We are a community of ‘liveaboard’ boaters, our boats are our homes.
We live full time on our boats which do not have a ‘home mooring’ and we are therefore members of a relatively small group of Itinerant Travellers of no fixed abode. We have chosen our lifestyle in pursuit of peace, tranquility and as an escape from the insanity we see around us both in the ‘modern world’ and in society generally.
That does not mean that we view ourselves as separate from society, just that we wish to distance ourselves from what we perceive as its excesses and its self destructive downward spiral.
Many of us are ‘creatives’, artists and musicians, makers and builders, people who simply wish to pursue our craft and live our lives in an environment which allows us to simply be ourselves in our own way. It was in search of this simplicity that we came to the waterways and canals. We value the heritage and history of the waterways on which we live, living close to the natural world, caring for it, nurturing it and where possible protecting it.
It is however becoming increasingly difficult to do so.
Wondering why ?
Much of society and the establishments who see themselves as being ‘in charge’ are increasingly encroaching on our civil liberties, our legal rights and our human rights as they seek to impose their agendas upon us with more and more regulation and control.
Unfortunately, Canal River Trust fall squarely into this category !
Heritage structures and historic sites are being sold off as the system is stripped of assets in order to fund a Corporate Organisation masquerading as a ‘Charity’. Believe me when I say that I believe there is nothing ‘charitable’ about this organisation who were charged with the protection and maintenance of both the navigation and its historic buildings and sites.
They have in our opinion failed ! (Miserably)
In order to hide this failure they have, over the past few years, re-branded themselves and modified their original statements of purpose and their articles to present themselves as a ‘Wellbeing‘ organisation with a totally different agenda from the original requirements of a Navigation Authority namely the protection, preservation and maintenance of our waterways.
Maintenance issues have been ignored or ‘bodged’, closures and stoppages are increasing exponentially, catastrophic failures of the infrastructure are becoming commonplace and the only response we get from this Wellbeing Organisation is platitudes along with vast numbers of new signs showing their logo and slogans. These seem to be primarily an attempt to impress visitors with a bit of glamour and glitz, mostly aimed at walkers,cyclists, fishermen and others rather than the boating community. However, they also include mooring restriction signs which are often both unlawful and unenforceable, these are clearly aimed at the community of liveaboard boaters or as they prefer to call us ‘Continuous Cruisers‘.
Their very latest escapades are without doubt a direct and targeted attack on our community bearing in mind that the majority of liveaboard boaters fall into the low income category of society. Canal River Trust, in the midst of what our government have called a “Cost of Living Crisis“, recently announced their intention to not only increase our licence fees over the next five years but also to charge a premium surcharge for continuous cruisers based on a combination of CRT’s ‘movement sightings data’ and the results of one of their online ‘consultations’ the premise is that we use more of the canal system.
Whilst everyone agrees that dues must be paid in order to provide for our domestic requirements, the deliberate reduction in facilities for the disposal of domestic waste, the closure of water points and sanitation facilities and proposed licence fee increases at above inflation rates along with Canal River Trust‘s general attitude towards continuous cruiser liveaboard boaters clearly reveal their ‘barely hidden’ agenda to hound liveaboard boaters off the system by increasing our costs and removal of the facilities we require.
This site
This site exists as a resource and rallying point for those wishing to help protect our waterways, our lifestyle, our community, our heritage and our history.
It is intended to be a place for discussion, and the dissemination of news and information relating to the boating community in general and ‘continuous cruisers’ in particular.
Your input, opinions and comments are both valued and considered important.
You may find a sense of humour a useful addition.
Please post politely and without malice. Bullying, Trolling and abusive Flame Attacks will not be tolerated. Any such posts will be removed.
That said we would just like to point out that this site does have an adult rating and some of the language may reflect this.
