It seems that despite it being the peak of the holiday season, since the signs went up threatening £25 per day overstay penalties, that occupancy of moorings at Stoke Bruerne has been very low, and on occasions there have been very few boats now visiting at all.
These picture of the moorings that were once supposed to have been in so much demand are all taken in the morning between about 8:00 am and 9:15 am, as we were setting off down the locks. At most two boats had set off from the pound between the top lock and the tunnel, and it seems highly unlikely any more than this had left the "long pound" below the top two locks.
The previous night The Boat pub and restaurant had been remarkably quiet for August.
I can't prove the signs are now actually reducing the numbers of boaters wanting to make an overnight stay at Stoke Bruerne, but for some reason the moorings are unbelievbly quiet and under-used.
Perhaps those behind this in CRT see the situation we found as a "success", as certainly when we had turned up at nightfall the previous evening, there was massses and masses of space available. However the usual vibrancy of the place was missing, and it certainly didn't feel like Stoke Bruerne in the Summer school holidays.
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| Only one other boat between us an the tunnel. |
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| Otherwise completely empty. |
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| Boating down the previously popular "long pound" - completable empty this morning. |
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| Lock-wheeler's view of the "long pound" |
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| Meanwhile, just along from the massive new "Welcome to Stoke Bruerne" boards. |
It's sad to see a location, usually full of life and vibrancy, with boaters chatting and discussion boating and other subjects. To me, the photos are similar to a Victorian cemetery - Absolutely Dead, Uninteresting and not even worth visiting. I ask myself, do we want our waterways to generally end up like this? I further ask myself, how do the executives of C&RT expect to raise revenues, if the interest goes "Flat"? It won't be worth visiting places "Hot Spots" like Stoke Bruerne for the day trippers - there will be no atmosphere and it will not be worth making an effort to see no colourful boats, movement or "Bustle" of a busy center! The pubs, cafe and museum will suffer too! What a shame! All for a few, who are bent on having their way, (Power syndrome?) and no regard for what is expected, or normal. In fact, destroying the very backbone of the waterway vibrancy. I do hope that Mr. Richard Parry, giving him time to assess the overall situation, will deal with these anomalies in due course and sort this nonsense out
ReplyDeleteI live in the village and can confirm that the whole place has suffered as a result of these completely unnecessary restrictions. Businesses are struggling and the place feels empty, there has never really been a problem in Stoke Bruerne with mooring apart from one a couple of special occasions during the year (gala weekend and village at war). All other times moorings were always available somewhere in the village. Now, as a result of crt there are only 1 o 2 boats in the whole place most of the time. CRT are killing Stoke Bruerne, it is a canalside village and needs boaters, something needs to be done.
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