Moved down to Cosgrove. 

Moored up for about ten minutes and the grass cutters came past. Huge crack as a stone flew off the mower and hit the boat. It actually dented the metal.

The guy on the mower apologised, but the idiot with the strimmer suggested we should take precautions when they are working, twat. Made it clear to him that he was wrong, he is obligated to be responsible when public are around.

What a fuckin idiot.

*update* made formal complaint

28/08/2021

Hi

On Friday august the 27th at around 1pm I arrived in Cosgrove (Milton Keynes) with my boat Jenlyn.

Within half an hour of mooring, your grass cutters arrived. Whilst the mower was working near my boat, it threw up several stones which hit the side. One was rather large, missed the window by about 6 inches but left a considerable scar which I have pictured. The boat side is fabricated of 5mm steel, yet the projectile from the mower managed to make a sizeable dent, which suggests a considerable amount of force. I accept that this was accidental but am concerned by the amount of damage that could have been caused, especially to a person or child. The hit was at adult waist height, and most certainly would have resulted in a need for hospital attention.

The operator of the mower was initially oblivious to the incident, until his partner stopped him and pointed out the issue. He was obviously apologetic, and I accepted that.

This is not a one-off occurrence, it happens often with many mentions of such incidents on social media, and frankly, it is not acceptable.

As the contractor’s employer, you have a duty to ensure the contractor is making the area safe for other users when they are working. This is not happening, either from ignorance, or plain incompetence.

On this occasion, I have no intention of claiming off your insurers, but I will be reporting and liaising with the health and safety executive on how this regular occurrence can be stopped.

In the meantime, I would like an assurance from you, in writing, which will detail how you intend to address the issue and attempt to stop such accidents from happening in the future.

Please treat this communication as a level 1 complaint.

Regards

Steve J

 

 Turned around this morning, filled with water and cruised to Grafton Regis. Found a spectacular mooring for views.

 So this morning it was decided to move on again. Cruised to the bottom of Stoke Bruerne and was lucky enough to get in on the 48's.

The afternoon was a wander around stoke bruerne, and sod all has changed much. It's just as dreary, though CRT has managed to litter the place with stupid tacky signage. The museum has become some sort of chinese gift outlet. Hardly any boats about. 

Stoke Bruerne used to be a sort of biblical boat stop, but crt's "open prison" policies have fucked it up. Now it's become even more evident it's just a dump with hanging baskets, tacky signage and a massive decline in visitor numbers.

Tuesday 10th August moved on from Campbell Park. Headed to Giffard and filled up with water, stopped overnight. 

Wednesday, we moved on a few miles again heading towards Cosgrove. 

Thursday on to Cosgrove where we will stop for a couple of days. 

Shopping on Monday, filled with water and moved to Yardley Gobion. Probably stop here for a few days, nobody about, nice and quiet. 

 Mooch around willen today. Weather could not make its mind up.

Quite busy around Campbell Park, widgeon theatre boat, a fair at willen and a Thai festival in the park.

Moved to Fenny Stratford on Monday 2nd, then moved on again today. Mooring is getting very hard to find. the state of the vegetation on the towpath side is forcing boats to moor in areas that suffer less from overgrowth. This then gives the impression of "little communities", which is not a true picture, it's just Canal and River Trust developing a problem in order to solve it. (Who are these people).

This is terrible management by Canal and River Trust. The hirers are complaining, along with walkers and cyclists. The South East region seems to have a terrible management structure that is either clueless, or just downright bullying and nasty.