WELL, after six months of most of the summer sitting in a marina for the first time in some years (primarily to allow us to finish our major refit), we find ourselves once more back on the cut, writes John Howard.
We're on the central GU ambling between Stoke Bruerne and Leighton Buzzard—a journey of some 20 plus miles. The local enforcement team have confirmed that this is satisfactory for a continuous cruiser in their latest interpretation of the law.
Inexplicit and ambiguous legislation
Each year now I find it handy to call the local enforcement team to check on the latest 'interpretation', and so far it has always aligned itself with our cruising pattern, which is handy (for us at least) as we don't have the inclination or energy (or finances) to take on the might of CaRT in the courts as some fellow boaters have found themselves forced into, in order to try and derive some clarity from the now 20 year old inexplicit and ambiguous piece of legislation I think anyone has ever come across.
You'd think that after 20 years of wrestling with this legislation BW, and latterly CaRT would have thrown some resource and parliamentary influence into clarifying this costly and inefficient waste of their resources.
Withdrew their support
CaRT had a good go at it last year when it produced a series of draft maps highlighting its view of where each 'place' began and ended. I understand from someone in the CaRT enforcement team that after initially giving the thumbs-up in support of this major undertaking, though, several boating organisations withdrew their support (after a tremendous amount of work had been done) and the project was subsequently scrapped.
I was fortunate enough to have sight of some of these maps and from my point of view they were a gigantic leap forward in the clarification of the whole bone fide navigation, and place to place confusion introduced by the 1995 Waterways act. Obviously there would be those who's cruising pattern (or lack of it) might have been inconvenienced by this new document—and there may well have been need for a little subsequent 'tweaking' to some of the maps—but as a first base principle in making it clear what was acceptable as a cruising pattern, I think CaRT have made a massive error in apparently being manipulated into dropping this excellent piece of progress.
Organisations no longer have support
I hope Richard Parry will think again on this one and finally realise that perhaps some of these boating organisations no longer have the support of a large cross section of boaters these days. Perhaps CaRT should divert some of it's impassive resources and finances into clarifying the root cause of many of the perceived thorns in its side (i.e. the confusing legislation) in order to reduce the number of conflicts and subsequent court cases, releasing money and resources once more to the maintenance of its rather neglected waterways.
We have been travelling now for a little over a month and already are re experiencing the 'community spirit' of the liveaboards on the cut, and meeting up with one or two familiar faces along the way (boaters, dog walkers friendly locals and even our friendly enforcement team on their bikes).
Come home again
Apart from going slightly 'stir crazy' in the marina, the inevitable cliques found in some marinas, the power crazy caretaker and the fact that every day you see the same side of a boat from your windows, we found that there appears to be very little camaraderie from the confines of a marina, whereas back out on the cut we have a constantly changing scenery, lots of room for the dogs to run free and the seemingly endless number of boating stories to be exchanged as one meets friends both old and new. After only a week, I told my wife that 'I felt like I'd come home again'. Our backyard may be 2000 miles long but it still feels like home.
Whilst on the subject of marinas, there doesn't seem to be any kind of legislation or governing body that is protecting the moorers. Perhaps someone can put me right on this one? Apart from one marina at the top of the Nene (and maybe the new one at White Mills too?), we have yet to find much of even the basic safety devices such as lifebuoy rings, fire extinguishers and escape ladders at the end of pontoons.
Dummy CCTV cameras give a false sense of security in some marinas—although I understand that if tested in court, the marina owner's insurers may fall foul of this particular cost saving. Pontoons also seem to be another 'buy it and forget it' purchase for many of the older marinas. Slippery wooden surfaces, rotting and loose planks and even subsiding pontoons are in evidence in some marinas, where getting to and from your boat on a wet and windy winters day can be something of a challenge.
More stress-free aspects
So back on the cut, and with our own escape ladder hanging over the bow (just in case we fall in and there happens to be an unexpected deep section which stops us climbing out), we're slowly easing ourselves once more back into the more stress-free aspects of boating, and even looking forward to the colder days of winter when the daily number of passing boats dwindles to single figures, and the number of speeding boats similarly falls.
Of course as the weather deteriorates, the predisposition to rushing to your next mooring rather than taking in the scenery en route tends to increase, so there is always someone in a rush at some point it seems (even when you discount the necessity for more power when battling the high winds at this time of year).
Spread their crap
One of the more saddening and frustrating elements of traversing the waterways once more, is the occasional and I suppose inevitable selfish b*****ds who spread their crap across the towpath and even into the hedges. I even saw one this week at Gifford Park, with the remnants of a meal (egg shells, food stuffs and empty cartons) discarded alongside the boat.
This boater had even climbed the tree overhanging the footpath and suspended a car tyre swing across the towpath/footpath! Of course the boat wasn't licensed (according to CaRT's Online Boat Checker). In the past when chatting to passers-by, one's admission that you live aboard your boat would be met with oohs and ahhs, perhaps some romantic notions and maybe a little envy. These days I think that some towpath visitors can't help but recall some of the crap (pun intended) that they have had to tiptoe through when passing some of the more selfish elements of the boating community—and so I for one am less inclined to declare myself as a continuous cruiser and liveaboard these days.
No consideration
And then there is the lock mooring and Services moorers, who tie up for long periods and sometimes for days on end without any consideration for their fellow boaters. At Gifford Park this week, over three days and two nights we have had boats blatantly moored on the services mooring. One was a hirer, who was heading off to the pub to eat—so after a polite conversation and my 62' boat bearing down on him he moved further along. This one we could put down to inexperience, but the other two private boat overnighters obviously knew better, but still decided they couldn't be bothered to move a hundred yards further along where there were legitimate moorings.
Leaping swiftly back to the 'up side' once more, it's great to see some old faces who, like us, are endeavouring to keep their noses and licenses clean by moving every 14 days and travelling sufficient distance to keep within the latest CaRT interpretation. It's also great to be walking with the dogs along some new towpaths (well they're new to our English Springer pup) and around some superb parkland where they can chase a ball, wrestle with a stick and launch themselves into the canal at every available opportunity.
Finally it's great to see our friendly coal boat (Jules Fuels), where you get a text advising of its location over the coming days and the hassle free service of diesel, coal and gas delivered directly to your boat, without the need to get dirty or wrestle dirty coal bags along the towpath and up onto the roof of the boat. Lovely people.
So, keep your stoves well stoked, your cupboards well stocked, your kettles always on the boil and a ready smile and a helping hand to your fellow boater. This should go quite some way to us all having a happy and relaxing winter out here on the cut!