Continuously cruising near Ellesmere...

Sparks Bridge (35) to Blakes Mere (Br 56), Llangollen Canal, 9 miles 0 locks

I just been relaxing the last hour or so, and came across something that made me smile.. I am always of the opinion to let others live the way they wish, it’s just the way Hector has put it that got to me..

“Ben, My wife and I lived aboard for 15 months until our boat needed to be restored.
We are not the greatest ones for pointless rules, so let's be realistic here. We stayed as long as we wanted where we wanted and were only reminded of the rules politely when we would move on, eventually.
This caused no hardship to anyone, especially the good burgers of any town or village where we frequented the shops and hostelries.”

Oh this is from a nice canal forum community called Just Canals by the way.  By pointless rules, Hector means that he should not overstay a mooring after 14 days. Anyway this family sounds totally relaxed, not sticking to the rules obviously, but adhering to being asked to stick to them if you see what I mean.. they want no hassle, no hassle to have to pointlessly move, and no hassle if asked to move, they just move..

Chas pointed out another article to me today over at Narrowboatworld..

“THE scourge of boaters everywhere·non continuous cruisers·that take up the best moorings for months on end usually surrounded by unsightly junk and running generators to the annoyance of any that moor nearby, have had their death knell sounded by a Court judgement, setting a precedent that could see them eventually cleared from the waterways.”

These are also known as ‘continuous moorers’.. but there is a difference in our Hector and ‘the scourge of boaters everywhere’..

The Narrowboatworld article goes on…

“The boater was granted a 12 months licence on 1st June 2005 claiming he did not require a mooring permit as he would use his boat continuously for cruising in accordance with the British Waterways Act 1995. However, the boater did not use his boat in accordance with continuous cruising requirements, and after writing to him on numerous occasions, British Waterways issued court proceedings to have him and the boat removed from its waterways.”

Ho hum, so Hector moved his boat after being told that he had overstayed his continuous cruising mooring time, our naughty boater refused to do so even after 2 years worth of asking!!.. fair enough. 

The boater taken to court actually took his boat out of the water himself, but had to pay costs to the court, but I don’t think those costs would have been anything like what he would have had to pay for a permanent mooring, so in a way he won.. paying less than he would have?

I love being a continuous cruiser, being able to be free to choose.  I try my very best to stick rigidly to the rules, and for sure, there are 3 or 4 years worth of blogs to prove that I mainly do.. there are also a couple of blogs within that time that prove that I don’t too I must admit!!!

Anyway, just some thoughts on the page this evening for a change from the ‘idyllic life’ of a continuous cruiser.. but hey it has been idyllic today..

Yet another disused rail bridge to go under.. this part of the world has disused railways everywhere you look, an unbelievable number of lines.  I wondered if this went back to the days when the coal mines were active.. it is so very remote in these parts, maybe the railways were put in place to pick up the odd few people in hamlets to take them to the major towns.. well there must have been some reason..

A good days cruising today, I enjoyed.. well mostly enjoyed, there are far too many narrowboats from hire bases continually cruising this canal for sure!!