Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
They helped me in the same way. I was single handed & rafted up to them through the Muirtown flight. Made it great fun to just tie up & enjoy the ride for a change after all the way from Fort William
Canals closing in Scotland
- Thread starter Sneaky Pete
- Start date
They helped me in the same way. I was single handed & rafted up to them through the Muirtown flight. Made it great fun to just tie up & enjoy the ride for a change after all the way from Fort William
ctva
Well-Known Member
Using the word 'manage' and Scottish Canals in the same sentence... I haven't laughed so much in ages!!!
It is rather depressing especially when you see the waterways crumbling.
jamie N
Well-Known Member
Yup, very similar. Did you have the same anxiety that I had as the 'Big' boat seemed to drift towards the 'other' side, and using my boat as a potential fender!! :eek-new:
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
No it was well handled. I had a chat to a small group of the guests chilling on deck ( 25-40 age range). It was the end of their trip & some were on repeat holidays as they enjoyed it so much. The owner told me that he had recently invested in another barge. This was doing the same thing, but running the opposite way each week.
jamie N
Well-Known Member
Yup, mine also was well handled, it was just the thought of my boat as matchwood that 'puckered my seat'. The clients were a wonderful group of elderly American tourists, who really disappointed me when I found out that they were my age!!
Using their boat is SO much easier than running down on one's own.
Using their boat is SO much easier than running down on one's own.
NorthRising
Well-Known Member
I have heard of appalling arbitrary price hikes imposed on the live aboard clients berthed at the Seaport basin (North-east end of Caledonian Canal). And complete failure of basic toilet facilities (part of lease agreement) replaced for months on end by portaloos (and no showers) that were full by (pardon the pun) close of business on a Saturday evening. The board of Scottish Canals need replaced.
Quandary
Well-Known Member
The loo problem at Seaport is long standing and affects the staff who work in the office there as well as residents and visitors. The permanent loos discharge to a septic tank which has been defective for several years, the option would be available to discharge (pump?) to the public system but there was a ransom strip preventing access. This year I was told that this had at last being resolved and work was under way to sort everything out in September, very disappointing if it has not been completed, are you sure your info. is up to date.
I would be more concerned about the policy of not maintaining the infrastructure with eventual cessation of transit, perhaps by a major failure threatening serious injury, but I would expect the close down sequence to be Forth and Clyde, then Crinan, I would hope the Cally will survive.
I would be more concerned about the policy of not maintaining the infrastructure with eventual cessation of transit, perhaps by a major failure threatening serious injury, but I would expect the close down sequence to be Forth and Clyde, then Crinan, I would hope the Cally will survive.
ProDave
Well-Known Member
The proper loos at Seaport were working when we went through just a couple of weeks ago.
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
I'm very sad to read all this and would ask all registered voters to lobby their MSPs for assurance closures will not happen. Are any figures available on useage?
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
MSPs are not interested. A canal is just an expensive nice to have. Money needs to be spent on other things. I would support a community initiative, but it would be a huge undertaking.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Quandary
Well-Known Member
Maybe you could give them back to the English.
Whaddya mean back? Duke of Argyll sponsored the Crinan, Telford and a horde of underpaid Irish and Highland navvies built the Cally. The English did get enslaved Highlanders to build some of their military roads to help with all the rape and pillaging in revenge for the 45 but the number of bloody camper vans they send up every summer has worn them out long since.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Ever heard of a bloke called Barnett.
& I suggests that you should not be so quick to object to the income you get from those "bloody camper vans" either.
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ctva
Well-Known Member
That'll be the camper vans that use the canals facilities for free...
dgadee
Well-Known Member
We'll, perhaps the Scots can keep their new oil finds: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15907829.bp-oil-find-is-major-boost-to-north-sea-production/ and you can have your Barnett Formula back.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Looks like a fairly typical bunch of the rent-a-great-and-good who foul up everything they touch but have good political contacts.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Quite the opposite, really. Every time England gets one of these cash-eating mega-projects (in real terms Crossrail is costing the same as HS1 and the Jubilee Line extension and the entire WCML upgrade put together) we Scots get a commensurate 10% wad, thanks to the Barnett Formula.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Having first ponced off the cash we send via the Barnet formulae.
You seem to forget that the camper vans have to get to the Cally canal & the occupants spend money as they travel the area. Just because they go to look at a certain part of the scenery does not mean that they do not go shopping in another part.
I think that you will find that one of the arguments provided by your waterways whallas is that by attracting others, apart from those transiting the canals, greater income is being created elsewhere.
I do agree that it is a shame that the canals might be allowed to go into disrepair & i do understand the frustration expressed on this forum. However, I suspect that the campervaners, the walkers & all the others that associate with the surroundings all have an interest.One might suggest that they may have a greater influence if the net overall financial return to the community produced by them is greater.
Pity though because it b..ggers up my plans for a third, round UK via the canal, trip.
ProDave
Well-Known Member
Maybe you could give them back to the English.
What we need to do is give the management contract back to the C&RT who actually see maintaining navigation of the waterways as a primary function.
Or instruct Scottish Canals that navigation needs to be a priority or they will be losing the contract very soon.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
The Big Question is whether there is enough money available for any management system to be able to keep things going as we might wish. Or to put it another way, from where in the Scottish Canals budget should money come from to replace the collapsing gates on the Crinan, repair the failed bridge on the Forth and Clyde and do whatever is needed on the Caledonian?
SC also has responsibility for the Monkland Canal, which has been closed to navigation for years and is mostly now the M8.