Inducted

Today I was officially inducted. No, not into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as you might have expected, but as a volunteer CRT Towpath Ranger. Actually I won't be taking up my duties for a month because we'll be away on Herbie. Some might think that the London region's emphasis on cycling is not what CRT should be about, but at this morning's meeting there was unanimous agreement that cyclists going too fast on the towpath was a major issue, one which I'm sure all boaters would agree.

So apart from erecting signs to ask cyclists to give priority to people on foot and asking them to slow down, I will be distributing these little credit card sized fold outs.

Apart from having handy little canal maps of the London area, they exhort cyclists to "share the space and drop your pace." and point out that pedestrians have priority.

There will be different types of signs to erect, some more strongly worded than others, and I will be choosing hot spots to position the more prescriptive ones. The booklets also mention dog fouling, a matter dear to boater's hearts and one I intend to raise the profile of. I may well conduct a dog poo count of a couple of popular mooring spots to make my point as I'm not convinced that the Trust appreciates what a problem it is for towpath moorers.

If you are a boater, or a towpath user on my patch between Rickmansworth and Bulls Bridge and have a complaint to make about towpath use, towpath condition, or perhaps a good idea to share, then drop me a comment and if I can get anything done about it, then I will. By the way, all this is not taking any funding away from navigation matters, the towpath stuff is being funded by Boris Johnson. Not personally I suppose, but TfL.

Meanwhile, we're off cruising from Thursday. Here comes the rain.

 

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