We dobbed him in

There was a yoghurt pot boat moored on the 24 hour moorings at Brownsover Park in Rugby when we arrived on Friday morning. No one aboard but a bilge pump appeared to be running.

It was still there Saturday when we left and headed for Hawkesbury Junction.

Still there when we came past on Sunday to moor next to the golf course** near Clifton upon Dunsmoor.

And still there when we came back to moor up on Monday to send Pauline and Barry on their way back to the metropolis.

And still there when we left the moorings through the bridge and headed back to Braunston mid morning on Tuesday.

That is taking the Michael. If he'd been moored hard up in the bushes at the beginning of the 24 hour mooring, we may have been a bit more tolerant. If he'd moored on the 14 day moorings on the towpath side, that would have been fine and within the rules, as long as he'd only been there fewer than 14 days.

But leaving not enough room behind him for any boat longer than 14 feet, and being moored for at least 4 days on a popular and sought after set of moorings when 14 day moorings are across the cut, is not right.

So CRT were called and were going to get in touch with the owner.

If Rosebud (Licence number 110103) is still there, please give CRT a call and add your voice to getting him moved on.

By the way, we made a judgement call that there was no medical emergency or breakdown requiring the boat to stay put - anyone in those situations would leave a note taped to the boat, or make sure it wasn't inconveniencing others - well, we would, and if we can, then so can he.

** The golf course at Clifton upon Dunsmoor is enormous and it seemed to me that it stretches almost as far along the cut as the grounds of Blenheim Palace do along the A44 (I think I remember the road number correctly - yep, just looked it up on google). However, I may be mistaken as I was usually driving past the grounds of Blenheim Palace at no less than 30mph (50kph to us NZers) and, of course, on the boat I was doing between 1 and 3mph, given narrow bridgeholes, moored boats, and my general considerate boating style, of course. 😏

That is except when people moor illegally on 24 hour moorings, or when volunteer lockies empty a lock on the Hillmorton flight when the boat coming up towards the lock could have waited 5 minutes (well, 12) for the one we were ascending to be used by the boat coming towards us from above and then not wasted any water ... GGGRRR!!!😠

Our puritanical outlook about such water wastage is a strong hangover from the days we first hired (back in 1990!!) when the Wyvern Shipping people told us we were to wait before a lock for half an hour for other boats if the lock wasn't in our favour, or if it was in our favour and we were the only boat with no one to share with.

I know the cut is busier now, but we still would not dream of turning a lock when someone is easily within sight, and David always goes a couple of hundred metres to check for oncoming boats. He's a saint really. And I probably don't deserve him ...