Bad start to the day. Woke up to the sound of metal hitting metal. Went out to look, and saw the boat behind had left, and being replaced by Lady M which was much longer, and struggling to fit in the gap. Approached him and pointed out he had hit my stern gear quite hard twice, to which he replied I should have moved forward. I pointed out it may have been sensible and polite to knock on the boat and ask me if I could drop forward a little, prior to his attempts in damaging my stern gear.

This seemed to infuriate him further and led to a stream of abuse about piss takers and ccers? I’ve no idea why he came out with that reply, but can only assume he has issues with other boat users.

 Around Apsley (Hemel Hempstead).

 Hemel Hempstead.

Canal and river trust anti boat policy being rolled out across the network. *make it impossible for boaters to moor*

 Cruised to Hemel Hempstead today, Jesus Christ, what a diabolical mess the south east canal system is. Lock gates rotten and vegetation completely hiding some of the gates. One lock had only one paddle working out of four. 3 lots of paddle gear had been completely removed. 

The CRT management for the area are either completely ignorant, or are simply just vandals in suits. They need locking up.

Getting onto a lock landing can be a bit ambitious, with 2-3ft of stinging nettles hiding the bank itself, and then shallow as f#&@ because it’s not being maintained at all. 

CRT regard spending money as evidence that they are doing something. They don’t factor in value for money. They would say ‘We spent £10 million on dredging last year’ and expect that to give them Brownie points without mentioning that only a mile was dredged.

 

 Not keen on Berkhamsted the town, but the canals nice, although very untidy. Can tell we are on the South East waterways, no maintenance or interest whatsoever from the director for this waterway.