We have recently been in Braunston and if you had wanted to use one of the 2 elsans in this so called centre of the canal system just forget it .The one by Midlands Chandlers has been unavailable for over 3 weeks. Also one of the taps is not working and the whole area around the taps is like a bog and overgrown. The other elsan in Braunston was also blocked with the adjacent water tap not working.There was then a queue of 4 boats waiting to use the water tap at the stop house. So if you wanted water and had a cassette to empty you were a bit up poo creek without a paddle in Braunston.
Its strange how Canal and River Trust spends millions on resurfacing Towpaths for speeding cyclists and walkers ,yet us boaters who pay a lot of money to the trust every year are left with appalling ,filthy and failing facilities all over the system.
Happy (peed off) Days
We do echo your thoughts about the state of the services and some of that great cycling / speedway track would be great around water points to save us paddling round in the mud. We have just come through Braunston and took on water and got rid of rubbish at the Stop House, but the elsan was out of order. We stopped at the tap about 100 yards or so further on (going away from the locks) and the elsan there was working. I think one of the biggest problems with elsans is boaters misusing them. When we were at Dapdune Wharf in Guildford they said they had spent around £3000 over the past few months dealing with blockages due to inappropriate things being put down elsan disposal points. Nappies and sanitary items being the biggest issue. Jennie
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that some boaters misuse the services,but we have seen plenty that are just neglected , Berkhamsted for one was just a joke .I did say to Carolyn that I would take pictures of the worse ones and put them on the blog. But she seemed to think it would be a bad idea...but then thinking about it I could become an Elsan warrior and fight for better facilities ...
DeleteYou're right Gary, the facilities near the Midland Chandlers have been in a bog and out of use for a year now (except for one tap working). We remember when the orange 'stuff' was put up. It is utterly disgraceful that nothing has been done since. Also the tap at Rugby was out of use it was always a difficult muddy mess to negotiate anyway. What else can we do about it?
ReplyDeleteAnn
What about if we stooped paying our license fee....Well maybe not.,
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