Productive time was had.

Hi Friends. It was a chillier start to the day, after the last few hot days. When I stepped off of the boat to take Paddy for his walk there was a nip in the air. We set off from our Clarke's bridge mooring for Market Harborough at 8am. It was only a short jaunt byt very pleasant. We arrived at Bridge 14 and I stepped off of the boat to walk down to Logan Street Wharf to see if there was any room to moor. I rang Keith to let him know that there was room and so we are now moored at Logan Street Wharf just outside Union Wharf Basin. The reason for our early start was to get to Market Harborough for the inaugaral meeting of a volunteer group who have adopted the towpath from Union Wharf to Bridge 14 to keep it tidy, and to do some general maintenance. The adoption is being sponsered by Polly and Myles of Paws 4 Walking. Polly, Myles and their staff regularly use the canal towpath for their dog walking, and as a responsible company who like to look after the canal towpath, for all to enjoy, but regularly notice how many dog owners are not very caring about what their dogs do and where. But not just dog mess, general litter, etc. as of course the council are not responsible for maintaining the towpath in a clean condition, like they are wth the streets and pavements. There was an enthusiastic turnout upstairs at the Waterfront Restaurant with 20 people turning up for the first meeting. There were representatives from the local British Waterways land crew, whose responsibility for running such volunteer groups comes within their jurisdiction, as they will be supplying the hardware, any necessary training, and of course the necessary H&S regulations, they had quite a bit to say. I do realise that H&S has to be obeyed, but blimey it certainly bogs you down with all the do's and don'ts. The amount of hoops the British Waterways guys have to jump through is stupid. Whatever happened to common sense? There were many questions from the floor, and at the end of the meeting many of us set off down the towpath with the British Waterways staff, to look at what needed to be done initially and in the future. Some of the things on the to do list are painting of posts, bollards and waterpoints, which will brighten the moorings outside of the basin. In all it was a very productive morning, and a lot of enthusiasm was very noticable. Keith and myself of course are restricted to only being around during the winter, but I am sure our help will be most appreciated when we can offer it. The morning's meeting soon moved into the afternoon and before we knew it, it was 2pm and my stomach was screaming for something to eat. After such a productive morning, I am not doing anything for the rest of the afternoon. We will be moored at Logan Street Wharf until Saturday morning, as we have things to do. Chat soon xx.