CaRT at work

WE ARE getting reports of work being doing on removing vegetation from the sides of the waterways, and many in a better condition after winter work.

Yesterday we came up through Lapworth and today continued on to Kings Norton, and thence to Brindley Place in central Birmingham. Last year, Christine, with our son Andrew, came down the same stretch in October and found it rather oppressive, being overgrown in many places with trees obtruding right over the navigation, writes Mike Todd.

Extensive work

Okay, so the foliage on the tress is still quite sparse, but it was immediately clear that extensive work has been done over the winter to clear the offending trees and branches—see the picture for just one example. The way in which the stumps have been cut reveals a very careful tree surgeon at work.

Much has been made of the lack of this work in the last few years of British Waterways—an easy way to save budgets? So it is time that we praised CaRT for making sure that this is being addressed.

Lack of depth

Next, they need to tackle the lack of depth; the run from Kings Norton to Birmingham has many places where passing a boat in the opposite direction involves going aground. But I realise this is a much more expensive task.

Still, it is great to see CaRT responding to the comments from boaters' organisations.