CRT Election Day

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mmeline Pankhurst would be turning in her grave if she knew how little I had exercised my right to vote in this life. When I started living on a narrowboat I was young and care-free, and it was easy to assume that all of the political parties were as bad as each other. I was an art college graduate with messy hair and hippy clothes and if I did vote, I mused whimsically, perhaps I’d vote for the Green party. It also seemed to me, that living on a boat without a permanent address made it very difficult to register to vote. It was only as I matured, like a fine wine (or a smelly cheese) that I made time to look into this properly. By filling out a simple form called A Declaration of Local Connection any person of no fixed abode can actually be registered on the electoral role.

So, with the imminent inauguration of the Canal and Rivers Trust it was quite new to me to be invited to express a preference in an election that will have a significant impact on my way of life. I have no idea why when boaters bring in about 20 per cent of British Waterway’s annual income*, that they are only allocated four elected council positions. There were 33 candidates standing for election to represent private boaters and I was struck by the passion for and dedication to the waterways that each of their statements displayed. Many of the candidates already do notable voluntary work, being members of associations, restoration projects, committees, societies and charities. At first I was drawn to the candidates that I feel I ‘know’ through my work life, or through their on line presence. But after taking the time to read all of the statements carefully, I found it more and more difficult to make a decision.

I was impressed by the extensive boating experience held by all of the candidates, their previous achievements and their proposals for the future. I liked it when two candidates specified that the waterways are for boats. I felt an affinity with Ian Robert Harrison when he wrote “I lived aboard with my young family for three years”, because I too have a young family aboard.  I thought that it was interesting when Frank Kelly pointed out that the DEFRA consultation did not reflect that the waterways “now support a large population of people dependent on boats as homes”.

For me personally, selecting someone with an understanding of the needs of the live aboard boater was a must, but that person must also be willing to fairly represent boaters of all types with differing ideas of what is important. “Categorising boaters into particular groupings is unhelpful and divisive,” said Alan Fincher’s statement.

The election closes today at noon.  I cast my vote on line and came away from this experience with the utmost respect for all of these people dedicated to spending so much of their time in improving the experience of the waterways for all boaters.

What would be important to you in such an election? If you are not already a boat ownerhotel boats are a wonderful way to explore the English canals and rivers.

Peggy Melmoth

*Source: Liveaboard Forum

Introducing ‘Addictive, Perceptive, Lyrical and Tranquil’ Contributor, Peggy Melmoth

Readers of other canal blogs have probably heard Peggy’s name before. She has been on the blogging scene for a little while and her superb site The Real Life of A Narrowboat Wife is high up our blogging rounds with its fun and insightful look at day-to-day family life on board a narrowboat.

As well as being a full-time mum, Peggy is a writer specialising in narrow boating, parenting and hypnotherapy. Her recent work for British Waterways, Towpath Talk, BoatShed and, of course, her blog caught our eye and we were keen to ask her if she would like to add hotel boats to her repertoire!

Readers of her blog have described her as “constant, addictive, intrinsic, perceptive, lyrical, tranquil and super!” in this post on her web site – and who are we to argue with that assessment! Peggy has already told me she has some great ideas for blog posts about hotel boats and the waterways – we can’t wait to hear what she has to say.

I hope this serves as a good introduction to Peggy’s work, and please join me in welcoming her to our hotel boat blog.

New waters and special offers!

For the last 3 weeks we have been traversing waters previously uncharted by Snipe and Taurus. Having decided to ditch the main canal system for the “silly season” during the school holidays, we have been on an adventure of our own, exploring the waterways east of Northampton including the Nene (pronounced Nenn or Neen depending which end you’re at), the Middle level, the Little Ouse, the Great Ouse, the Wissey, the Lark, the Old West river and the River Cam, and we’re having a marvellous time!

I thought you might all enjoy a photo or two, to see what you have been missing, and if anybody facies a last minute holiday, we are offing a £75 discount per person on the last few spaces we have available for these two 7-night cruises!

• Cruise 20: Ely to March, 27th August – 3rd Septemebr – 4 single cabins available
• Cruise 21: March to Northampton, 3rd Septemebr – 10th Septemebr – 1 twin cabin and 1 single cabin available

Single Cabin special offer price £575 per person normally £650pp
Twin en-suite cabin special offer price £625 per person normally £700pp
     

Sunset at the Ship Inn, Brandon Creek and a wind farm near March.

Sad but true

So, it’s finally decided, we won’t be going to Ireland next year. The paperwork mountain – things we hadn’t even considered (but the tax man had) are proving just too difficult for us to work out in any reasonable length of time, so we have put all our plans to see the Emerald Isle on hold for 2012.

Our next question is, where would you like to go? Have you a favourite canal, is there somewhere you would like to explore and haven’t had the chance yet? If you can let us know within the next 7 days, then we might be able to work them into our schedule, but we want to release our routes as soon as we can, so don’t spend too long thinking about it, or you may miss the boat!

Over the Irish Sea.

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Snipe and Taurus have a little bit of a reputation for adventurous cruising under previous owners, so for 2012, we thought we might explore some uncharted waters (for hotel boats at least) of our own, and take the pair over to Ireland for part of the summer – we’ve checked the dimensions and we will fit on most of the waterways over there.

We think it would be quite exciting, and after some initial talks with Waterways Ireland, the navigation authority over there, they are very keen to have us. Our big question is, would you, the guests, like to explore Ireland on board Snipe & Taurus?  We will of course do our joining instructions well in advance, and we have already looked into how to get you there by air or sea (including our own taxi transfers from Dublin), to make it as easy for you as possible.

We wouldn’t spend the whole summer over there, so there would still be the opportunity to cruise the canals and rivers of England and Wales as we always do, but before we put out a cruising schedule we would love to know what you think.

Cruising through the second city

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Continuing our look at some of this year’s cruises, an often overlooked cruise destination is Birmingham and its many surrounding waterways. The city’s growth during the industrial revolution was accelerated by the hundreds of miles of canal weaving its way around, through and under the West Midlands. The redevelopment of many of the waterside areas in the last 20 years has lead to a canal renaissance in England’s second city, and those areas that still echo the industry of times past leave the boater with a living museum of industrial archaeology. However, our third cruise of the year, from Warwick to Stafford (7 nights) on the 7th May, not only cruises through Birmingham and the Black Country, but also begins and ends in two historic county towns.

Warwick, famed for its superb medieval castle, is in the Avon valley on the edge of Shakespeare country.  In canal terms its proximity to the river means an ascent is necessary to take the canal up the valley side to reach the Birmingham ‘level’. It is a steep climb too – Hatton locks takes the canal up the hillside via 21 locks in less than 2 miles, rising 150ft from our starting point in Warwick. This is our first job on our first morning… a baptism of fire for any new guests! The locks are 15 feet wide, so we can get the boats in together and progress is rapid. With a clear run we can expect to tackle the flight in just under two hours.

Depending on how energetic we are feeling, we often tackle the Lapworth lock flight on the same day. There are another 21 locks at Lapworth, but these are 7 foot wide narrow locks, so each must be filled and twice to get our pair of boats to the top. Fortunately, once there, we can settle in for the night at some good moorings in Hockley Heath, right outside the local pub!

A first day of activity is rewarded with a rest on day two, as the canal from Hockley Heath through the Birmingham suburbs to the city centre follows the contours of the land – so no locks. There is still plenty of interest along the way, and the northern Stratford Canal is one of the prettiest waterways in the land. Overhanging trees combined with the twists and turns that the canal takes makes it exceedingly pretty. A couple of lift bridges have to be negotiated, two manual and one big electric one, where we delight in holding up the drivers as we sedately float past, getting just a glimpse of their hectic day.

Birmingham is a wonderful city to approach by water. Passing Cadbury’s Bournville factory (our former workplace), famous for its association with canal industry; the University of Birmingham, also on the canal bank; then as the frequency of high rise buildings increases we approach Gas Street Basin and Deep Cuttings Junction at Brindley Place, where the heart of Birmingham’s canal system has been sympathetically restored. Although now filled with restaurants, bars and museums, the area still retains a charm of times past.

After an overnight stop to explore, we make our way out of one city and on towards another – Wolverhampton. Our next stop is a visit to the Black Country Living Museum, where we can moor the boats within the museum walls and become living exhibits! It is a superb museum, giving a fantastic taste of what the Midlands were like in the middle of the industrial revolution. You can visit the local Victorian pharmacy, buy fish and chips cooked the old fashioned way and have a pint in a true ‘spit and sawdust’ public house.

Our exit from Wolverhampton means leaving the Birmingham plateau behind, and thus more locks. Another 21 take us down the hillside, passing under the West Coast railway line and alongside the city racecourse. At the bottom, we turn on to our final canal of the journey, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. We make for the village of Gailey, where the round castellated lock cottage is now a quirky book store. The final morning sees us drop down the last few locks around the village of Penkridge on our approach to Teddesley on the outskirts of Stafford. For those interested in exploring the county town, we shall book a taxi for the short trip into the centre. Alternatively, guests may wish to take a stroll in the countryside, or catch up on their postcard writing after such an active week!

Neil.