.

Someone's favourite figure

We all know about the magic figure of visitors to the towpaths, but CaRT has another magic figure of 5,500.

♦ It tells us it has 5,500 continuos cruisers.

♦ It maintains it had 5,500 'Friends'.

♦ It released 5,500 fish into the Trent at Weston.

♦ And the removal of a boat at Leighton Buzzard cost the boater £5,500.

Too much of a coincidence? Eh?

This WAS a coincidence

A coincidence indeed that after our condemnation of the outspoken and influential 'Bargees' joining up with CaRT it made a rather half-hearted attempt at telling CaRT it should close the towpaths in view of its many members suffering all those extra visitors passing and climbing onto their boats.

This just before the parks and paths that had been closed were to be opened again to the public!

Who is kidding who?  That impressed no one and only proved that long gone are the days of flotillas and the like to get continuos cruisers their dues. 

And needless to relate, the demand to close the towpaths was of course ignored.

Pie in the sky

Both Ralph Freeman and myself are certainly in agreement about that ludicrous claim by River Canal Rescue that the average canal boat deposits two litres of diesel/oil in the waterways per year.

I pointed out that we have the grease-less Volvo stern tube assembly that has lasted around 16 years with no grease having to be pumped into it and the engine does not leak, so our oil deposit was nil, and we certainly don't allow diesel in the bilge.

Having time during lockdown, and as someone knowing about such things Ralph went into the calculations, and he proved too that two litres of oil/diesel into the water was a ridiculous claim.

Methinks that all it was about was RCR flogging its new bilge pump filter.

Make your mind up time

We now have two notices from CaRT for the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation issued at the same time that completely contradict.

One notice tells that 'All our employee-operated locks, bridges and tunnels will be closed'.

But the other tells us 'Assisted passage will now be available on Monday, Wednesday & Friday between 10am and 12pm'.

So all such operated structures will be closed and at the same time available.  Good Eh?  'Cartisms' are obviously still alive and well.

Takes some believing

Another 'Cartism' this time about that sunken boat between locks 50 and 51 on the Grand Union, that tells us there is low water due to a sunken boat—that for the life of me I cannot understand.

And also what I cannot understand is that this 'sunken boat' was resolved in March!

They get worse!

It shrinks mate

I have usually had regard for the utterings of one Martin Howes, but his remark that the system 'should not be too different' as it has not been used, except he maintains for a bit of silting,

But doesn't he realise that when wet wood is left in the sun for weeks on end—such as open bottom gates—they dry out?  Perhaps he has never realised why a door that normally opens easily at home is suddenly stiff—it's simply because the opposite has occurred—it became damp and swollen.  Wood does that!

And when it dries out, as will those bottom gates it shrinks—then problems...

Our own display

I have just had handed to me the Press Release telling that Canal & River Trust is wanting people to send in photos and descriptions of their happy waterway memories, I gather to further its 'wellbeing' campaign.

But alas there is another side to that particular coin, particularly concerning boaters, that are now becoming more and more frequent of unhappy waterway memories, so I feel we ought to make an attempt to equal out CaRT's rather one-sided appeal and include a few of our own.

So let's have yours—here's the first from me of a very unhappy boater who attempted to turn against a Trent weir and so lost his boat having to be airlifted off!  Not a happy memory!

Victor Swift